The Merchant Shipping (Life-Saving Appliances for Passenger Ships of Classes III to VI (A)) Regulations 1992

Regulations 2(3), 5 and 6

PART II RIGID INFLATED RESCUE BOATS

1.  General

1.1  A rigid inflated rescue boat is a composite craft combining a rigid lower hull and inflated tubes fitted at the edge of the lower hull forming a watertight boundary.

1.2  All rigid inflated rescue boats shall comply with all the requirements of Part I of this Schedule with the exception of paragraphs 1.1 and 2.10.

Construction

2.1  The buoyancy of the boat shall be a combination of inherent and inflated buoyancy.

2.2  The inflated buoyancy tube shall be a single tube sub-divided into at least five separate compartments of approximately equal volume.

2.3  All boats shall have adequate inherent buoyancy or inherently buoyant material together with the inflatable compartments on one side (excluding the forward compartment) when inflated, sufficient to float the boat with all its equipment on board when flooded and open to the sea.

2.4  Additional inherent buoyancy equal to 140 Newtons of buoyancy force per person shall be provided for the number of persons the boat is permitted to accommodate. This additional buoyancy shall not be installed externally to the rigid hull of the boat.

2.5  Inherently buoyant material shall not be adversely affected by seawater, oil or oil products.

2.6  The inflated buoyancy tubes shall comply with the requirements of paragraphs 2.20, 2.21 and 2.22 of Part III of this Schedule.

2.7  The inflated buoyancy tubes shall be maintained at all times in a fully inflated condition.

Markings

3.1  If any of the markings required by paragraph 5 of Part I of this Schedule are marked on the buoyancy tubes, the materials used to mark them shall be of a type which is compatible with the boats' coated fabric and approved by the boat manufacturer.

Equipment

4.  In addition to the equipment required by paragraph 6.2 of Part I of this Schedule the following items are required:

4.1  an efficient manually operated bellows or pump; and

4.2  a repair kit in a suitable container for repairing punctures to the coated fabric of the buoyancy tubes.