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Modern Lifeboats Make Volunteer Crews Safer

RNLI Introduces the Tamar Self-Righting Lifeboat

Aug 26, 2008

Tamar Lifeboat Deliberately Capsized, Christine Fadhley

Capsizing is just one problem solved by the Tamar Self-righting lifeboat, built by the Royal National Lifeboat Institution, Britain's publicly funded Lifeboat Service

Try to picture it. It is the middle of the night and there is a force 11 gale blowing. A lifeboat crewed by volunteers has been called out to rescue people from a ship that has lost its engine and is drifting towards rocks.

Traditional Design - Not User-Friendly

Space is cramped and as the lifeboat fights through huge waves it is buffeted up and down, causing physical trauma to the crew. Visibility is practically zero and they are relying on their GPS and radar screens to tell them where they are.

If the crew need to move around in the cabin to access one of the navigation systems, the motion of the boat can be so extreme that they risk injury. If they need to attend to anything on deck they risk being swept overboard and if that wasn’t enough, the whole vessel could capsize in the mountainous seas. The difficulties and risks are enormous.

Volunteers

For professional sailors this would be challenging enough, but in fact 90% of the 4,000 plus people who man the Royal National Lifeboat Institution’s vessels are volunteers. The RNLI decided that a safer and more user-friendly vessel was needed in order to protect the lives of their volunteers and make the task of rescuing people easier.

Engineering Goals

In 1990 the RNLI commissioned engineers to design a revolutionary lifeboat that would put crew safety and ergonomics high on the list of priorities . The designers of the Tamar Class lifeboat , Neil Chaplin, RNLI’s Principal Naval Architect and John Nurser, RNLI’s Principal Electronics Design Engineer, were given five main goal areas for their new vessel:

To ensure the advanced technology on board is safe, effective and intuitive for non-technical voluntary staff.
To bring the boat and its controls to the crew members for the first time and to make the controls as user friendly as possible.
To reduce safety hazards that crews face from within the vessel by sharing a common information system interface, so that tasks can be shared by any crew member.
To develop seating that will protect the crew from the worst effects of extreme boat motions.
To develop technology that is rugged and fail safe In place of a complex collection of stand-alone systems.

Tamars to Replace Tyne Class

The Resulting Tamar Class design which first went into service at Torbay in 2006, is the most technologically advanced vessel of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution’s fleet. The RNLI intend to gradually replace all of their Tyne class slipway launched fast lifeboats with the Tamar.

Publicly Funded

However, none of this project would have been possible without public support. he RNLI receives no government funding and is entirely dependent on voluntary donations to pay its £130 million a year costs. If you would like to know more about the work of the RNLI or to make a donation, please visit their web site.

References:

The Royal National Lifeboat Institution, Poole, Dorset, UK.

Ingenia Magazine, Issue 33, 2007.

The copyright of the article Modern Lifeboats Make Volunteer Crews Safer in Boat Safety & Maintenance is owned by Christine Fadhley. Permission to republish Modern Lifeboats Make Volunteer Crews Safer in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.