Page 4 - Mid America Boating - July 2023 issue

Boat Smart

ost boaters with larger vessels over when it is aground. These boats are
JULY 2023 [ MID-AMERICA BOATING ] 4
carry an extra boat or even two, just usually readily accessible and serve better
Min case. In case of what is a good as lifeboats than many vessels found on big
question. The response most would give is - houseboats and yachts.
to use as a lifeboat. Captains of large boats In recent years, midsize and large cruisers
find comfort in the fact they have a lifeboat. have been built with over-size swim plat-
What they regard as a lifeboat however is forms to provide room for an inflatable or
often suitable only as a tender or perhaps rigid hull lifeboat to be carried on its side
a runabout. on the platform. The releases on most of
If you intend to carry a lifeboat, you must these mounts are manual; a quick pull allows
first consider where and how it is to be the vessel to fall off the platform with just
mounted. You could have a problem if it a slight push and be easily boarded and
takes too much time to launch, time better unhooked from the platform.
spent saving your vessel or placing a MayDay Some larger vessels carry an extra boat
call for help. A small boat tied down on the that requires davits to raise and lower it.
hardtop is not a real lifeboat. If you do carry These boats should not be relied upon to
one on your vessels top, a spring release serve as lifeboats as I will explain.
mount is a better option than a tie down that While working over thirty years in my
needs to be untied. rescue and salvage business, many serious
In my opinion, a lifeboat cannot serve as a cases were encountered involving vessels
lifeboat if it is not capable of quick deploy- with an extra boat that did not serve well as a
ment. It can only be considered a toy or at lifeboat. Because most stricken vessels sink
best, a tender if it takes a great deal of effort slowly, there may be plenty of time to release
to launch. A small boat carried on board a a lifeboat after a MayDay call is placed. How
larger craft is not necessarily a lifeboat and fast a vessel will sink however can never be
By Capt. Fred Davis can actually become a threat to survival and known until after an event takes place.
Lifeboat or Captain Fred Davis, who dedicated himself to rescue. There are a few exceptions such as 60-foot cruiser equipped with a 20-foot
One case involved the grounding of a
a boat hanging from davits at the stern. If
tender? decades of continously promoting boating safety, secured with quick release lines, they may whaler type boat mounted on its top. Power
to the davits failed when called upon to
wrote hundreds of boating columns for Mid-Amer-
serve as lifeboats.
ica Boating and other publications on the subject
launch the vessel. There were four grown men
Sail vessels underway often tow a small
An important that were published during his lifetime. Captain boat behind or carry a small boat on their aboard who with tremendous effort dragged
Fred passed away in 2019, but many of his discus-
the boat from its cradle and pushed it off
front deck. These boats might serve as life-
choice sions about boating safety remain timeless. Here is boats but most are used as tenders to make the vessels top. In its fall to the water, the
one of his many columns pertaining to the univer-
a passage from an anchorage to shore and
outboard motor hit the cruisers rail and the
back. Occasionally they may be employed
sal message about outfitting a boat for safety
small boat entered the water upside down.
before you launch it for another season. to run out an anchor or heel the vessel Lifeboat or tender see Page 6

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