Boat safety equipment

 With the recent events that has claimed boaters' lives this year, I am looking at my boat and stepping up the safety gear.  This is mores--so to "protect" people that come out with me, as well as myself.

EPIRB:  We all know its essential for anyone heading out on the ocean to carry an up to date EPIRB.  My question is,  can two EPIRBs be registered to one boat?  Yes, they come "tested" from factory and have test buttons, but when shit really hits the fan, I would want to activate two EPIRBs, just in case one doesnt work properly.  It might cost $250-$300 but most have 10 year life span.  Not much when you consider how much we all spend yearly on fishing gear!

 

Life jackets:  alot of people are moving to inflatables.  Do you recommend manual or automatic activation? I am considering auto activation, mainly for the benefit of passengers on the boat.  When a boat capsizes, a person who can't swim well will be in panic mode and he or she might not remember to "pull the cord"...

 

Thoughts please?

 

 

 

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A fish in the hand is worth 10 in the water!


just dhu it's picture

Posts: 1081

Date Joined: 14/05/09

Safety gear

Tue, 2017-03-28 19:55

Ashen.  You can never have too much safety gear in the boat. , just dont collect junk that will hinder your survival ,  i believe theres nothing wrong with two epirbs to the one boat ,   Remeber to locate them where you can grab easily as they need to go. With you should the boat sink no signal received if they are under water etc The inflating jackets , two lines of thoughts , self inflating when wet are great safety factor if some one falls over board and hits their head and cant activate the pull cord themselves ,  one issue is if your boat rolls and some people are caught in the cabin , the jackets inflate and cause escape problems  , where as manual inflation can be done when its the right time if the person capable etc ,

we in our rescue group are looking at the self inflating that require to be submerged one mt rather than just in water and being wet   iMO

Posts: 326

Date Joined: 18/10/10

negatives to a self inflating jacket

Tue, 2017-03-28 19:57

 if the boat flips pinning you under it and the jacket inflates this can trap you under the hull. Having never experienced a boat emergency im not sure how often this happens but it may pay to contact your local sea rescue for their thoughts. 

ensuring everybody on the boat is aware of where and how to use jackets and epirbs. this will make an emergency scenario easier. also that everybody is aware of how to use the radio. If you aren't able due to injury then someone must 

 

log on and off always

 

 

Posts: 4561

Date Joined: 01/02/10

 I have the usual epirb

Tue, 2017-03-28 20:00

 I have the usual epirb mounted inside the boat plus a waterproof ditch bag that stays on the deck. Ditch bag has plb, handheld vhf and my current flares. 

I prefer manual inflating life jackets. Have used the auto's and unexpected inflation wasn't real convenient. 

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Ashen's picture

Posts: 1042

Date Joined: 22/03/13

Excellent info

Tue, 2017-03-28 20:22

 Great info guys! Thanks 

Dodgy, grab bag with PLB, handheld vhf and flares is an awesome idea! Will be havin one of those with all those things in them, thats for sure! .   Do you have any foam (or something) in the bag so it floats on water?  

 

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quest's picture

Posts: 248

Date Joined: 03/08/15

 I was in Coral bay last year

Tue, 2017-03-28 20:27

 I was in Coral bay last year when the guys went missing, fishing the same day. 

That made me think about all the safety gear I have onboard and since then I 

lashed out and got a two man life raft, new ergo fit 290n life jackets and a PLB

that fits inside my life jacket on top of the standard stuff. I hope I never have

to use them but when shit hits the fan you wanna have a plan. Being prepared

is the best thing you can be. When things go wrong it usually happens quickly

and don't leave you much time to make plan.  Just my 2 cents. 

Posts: 47

Date Joined: 24/03/13

I went a bit nuts

Tue, 2017-03-28 20:37

 On top of the required stuff I have 6 manual inflatable jackets,mine has a PLB and handheld VHF in pockets. I have an extra PLB in another jacket. Also bought an SOS marine inflatable 4 man raft have a marine safety pod with flares, water, GPS and some other crap as well as a sat phone in a water proof bag. Probably all way over the top but hey, it makes me feel good. 

Dale's picture

Posts: 7930

Date Joined: 13/09/05

Tue, 2017-03-28 20:44

 I have one of the large safety grab bags from Whitworths, everything stacks away in them nicely, several seperate pockets inside for putting your flares into, I have 2 adult manual inflating PFD's in there, my epirb, sun screen, licenses, spare stuff for the outboard, My phone wallet and keys go in there too. Looks like it will float, haven't actually tried to see if it does.

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little johnny's picture

Posts: 5320

Date Joined: 04/12/11

Missing main thing

Tue, 2017-03-28 21:41

 Join local sea rescue cost stuff all . Ruff area where fishing at least they have area to look ,if you don't log off. Safety equipment only gives you false sense of security . May not to be able to get to it . Even if it's in reach. 

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Date Joined: 18/01/12

 Personally, while I have

Tue, 2017-03-28 21:42

 Personally, while I have inflatable vests onboard I wouldnt have them as my number one floatation.
Just for convenience, and have proper jackets still available.

Sure you can get them checked yearly but that still is not a guarantee that it'll inflate and stay inflated for as long as you need it.

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gruntre69's picture

Posts: 533

Date Joined: 15/10/16

 Answering your question, yes

Tue, 2017-03-28 23:13

 Answering your question, yes you can have 2 epirbs registered to one boat. I do and have one on the default location and the other is in a floating pelicase along with my current flares. I use this case when diving with nobody top side. I have it attached to a seperate divefloat/flag and run it on an independent reef pick and line. If the boat anchor lets go, I have an independent life line. I also carry a sat phone on the boat but will soon be selling that in favour of a PLB which will attach to my manual inflate vest.

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Ashen's picture

Posts: 1042

Date Joined: 22/03/13

Cheers

Wed, 2017-03-29 06:39

 Will take note of what everyone has said.  I might be a noob fisho but not complete noob boater.  Just want to step up on the safety gear and precautions for overall safety.  Will join whitfords sea rescue when my boat is back on the water.  

Thanks again guys, much appreciated! 

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A fish in the hand is worth 10 in the water!

Posts: 124

Date Joined: 06/11/13

PLB

Wed, 2017-03-29 08:50

 I carry 2.   A PLB on me loaded in the pocket of my PFD (which I wear and not leave sitting in the backrest of the skippers chair) and the EPIRB on the boat.  In the event that I go over the side,  I just flick the switch on my PLB and all is  good (I hope!)  

Posts: 8024

Date Joined: 07/05/12

Gotta admit that I have been

Wed, 2017-03-29 10:29

Gotta admit that I have been a bit lax and have been keeping my jackets and flares in the cuddy cab compartment when I am fishing inshore but I have an EPIRB within easy reach as well as carrying a PLB on my body at all times. 

I’ve recently bought a waterproof grab bag and will now be carrying my flares in that and have again begun carrying my jackets on the deck but I do always wear one when solo or taking the kids out on my own. 
 
I also attach the kill switch to my body whilst driving at speed with a passenger and at all times when solo. I also log on and off with Sea Rescue even if just heading across to Little Island and I leave a rough plan at home for the Mrs. When logging on I prefer to give a tight ETA and then recontact them and re-advise if I am staying out longer.
 
I suppose the key is that as we gain confidence in our boating ability we are naturally going to push the mark a bit further and need to be even more vigilant in the safety precautions we take. We were out yesterday on Scarb Reef and the water was 21 degrees with a ripping cold front wind coming through and it felt like we were very close to shore however hypothermia would set in in no time in those conditions.
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Officially off the Pies bandwagon

Posts: 124

Date Joined: 06/11/13

Kill Switch

Wed, 2017-03-29 20:46

Very much the same as Jack above. I have a board leg rope attached to me (ankle) and the kill switch clip at all times when solo. Doesn't get in the way. Call up and log on to the relevant SRU and make a habit of calling in every 2 hours or when changing location.

pelagicyachts's picture

Posts: 1293

Date Joined: 23/02/11

We have 2 epirbs, as others

Thu, 2017-03-30 08:44

We have 2 epirbs, as others have said - one on the fly in a safety grab bag and the other mounted inside the cabin - we also have an RFD self inflating life raft which has an epirb in it - for people with larger boats these are not as expensive as you think - they come up on gumtree quite often (link below to one)and are great piece of mind when you are half way to the Abrolhos or 20ks west of rotto!

https://www.gumtree.com.au/s-ad/welshpool/boat-accessories-parts/life-raft-10-man-automatic-inflation/1131139997