Lifeboats lead the way in machinery monitoring and control

摘要

New technology in control systems is adding to the usefulness and safety of the latest lifeboat types, explains Dag Pike. The final test for a lifeboat has to be its ability to go out to sea and rescue people when all other craft are running for shelter. Most of lifeboat rescue work will be in moderate and fine conditions but the boat has to be designed to cope with the worst that the sea can throw at it. To cope with these ultimate conditions the approach to lifeboat design has traditionally been very conservative. When you want a boat to operate in the worst weather conditions then failure cannot be tolerated and have you go for the tried and tested solutions in the design. It was a long slow process for lifeboat design to switch from the traditional double-ended slow boats to the modern planing designs.