Where to mount an EPIRB on a 16m catamaran?

[fxykty]

Creating a specific thread to hopefully get some help.

This is my first cruising cat. The PO had bought two EPIRBs, one of which was still in date that I’ve registered. But neither was mounted - both were in a grab bag. I have left the secondary EPIRB in the primary grab bag.

I don’t know where it’s best to mount an EPIRB on a larger cat. Where do others mount their primary EPIRB?

Both EPIRBs are registered with OFCOM (the boat is registered in Jersey) and the primary EPIRB is also registered with Maritime NZ.

The monohull option is typically just inside the companionway so the on watch crew in the cockpit can reach it easily. That location also puts it next to the most obvious cabin exit so other crew coming out can grab it.

But in a cat, if you’ve capsized, a location next to the salon door is over a metre underwater and a long way from the above water portions of the boat. But the safest way to exit an upside down cat, even if you’re in the salon, is going to be via an escape hatch, as that takes you up towards the air in the hulls. So it seems that an EPIRB should be next to one of the escape hatches, together with the grab bags. But in the case of fire or crashing onto a reef, a location next to the salon door makes more sense.

[Palarran]

Mine is next to the salon door and very easy to access. With your boat maybe it's more of a concern, but for me there are at least 5 more likely reasons I'd activate the epirb than capsize and by percentage it's probably 95 to 5. So I'd mount it where it makes sense for 95% of the instances.