vic008 17 Posted March 28, 2018 Share Posted March 28, 2018 How seaworthy are todays lifeboats? They all seem to be ribs. And wont be as good as the old type that could take a capsize intheir stride. Mind you the Darling girl did the most iconic rescue ever in an open rowboat Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Fish 0 Posted March 29, 2018 Share Posted March 29, 2018 Are you talking about the Coastguard boats, and comparing them to the Tamar class Lifeboats of the RNLI? I think it depends on what asset for what job. In Auckland Coastguard have two big beasts that would have similar size and capacity to the Tamar type LB's. The majority are like North Shore and Hibiscus Rescue, which are powerful ribs with enclosed cockpit (9.5 m outboard powered boat). There is also the odd sea-legs. They all serve a purpose. A lot of the Coastguards work, in the Huaraki Gulf, is mechanical breakdown and tows in benign weather. We have a different marine environment and population density to the UK, particularly with regard to commercial marine traffic. It is not uncommon to need all weather lifeboats in the UK, it is not so common to need an all weather lifeboat in NZ. Two examples I can think of are J boat (Anarchy?) lost their rudder north of North Cape in a blow, and last weekend with that cruiser off Whangarei (not necessarily 'all-weather' - just deemed not urgent enough to risk the CG crews). In the Anarchy incident, the Navy scrambled a ship (offshore patrol boat?) and effected a successful rescue. That is probably the best example of hte need for an all-weather lifeboat. More so, a Tamar class would have been very slow to get north of North Cape, the Navy fanged in at very high speed. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Fish 0 Posted March 29, 2018 Share Posted March 29, 2018 https://www.coastguard.org.nz/auckland_coastguard_site_info.html Lion Foundation Rescue is a 15 m foil assisted catamaran, looks like it can do the business. ASB rescue is an 18 m Protector (RIB) - photo at bottom of the page in that link. Hibiscus Rescue 1 & 2, a 9.5 m Naiad and a 6.9 m Sealegs https://www.coastguard.org.nz/hibiscus_site_info.html The Tamar Class Lifeboat does look like a tank though https://rnli.org/what-we-do/lifeboats-and-stations/our-lifeboat-fleet/tamar-class-lifeboat Quote Link to post Share on other sites
marinheiro 352 Posted March 30, 2018 Share Posted March 30, 2018 All the RNLI boats are self righting. I believe their limit of operation is 50nm from the coast. The RIB inflatable concept was developed by the RNLI in the large 60's- early 70's. The boats operated by the varies NZ Coastguard regions are quite different, none are self righting and there is no standardisation. The big cat in Auckland has been a bit of a lemon and I am informed it may disappear in the not too distant future. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Island Time 1,239 Posted March 31, 2018 Share Posted March 31, 2018 The RNLI lifeboats are large, complex machines that are designed to be operated by a "navy" like organisation. With professional crews. They are completely different to the NZ coastguard vessels. I know that 20 years ago the rib that Wellington Coastguard had was self righting, using an automatically inflated bag on top of the radar arch to bring her back to about 100 degrees, just past her avs. However, she had no cabin or superstructure, and was totally unsuitable for her role in Wellington. The crew had to wear survival suits, and still froze... No idea what's happened since. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
marinheiro 352 Posted March 31, 2018 Share Posted March 31, 2018 The vast majority of the RNLI crew are volunteers https://rnli.org/about-us/our-people/lifeboat-station-volunteers The RNLI is a very "professional" outfit in how they work, they are now building their own boats and have a large training centre. But they are a charity reliant on donations, they do not want to be dependent on government grants with their inevitable strings Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Fish 0 Posted March 31, 2018 Share Posted March 31, 2018 I'd be interested in some details about the big cat being a lemon. It looks more like a customs / police vessel than being well suited to close maneuvering / towing and assisting with the standard mechanical breakdowns on the Hauraki Gulf. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Fogg 427 Posted March 31, 2018 Share Posted March 31, 2018 The RNLI is a superb outfit made up of a combination of professionals and volunteers. As someone said they look and feel more like the navy if you have any dralings with them ie reassuringly competent. And of course they have huge resources because despite being a charity they are far better funded than NZ CG for obvious reasons. By comparison my experience with CG NZ is that the onshore service is great but the on-the-water experience varies hugely depending on the crew you get on the day. My biggest concern / complaint about NZ CG is they operate lots of small boats sometimes in v marginal conditions but do not carry life rafts on board. Or at least they didn’t when Howick Rescue caught fire a few years ago and I plucked the crew out of the water aboard my previous yacht just outside GH. I was amazed a pseudo commercial boat was allowed to operate without a life raft. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Fish 0 Posted March 31, 2018 Share Posted March 31, 2018 My biggest concern / complaint about NZ CG is they operate lots of small boats sometimes in v marginal conditions but do not carry life rafts on board. Or at least they didn’t when Howick Rescue caught fire a few years ago and I plucked the crew out of the water aboard my previous yacht just outside GH. I was amazed a pseudo commercial boat was allowed to operate without a life raft. Perhaps they can't afford the annual servicing charges for the liferafts? I can imagine the surprise extra couple of hundy on each service for things the service agent knew about but never mentioned, and wouldn't give a fixed price for tends to add up over a fleet of boats as big as CG's. (Being factitious, why can't anyone offer fixed price servicing for a life raft?) Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Steve Pope 243 Posted March 31, 2018 Share Posted March 31, 2018 Yeah amazing how a "quote" of $500 to $600 for servicing can balloon to $1600 without a phone call to explain, (though they never did explain anyway) There is little competition in the servicing industry, with one firm holding sole rights for servicing many of the liferaft brands. A bit like Epirb servicing, where the cost of a new 5 year life battery, installed by the agent, is up there with the price of a new (different brand) epirb with a 10 year battery life??? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
vic008 17 Posted April 1, 2018 Author Share Posted April 1, 2018 Was my understanding that there is really no law that says you cant service your own liferaft. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Fogg 427 Posted April 1, 2018 Share Posted April 1, 2018 I think the cost of a life raft (purchasing & maintenance) is trivial compared to the other running costs of those boats. Most of them are running around with a pair of 250-300hp outboards on the back and I’ve been onboard during a routine refuel and the fuel bill is big and would dwarf the cost of a life raft - especially if they arranged a proper commercial supply agreement. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Fish 0 Posted April 1, 2018 Share Posted April 1, 2018 Was my understanding that there is really no law that says you cant service your own liferaft. For Cat 3 / racing, it must be serviced in accordance with the supplier requirements, which would mean undertaking supplier training and being licenced by the supplier to check and re-pack your own raft. Would be a cost effective and practical thing to do, but would never happen, the service agents have a captive market... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
rigger 47 Posted April 1, 2018 Share Posted April 1, 2018 Mnz approved liferaft and life jacket service stations. https://www.maritimenz.govt.nz/commercial/safety/safety-equipment/documents/Liferaft-service-stations.pdf Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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