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Davit failures

What happened?

A member reports two recent issues relating to the davits of small boats:

  • During routine inspection of the rescue boat equipment and davit swing, it was noted that the davit would not swing out. This was due to a malfunctioning hydraulic pump not building up pressure;
  • During a weekly technical inspection of lifeboats and davits, a delay in response of the aft davit was noticed whilst swinging in the starboard lifeboat to the stowed position. After a few unsuccessful attempts, the hydraulic accumulator valve of the forward davit was changed over to ‘evacuation mode’ in order to direct hydraulic oil to the hydraulic cylinder of the aft davit only.  After that, the aft and forward davits came back to the stowed position at the same time.

What went wrong?

  • In both cases equipment failure.
  • The faults were observed in routine planned inspections of the equipment, which emphasises the importance of conducting inspections and planned maintenance.

Members may wish to refer to:

Safety Event

Published: 4 September 2019
Download: IMCA SF 21/19

IMCA Safety Flashes
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