2.4 Free-Fall Launch Performance
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Statutory Documents - IMO Publications and Documents - Circulars - Maritime Safety Committee - MSC/Circular.616 – Evaluation of Free-Fall Lifeboat Launch Performance – (22 June 1993) - Annex – Evaluation of Free-Fall Lifeboat Launch Performance - Section 2 - 2.4 Free-Fall Launch Performance

2.4 Free-Fall Launch Performance

  2.4.1 Another of the objective of the free-fall tests is to evaluate the performance of the free-fall lifeboat during and after the launch. The primary safety advantage of a free-fall lifeboat is that it can move away from danger during and immediately after the launch even if the engine does not operate. As such, the boat should enter the water in such a manner that the hull is the first part of the lifeboat to contact the water and it should make positive headway immediately after it is launched. It should be considered unacceptable for the lifeboat to enter the water inverted or, if after water entry, it does not initially move away from the launch platform.

  2.4.2 In the context of free-fall performance, the launching appliance and the lifeboat need to be viewed as a system. As will be discussed in Section Two, characteristics of the launch ramp as well as characteristics of the lifeboat affect the launch performance of the boat. It is recognized that often the same manufacturer does not build both the lifeboat and the launching appliance, that a lifeboat can be used with more than one launching appliance, and that a boat may be used with a different appliance at some time in the future. Nevertheless, acceptable performance should be achieved with whatever launching appliance is used with the boat. However, if a different appliance is used in the future, the prototype tests do not need to be repeated. Instead, acceptable performance can be demonstrated during the required installation tests.

  2.4.3 Another aspect of free-fall performance is the stability of the lifeboat in the launch cradle prior to launch. It is important that the lifeboat be properly supported so that it does not exhibit a tendency to tip when it is being loaded. In the case of a ramp launched free-fall lifeboat, stability is easily accomplished if the launch rail on the boat extends forward of the most forward location of the CG a distance no smaller than the roller spacing. Other means of support will need to be provided for vertically launched free-fall boats.

Parent topic: Section 2
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