Types of Lifeboat Release Mechanisms

1.      Off load mechanism: when the boat touches the surface of water, the load on the fall and hence the hook releases and due to its mechanism the hook detaches from the fall. If the detachment dose not takes place, any of the crew members can remove the hook from the fall. Most of the times the offload mechanism is manually disengaged in case of malfunction; however, in case of fire, it is dangerous to go out and release the hook.

2.      On load mechanism: On load mechanism can release the lifeboat from the wire, with the ship above the water level and with all the crew members inside the boat. The load will be still on the fall, as the boat would not have touched the water. Normally the height of about 1 m is kept for the on load release, so that the fall is smooth without damaging the boat and harming the crew inside. A lever is provided inside the boat to operate this mechanism. As the lever is operated from inside, it is safe to free the boat without going of the out lifeboat, when there is a fire on ship.

3.      Free Fall lifeboat release: In Free fall lifeboat, the launching mechanism is similar to on load release. The only difference is that the free fall lifeboat is not lowered till 1m above water level, it is launched from the stowed position by operating a lever located inside the boat, which releases the boat from rest of the davit, and boat slides through the tilted ramp into the water.