How To launch a liferaft manually

This is important and could save your life and also your crews lives

(1) Have two men undo the SENHOUSE Slip
(2) Lift the liferaft to the ships rail (Do not undo the painter line from the hydrostatic release)
(3) Drop the liferaft into the water
(4) Pull the painter line till it can come no more and then give it a sharp pull
(5) The liferaft should now inflate
(6) Pull the liferaft close to the pilot ladder
(7) Put the strongest man into the liferaft first
(8) Pass him the tail of the painter line leading back to the hydrostatic release, he will be pulling the liferaft closer too
(9) Every person that enters the liferaft helps him to keep the liferaft close to the ship
(10) The second last person will get the safety knife attached to the sponsons inside the liferaft
(11) Once the last person boards the liferaft, the painter line gets cut at the hydrostatic release side
(12) It is important to try and not loose your liferaft's, this has been done before, the reason for launching liferaft's is there is no hope for the vessel, loose these liferaft's and there is no hope for you, take care!

Liferaft's, how they launch if the vessel sinks

RFD Liferaft

A liferaft is your last means of defense to save crews lives, make sure they get serviced annually
Never roll a liferaft, you could upset some of the liferaft's workings such as the painter line, the liferaft has breather holes at the bottom of the raft incase any water enters the raft and also to stop the rubber eroding.

If a vessel sinks and you did not have time to launch the liferaft manually, the hydrostatic release will operate when it is submerged under the water between 1.5 - 4.0 metres

The pressure of the water pushes down on a vertical spring releasing a second spring which is under a lot of torque this pushes a very sharp blade out cutting the attachment line releasing the SENHOUSE SLIP

Senhouse Slip	Hydrostatic Release	Thanner operating Valve

The liferaft now floats free to the surface pulling the painter line out, once all the painter line is pulled out it will pull a wire that is attached to a THANNER OPERATING HEAD, this then pierces the foil on the compressed Co2/nitrogen filled canister.

The Canister is connected to 2 hoses which are connected to the liferaft's sponsons
Once the liferaft is inflated the buoyancy of the liferaft breaks the weak link on the hydrostatic release leaving the liferaft on the surface RFD LIFERAFT INFLATED LENGTH OF PAINTERLINE

The length of painter line inside your liferaft is stamped on a label on the liferaft If you launch a liferaft manually, leave the painter attached to the hydrostatic release

RFD Liferaft	Painter lines length

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