I agree there is reason for concern.
Let me apologies in advance for my long winded post. Feel free to skim it may not be worth the read for some anyway.
I advocate full comprehension of a problem before finding a solution. I have found in my quest to find components for my solution I have run across ones in the industry and out on the water that appear to not fully comprehend the way real life emergencies would come about, they have adjusted their solutions accordingly. Thus there are not many engine driven crash pumps in place ready for use.
By the time I am finished we will have primary ( low volume )and secondary (high volume) DC
bilge pumps in 2 locations. An engine driven crash
pump 2 portable high flow
electric pumps that can be run from a genny. Below 2x dual action manual
bilge pumps plus one manual operated from the
helm. Buckets on hand of corse plus
emergency sail set to be used as a crash mat/tarp.
I have already installed insulation/ reserve buoyancy at
deck level and in stowage areas. About 1000kg of buoyancy worth so far. Down the line there will be more.
At the moment I am making all our
storage areas water tight and sealing up areas that will make about 3 thousands Kg more in reserve buoyancy.
Bulkheads will be capable of being sealed off 3 in total. All my
electrical is done in a submersible fashion. I am considering buoyancy bags that can be stowed away.
Manual start of engine is an idea I fully agree with. Axes hacksaws pry bars etc are essential too.
Since we are doing a complete
refit many things don't take significantly more effort or
money. Just pre planning, a clear vision okay and extra
money.
Ultimately I would like the capability to keep afloat, make essential
repairs pump out and be able to continue on in most circumstances. Worst case I'd prefer to stay on board using the vessel as a life raft if required. Having said that the
dinghy will be prepped to double as an
emergency life raft plus we have the
inflatable canister Solas life raft as a last resort.
With 2 young girls on board I want to give us the best chances of survival should the worst happen. On that note most of my systems include primary secondary and a isolated redundant back up. This approach does not suit everyone and has to be well planned to not cost a fortune, to
work as planned and to work as well as any other primary system.
It seems I'm an oddball in
Australia and do not conform to the she'll be right mentality. Probably because of my Canadian background.
This maybe a curse in other regards as I find researching hunting and finding what I'm after often takes as long as the job itself. I become OCD finding what I know must exist. Then I often need to find it at a
price I can justify.
My point is I am
Likely not alone and there will be those that like to dot all the i's and cross all the t's others will be comfortable with a lot less and feel they have it covered often times for most things they will be right. So it's all a
trade off.
I guess I should mention I come from a life of Tech and
commercial diving, alpine and big wall climbing have worked
rescue Firefighting and at one point I ran a company setting up expedition vehicles for
remote explorations so my philosophies have been moulded a lot from my personal experience.