BFA Marine, a brand of Zodiac International company, has identified some failures of overpressurization valves on leisure life rafts (Models: Atlantic, Pacific, Baltic and BFA/XM Offshore) manufactured between 1997-2006, it reported in a statement yesterday.
An incorrect assembly process was found to be the cause of these failures, according to the company. These BFA leisure life rafts must be immediately checked to determine the integrity of the valves, the company said. In the event both overpressurization valves of the 2 independent compartments would happen to fail simultaneously, the life raft will not function as a lifesaving device, but will instead sink.
“It is imperative that owners of the identified BFA leisure life rafts immediately return their rafts to the nearest BFA-approved service station in order for the overpressurization valves to be inspected and potentially replaced,” stated the company. “Please note that this recall for corrective action does not involve any model or type of commercial life raft.”
Additional information on this recall program is available at http://www.bfa-marine.com including the location of approved life raft service stations that will help inspect and service the rafts subject to this recall campaign.
""Happy Talk" . . . . . Because it has worked so well thus far"
"It is not necessary to change; survival is not mandatory" - Edward Deming
"Unless we start to focus everything on this, our targets will soon be out of reach" - Greta Thunberg January 2020
"I spent most of my dough on booze, broads and boats and the rest I wasted" - Elmore Leonard.
Team Man Made Climate Change is Real.
"Such change demands on our part a serious and responsible recognition not only of the kind of world we may be leaving to our children, but also to the millions of people living under a system which has overlooked them" - Pope Francis September 2015
seawatch
Member
Registered: 07/21/05
Posts: 353
Loc: Montauk
As *CG is no longer a means to telephone the Coast Guard, the contact numbers for USCG Rescue Coordination Centers would be a useful addition to this thread, to keep onboard for SAT phones, and for whomever you leave your float plan with.
Boston MA RCC (617)223-8555
Atlantic SAR Coordinator in Portsmouth VA, which oversees Boston, (757)398-6231
#889047 - 11/24/0702:17 AM
Re: **** Offshore Safety Tips ****
[Re: Bob Bradley]
seawatch
Member
Registered: 07/21/05
Posts: 353
Loc: Montauk
The USCG website says Boston covers New England and down to nothern NJ and Norfolk/Portsmouth covers from there down to the North Carolina/South Carolina border. Both cover out to 40 degrees west longitude. These are the Rescue Coordination Centers which, one must assume, delegate response to local resources. There are only three RCCs on the east coast: Boston, Norfolk/Portsmouth, and Miami.
�Perhaps I should not have been a fisherman, he thought. But that was the thing that I was born for.� -- Ernest Hemingway, The Old Man and the Sea
They were only 9 miles out, and were able to get a distress call off. It still took 25 minutes for someone to reach them - and they (Sea TOW) were IN THE AREA and had an exact location.
Quote:
NEW YORK-Two people were rescued from a life raft after their sportfishing vessel sank approximately nine miles off the coast of Moriches, N.Y., at about 5:45 p.m., today.
Greg Mastonardi, owner of the 33-foot Topaz sportfishing boat First Light, was transiting between Egg Harbor Inlet N.J., to Shinnecock Inlet, N.Y., with passenger Mark Edwards, when he called Coast Guard Sector Long Island Sound to notify them his boat was taking on water and his dewatering pumps were having a difficult time keeping up. The Coast Guard instructed Edwards and the other passenger to put on their life jackets.
“We launched a 47-foot motor life boat from Coast Guard Station Shinnecock, a 27-foot rescue boat from Station Moriches, and a HH-60 rescue helicopter from Air Station Cape Cod immediately,” said Peter Winters, a civilian search and rescue controller at Sector Long Island Sound.
Nine minutes later, Mastonardi notified search and rescue controllers at Sector Long Island Sound that water was overtaking the vessel and he was going to have to abandon ship.
“We asked them to activate their Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon (EPIRB) right before we lost communications with them,” said Winters. “Seatow overheard Mastonardi call to Sector Long Island Sound and told us they were nearby. We passed their position to Seatow and they headed towards the location.”
Seatow arrived at 6:03 p.m. where they pulled Mastonardi and Edwards from their life raft to safety. The First Light sank in 108-feet of water.
The 27-foot rescue boat is currently escorting the Seatow vessel back to Coast Guard Sector Field Office Moriches to safely bring Mastonardi and Edwards.
The First Light was carrying 250 gallons of diesel fuel, though no pollution was reported on scene.
Winters attributes the timely success of this rescue to the alert mariners aboard Seatow, and the Coast Guard Rescue 21 system, which is composed of two, 400-foot towers at Station Shinnecock and Coast Guard Station Montauk that are able to assist in cases just like this.
“We managed to get a latitude and longitude from them,” said Winters. “After we lost communications with them we used Rescue 21 to create a fix on where they would be. It was right on the money.”
Nearly any sharp knife can cut soft nylon line, but high-tech fibers like Vectran will blunt an ordinary blade in no time. What you need is a hard serrated 3 1/2" blade like the one on this Myerchin safety knife, completely constructed of top-grade stainless steel. The contoured safety handle is one piece with the blade with no sideplates to come loose, and it's surprisingly comfortable to hold.
It will easily cut through 1/2" line, and is very strong and sharp. I think it's the same one Bill Brown has been using for years. I like it because of it's flat profile - it lays flat against your side and doesn't get in your way.
seawatch
Member
Registered: 07/21/05
Posts: 353
Loc: Montauk
Offshore Safety Question
My 29' center console weighs about 11,000 pounds when under way, and like all boats without a heavy self rigthing keel (as some sailboats have) is subject to capsize type foundering if it takes on too much water.
I'll be carrying a raft this summer, one packed in a soft portable case, stowed in a forward hold most of the time. In the event of a problem, standard operating procedure is to stay with the boat as long as possible. My understanding is that hull breach related founderings, for example, especially in heavy weather, result in sudden, possibly even violent, capsize at some point. This is, of course, also true for any other sequence of events that results in a lot of water inside the hull.
If faced with such a hull breach, and inevitable capsize, when would you deploy the raft, and when would you abandon the boat for the raft?
I'm not too keen on the idea of staying in the boat when I know at some point it will flip. My thoughts are..... deploy the raft as soon as it is clear the pumps will be overwhelmed. Get in the raft but stay tethered to the boat, ready to cut away should the boat go down and the built in automatic raft breakaway fail. To be clear, my thought is to stay with the boat but in the raft under these circumstances.
A little more background on my boat. It has two low bilge pumps, one fore and one aft, and a high water bilge pump aft. I'm having a high water audible alarm installed aft now. All through hulls fittings are steel and equipped with ball valve shut offs.
Any thoughts?
Moderators, please move this post, or don't, as you deem appropriate.
�Perhaps I should not have been a fisherman, he thought. But that was the thing that I was born for.� -- Ernest Hemingway, The Old Man and the Sea
If you have a raft you should stay attached to the foundering vessel via the painter line, a watch should be assigned with a painter cutter to cut the painter line if the vessel proceeds to sink. There should be a cutter in with the survival kit included with the raft, but you should verify with the company that repacks your raft. Remember to take your epirb with you in the raft or attach it to the raft and not the foundering vessel. One thing to remember is that your vessel could capsize very quickly and if the raft is stowed somewhere you may not have time to deploy it. So make sure that as the captain you assign someone to be the person that gets the raft in the event of a problem while your send out a distress call or handling other issues that arise.
carlynewlondon
Member
Registered: 06/22/06
Posts: 7966
Loc: Home: Burlington, Boat: New Lo...
The decision to deploy the raft would be highly decresionary but i wouldn't keep it stowed in the forward hold. when running off shore you want to be able to get to it ASAP. Either rigid mount it in a canister external (maybe even with a hydr release) or keep the valise out on the deck where you can get to it in a hurry.
I'm in the market for a new raft right now and I think I'm going to get a valise so I can keep it in the salon where its easier to get to than the present canister mount on my bow.
Spotted on another board, but sobering nonetheless. I now carry six "gumby" style survival suits on the boat, 2 epirbs, raft, type 1 vests, etc, etc, etc.....
Quote:
AIR STATION CAPE COD – Two Wellfleet fishermen wearing survival suits were rescued last night off Sandwich after spending nearly five hours in the water after their boat sank in Cape Cod Bay, according to the Coast Guard. The rescued fishermen were identified by the Coast Guard today as Christopher Merl, 39, the owner of the boat, and Matthew Gregory, 18, both of Wellfleet. Coast Guard Petty Officer 3rd Class Connie Terrell said last night that the fishermen were taken to Air Station Cape Cod and arrived at the base around 9:30 p.m. Coast Guard medical personnel evaluated the pair and found them in good condition, she said. “Both of them have declined further medical attention,” she said. The fishermen, who were aboard the Wellfleet-based fishing boat Carol and Allison, used a cell phone to call Coast Guard Station Provincetown around 3:21 p.m. At the time, the distressed mariners said they were about eight miles east of the entrance to the Cape Cod Canal in the bay, according to a Coast Guard press release. The crew of a nearby tug boat reported they heard the 36-foot fishing boat issue a mayday call. The cell phone connection between the Carol and Allison and the Coast Guard was lost after the first call, according to a Coast Guard press release. A Jayhawk helicopter crew based at Air Station Cape Cod spotted the men in the water at about 9:15 p.m., Terrell said. “They were wearing survival suits, which probably bought them some time,” she said. Terrell said the Carol and Allison sank at about 4:15 p.m. Weather conditions in Cape Cod Bay were life-threatening for the fishermen and made it difficult for surface vessels to reach them. The Coast Guard reported that winds were as high as 25 knots, with 4- to 6-foot seas and a water temperature of about 52 degrees. “This is a perfect example of why the Coast Guard recommends everyone wear flotation devices and survival suits when they're on the water,” Terrell said. “It keeps you a lot warmer a lot longer,” she said of marine survival suits. The helicopter crew searched the bay for four hours then refueled before continuing their search for the fishermen, said Lt. Commander Doug Atkins, the helicopter's ranking officer. He said the helicopter flew 300 to 400 miles during the rescue effort, searching deep into the bay and scouring the coastline from Plymouth to Orleans, The rescue helicopter was in the Plymouth area when the Sandwich police reported that they had found debris from a boat off shore. The helicopter crew spotted the two men with the assistance of night vision goggles, Atkins said. The men were in their bright, red neoprene survival suits with reflector tape, about 50 yards from Springhill Beach in Sandwich,, the Coast Guard said this morning. They were holding on to each other in six foot waves. The helicopter hovered about 40 feet above the water and Aviation Survival Technician Derick Ansley was lowered down to the fishermen on a cable. Both men were conscious and speaking when the diving specialist reached them, Ansley said. Each man took his turn being placed into a metal basket, which was then lifted to the helicopter. The rescue took about fifteen minutes and was completed by about 9 p.m. “The suits definitely saved their lives,” Atkins said. In addition to the Jayhawk helicopter, she said the Coast Guard dispatched three vessels to search for the men, including a 47-foot rescue boat from Coast Guard Station Provincetown and a 47-foot rescue boat from Coast Guard Station Cape Cod Canal. Terrell said several Cape-based fishermen also assisted in the search effort. “The fishing community tends to be a tight-knit group,” she said.
Previous Topic
Index