Free Fall Lifeboat Problems

If there is a singular reason why working at sea has high pay, it is simply due to the literally life-threatening nature of the occupation. Working as a boat crew in a shipping line for almost 5 years now, I can say that in many occasions, I often wonder if my salary was worth it at all. Of course there are the stories why seafarers are paid substantial paychecks most of which are true. For one, there is the boredom. Imagine weeks and months at sea in a small hallways and even smaller kitchens with only the view of the vast ocean around. It is not just boring, it’s even sad. Second, there is the technicality of it. Seafaring is not as easy as it sounds. There are maintenance various protocols, fire protocols, fire drills, spills, waste water management, breaches, repairs than need to be done enroute. 

Free Fall Lifeboats 

Every seafarer must have experienced engine failure, bilge water build up, leakage, control malfunction as these are among the more common ship problems. But recently, I experienced a relatively minor yet very essential aspect of working at sea: lifeboat maintenance. You see, our ship has those modern versions of the lifeboat. They are the same inflatable rafts but our model comes with little engines unlike the free floating ones. We found this more useful for a cargo ship which required fetching and ferrying supplies very quickly once we get to a nearby shore or port. As such it is more useful not just in the event of an emergency but in regular operations. 

But just as with many gadgets and utilities, these benefits come at a certain trade off. As it is the regular inflatable lifeboats are difficult to maintain. But the ‘free fall life boat which we have presents twice the difficulty. In fact, lifeboat davit inspection reports claim that almost rescue boat failures is one of the major areas of deficiencies in most ship followed only by oily water separator problems and poor fire detection equipment. 

Failures and solutions 

Why these failures? In our case most of the problem with the free fall lifeboat came since it was a new technology. Generally, lifeboat davit maintenance schedule and procedures were different from the protocols we used for earlier versions of manual lifeboats. Second, since the technology was new, the personnel responsible for maintenance had to literally ‘learn new tricks’ since they were accustomed to a simpler lifeboat. And perhaps the most problematic is that, since it was a new technology, there were limited spare parts or limited suppliers and available were usually costly since there were only a few suppliers. 

And then of course, since free fall lifeboats have engines, that itself provides numerous maintenance and troubleshooting problems. A bad fuel tank, fuel leaks, overheating due to poor of cooling systems, blockages on the fuel and oil lines, or even wear and tear of the parts of the engine are common problems some of which can be prevented by proper regular maintenance while most others are almost inevitable problems with any engine or machine.