Quote:
Originally Posted by billyboy
Certainly do not think I would have liked to be aboard a free fall boat. Anyone here experienced hitting the water in a free fall boat?
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Yes, no problem, think Alton Towers ride.
The biggest near disaster we had was where the hydraulic jack failed to release the pin on a fully loaded boat as the roller had seized. To correct this involved one person unbelting himself and very gingerly exiting the boat to reattach the recovery bridle. The roller was a phospher bronze affair rotating on a stainless steel axle and had siezed due to dissimilar metal corrosion. I machined grease grooves and fitted a grease nipple - no more problems.
When we got the lifeboats they were a bit of a novelty and regularly used as a fairground attraction - not to mention frequent demonstrations to the sea school in Kiribati - eventually the hulls started to suffer from stress cracking - manufacturers were consulted and it would appear that, like aircraft, they have a cyclical life - launching frequency was reduced (every 6 months for a freefall more frequent lowerings on the bridle IIRCC) which led to the seizure