Free Fall Lifeboats: what

maintenance is required (and

how to do it) ?
Written by Capt Rajeev Jassal on April 23, 2016

They say, A friend in need is a friend indeed. On board ships,

who can be your real friend who will help when you are in
real need.

Did I hear, Life saving equipments ?  You are absolutely

correct.

Life saving equipments are the only equipments on board

which are for us. Do you agree ?
These are not there because of any cargo requirement, or
any commercial need.

And yet, we find so many observations on life saving

equipments during external inspections.

For example, as per USCG, detentions due to “rescue

boat” was one of the top 5 deficiencies in 2015.
Isn’t it a worrying factor ? It surely is.
But why do we have so many observations on life saving
equipments ? There are 3 factors that contribute to
maintenance issues

1. Maintenance not done as per schedule

2. Person responsible for maintenance not sure what

maintenance to do
 3. Spares / required stores not available

So Lets see what maintenance we need to do on free fall

lifeboats to ensure that everything is alright.

Lowering requirement of Free fall lifeboat

As per SOLAS we need to lower the free fall lifeboat as

follows

Every 3 months
Every 3 months we can lower the lifeboat either by free fall
launching or by secondary means of launching. If lowering by
free fall, the required crew need to sit inside the boat and
launch it from inside.

Otherwise, we can lower the free fall lifeboat to water by

davit. Crew can then board the lifeboat by embarkation
ladder.

Irrespective of how we lower the boat, we need to

manoeuver it in water every three months. We need to test
the engine and sprinkler system during manoeuvring.

Every 6 months
If you are lowering the boat every 3 months by free fall
means, there is no other thing you need to do every 6
month. But if you had lowered the boat by secondary means
such as davit, you need to lower the boat by free fall every 6
months. Or you can carry out simulated launching
provided lifeboat has the provisions for that.

Now what does it mean by “simulated launching” of the free

fall boat ?

Simulated launching
Simulated launching replaces the requirement of lowering the
lifeboat by free fall method. When we lower the lifeboat by
free fall method, we are testing the release mechanism of
the lifeboat. Simulated launching does same but without
lowering the lifeboat with free fall.

In simple words, the boats that are fitted with simulated

launching has a securing wire. One end of this wire is
connected to boat and other on the ship structure. When the
boat is secured, this wire will be loose with no weight on it.

One crew will operate the release gear of the boat. Once the
boat releases, after moving slight distance, simulation wire
will hold the boat. This test will make sure that the release
mechanism is working.

After simulation test, the boat then need to be lowered with

davit and manoevered in water.

Maintenance required on free fall lifeboats

Maintenance by Ship staff

Every company has a weekly and monthly checklist for
lifeboat which we have to follow. But as a minimum,  we
should do following maintenance on free fall lifeboat.

Lifeboat hull
It is good practice to check lifeboat hull for any cracks during
drills. We must repair any crack in the hull at once.

Lifeboat Self contained air support system

Lifeboats fitted on tankers has self contained air support
system. This is to maintain positive pressure inside the
lifeboat in case of abandoning the ship in toxic environment.

Positive pressure inside lifeboat ensures that toxic

gases don’t find its way inside lifeboat.

Every month we should check the pressure of the air bottles.

The pressure of each bottle should not be less than 10% of
the working pressure of bottle.

Usually there are three air bottles in the lifeboat. When

checking the pressures, we should check the pressure in
each bottle. When doing so for the second bottle, make sure
to close the valves from the first bottle. Also you should
release pressure from the line before opening the second
bottle valve.
Sprinkler system
As I mentioned, we need to test the sprinkler system during
maneuvering of the lifeboat. Apart from that every month we
need to check and operate the sprinkler valve. This is to
ensure that the valve is not frozen and we can open/close it
easily.

Every time, sprinkler is tested with sea water, it is good

practice to flush the lines with fresh water.

Lifeboat Engine
We need to test and run the lifeboat engine every week for
at least 3 minutes (SOLAS Chapter III, Reg 20.6.3).

If the ship is trading in cold weather, it is important to check

if the fuel for lifeboat engine is suitable for these conditions.

Every 5 years, we need to either change the fuel oil or send

the fuel for analysis. As lifeboat fuel quantity is not
considerable, renewing the fuel every 5 year is much
economical option.

Lifeboat battery
Lifeboat battery supplies power for lighting as well as for
starting the lifeboat engine.

We have to make sure that battery can start the lifeboat

engine multiple times. Many companies have a policy to
renew the lifeboat battery every 2 or 3 years.
Maintenance done by shore service
engineer

There are number of components that shore service engineer

checks during annual inspection. These can be divided in
different sections. Lifeboat Exterior, Lifeboat
internal, Lifeboat Engine, Lifeboat Release gear, Lifeboat
Davit and Lifeboat Winch.

SOLAS requirements divides thorough inspection by shore in

two parts.

1) Thorough inspection of lifeboat

2) Thorough inspection of Launching appliances

1. Annual thorough examination of lifeboat

Every year, lifeboat need to be examined by the shore
service engineer. Class issues SEQ certificate on the basis of
this examination along with the inspection of launching
appliances.

We must make sure that before annual class surveys, the

annual examination of lifeboats is complete.

During annual inspection, the shore engineer will check all

the components we discussed under ship staff maintenance.
These include lifeboat engine, battery, sprinkler and air
support system (if fitted). His checklist also include the
inspection of lifeboat equipment inventory.

We have already identified six areas that form part of

thorough inspection. Each of these six areas further have
many check points that service engineer will check.
For example, external inspection of lifeboat will have many
checkpoints. Checkpoints such as looking for any cracks in
hull and opacity of window glass etc.

Likewise the service engineer goes through the checkpoints

for other areas too. Any shortcomings are brought to the
attention of ship staff. Only after rectification of such
deficiencies service engineer issues the service report.

2. Annual Thorough Inspection of Launching

appliances by shore 
SOLAS chapter III Reg 20.11.1. requires

i) thorough annual examination of launching appliances

ii) Dynamic test of the winch brake every year with weight of
the boat.

iii) Operational testing of free fall lifeboat either by free fall

launching with operating crew on board or by simulated
launching.

Launching appliance include the davits and winch of lifeboat,

liferaft and rescue boat.

i) Thorough inspection of free fall lifeboat davit

So what does shore service engineer do during annual
thorough examination of davit ? It is all in the
name. Thorough examination means detailed inspection and
that’s exactly what he does.

Annual thorough inspection of davit of free fall lifeboat

include at least checking of

1. Winch

2. Electrical components

3. Davit fall wire

4. Davit structure

5. Hydraulic system and

 6. Operational test of the davit.

Again any deficiencies is brought to the attention of ship staff

for rectification either by ship or shore.

Annual Dynamic test of winch brake

The davits of free fall lifeboat has hydraulic brake.

For conventional boats, the brakes are opened up and

checked for condition. But this is not required for free fall
lifeboat davits. This is because, opening of hydraulic brake
decreases rather than increases the reliability of the brake.

The purpose of the dynamic test is to see if the brake can

take the load of the boat. If the davit brake can hold the
lifeboat in its position, we consider the test pass. If the brake
does not hold and boat is moving even slightly, we consider
the test as fail.

As per SOLAS, Every year, this test needs to be done with

the weight of the boat. For this, shore engineer just lowers
the lifeboat with the davit to perform this test.
 

iii) 5 yearly dynamic test of winch brake

SOLAS requires to carry out dynamic test with higher loads
every 5 years. This load is 10% higher than the weight of the
boat with all its compliments and equipments.

So the required weight is

1.1 x (Weight of the lifeboat + all its equipments

+weight of full compliments of lifeboat)
Below picture shows the calculation of the weight for 5 year
dynamic test.
There are two ways in which we can conduct this test.

1) By placing the required weight inside the boat and then

lowering the boat with the davit.

2) By suspending the physical weight on lifeboat davit.

As this test is usually carried out in dry dock with easy

availability of shore crane and weights, the second option
may be the preferred one.
3. Lifeboat on Load release gear test
On load release gear of free fall lifeboat is different than
conventional boats. Some says that this does not come in
the category of on load release gear.

While this test is not required as per SOLAS for free fall
lifeboats, it is still sometimes carried out during dry dock.
Sometimes because of company’s policy or because of class
insists it to be carried out.

To understand the testing of on load release gear of Free fall

lifeboat, we need to understand how free fall lifeboat is
released.

There are different arrangements for different make of free

fall lifeboat and davit. But the fundamental principal is same.
Free fall lifeboat holds onto a hook and this hook is released
by hydraulic pressure generated from the hand pump inside
the lifeboat. As the hook releases, the boat slides on the
channel to drop into the water.

Lets look at one of such arrangement. Have a look at photo

below.

As you can see, the boat is holding onto a rod. There are two
pins protruding from inside the lifeboat. When we increase
the hydraulic pressure through pump, the pins start moving
outwards. As the pin touches the rod, and as we keep
increasing the pressure, pins lifts the boat upwards. At one
point, boat is clear of the rod, and boat moves through the
channel to drop into the water.
See below close up photo for more better view of pin and
bracket holding the boat.

The two pins would not move together. Only one pin would
come out and lift the boat to release into the water. The
second pin is for emergency system for lowering. This is used
when primary system fails.

Now that we know how free fall lifeboat’s release system

work, We are in a better position to ask ourself this question.
What do we mean by on load release gear test of free fall
lifeboat ?
The pin we mentioned, need to push the weight of the boat
including the weight of all the crew sitting in the boat. What
if, there is leakage in the hydraulic system. Or what if
hydraulic pump cannot generate that pressure to lift the boat
enough to release it.

When we talk about free fall lifeboat on load release gear

test, we are talking about testing the capacity of the
hydraulic system. This is to ensure that it has enough power
to lift the boat.

I keep saying lifting the boat on the basis of release gear

example I mentioned earlier. But the design of the release
can be different. Some design require the securing pin to
release by the hydraulic pressure to release the boat.
Nonetheless, it is hydraulic pressure that removes the
lifeboat from secured point to release.

On load release gear test is done with 10% more weight than

the weight of boat + weight of all crew. Though this is the
requirement for conventional boat, same criteria is applied
for free fall lifeboats if it is carried out during dry dock.

How this test is done ?

First calculate, how much hydraulic pressure is equivalent to

the required test weight. This is simple mathematical
calculation which I will not go deep into.  Below is the actual
calculation for one of the ship.
As you can see, Hydraulic system of this ship need to
generate & hold 275 bar pressure to pass the test. During
dry dock, in the yard workshop the hydraulic system is
pressurised to perform this test. Below is the photo of actual
test for the same ship.
Conclusion

More and more ships these days are fitted with free fall
lifeboats. And the main reason for that is ease of use and
ease of maintenance.

There are certain maintenance requirement as per SOLAS.

And we need to make sure we do that. The maintenance
include both that can be done by ship staff and the one done
by shore service engineer.

Ship staff need to do weekly and monthly checks which

usually form a part of on board company checklist.

Shore engineer need to perform annual and 5 Yearly tests.

As long as we carry out maintenance as per schedule, we can

be sure of operation condition of the lifeboat.