When Your Lifeboat is Your Sailboat and Your Sailboat is a Lifeboat

[zengirl]

Originally Posted by ArmyDaveNY

This is very cool. Thanks for sharing this unique aspect of boating that I'm sure few thing of.

Fascinating! Thank you.

[gjordan]

When I was in Tahiti several converted life boats came thru. An American 26 foot wooden lifeboat that was sloop rigged and had a ferro cement keel was the one that I knew the folks. When first converted the keel would open up the bottom planks every time the boat heeled. They ended up putting steel straps (maybe SS) from the toerail all the way down and around the keel to keep it from flexing. They had come from the west coast and later sailed up to Hawaii where I was told they scrapped the boat and shipped the motor back to Calif. There was another French lifeboat of about the same size but made of steel that looked really rough but a young couple with a baby were out cruising. I never met them but I understand that they were having a wonderful time. Yes, It can be done. ____Grant.

[Steadman Uhlich]

Originally Posted by gjordan

When I was in Tahiti several converted life boats came thru. An American 26 foot wooden lifeboat that was sloop rigged and had a ferro cement keel was the one that I knew the folks. When first converted the keel would open up the bottom planks every time the boat heeled. They ended up putting steel straps (maybe SS) from the toerail all the way down and around the keel to keep it from flexing. They had come from the west coast and later sailed up to Hawaii where I was told they scrapped the boat and shipped the motor back to Calif. There was another French lifeboat of about the same size but made of steel that looked really rough but a young couple with a baby were out cruising. I never met them but I understand that they were having a wonderful time. Yes, It can be done. ____Grant.

Wow! Very interesting anecdote!
Thanks for adding to the discussion.

[NevisDog]

Originally Posted by Steadman Uhlich

Where would you find a cheap lifeboat with an almost new/unused motor? Here....in Chittagong Beach in India... £2.800 each with working engine...

Awesome! Noted, for my next project. Around $5000 NZ gets me a very solid, 'as-new' big-volume 30'(?) hull plus 'as-new' diesel - hard to argue with that.

[ZULU40]

Originally Posted by Steadman Uhlich

Steady's Notes:

Converted Lifeboats are fairly common in the UK.
_________________

a bit OT but theres a tradition there

the boat Dulcibella from the novel 'Riddle of the Sands' (by Erskine Childers if you want to chase it) was reputed to be the converted lifeboat Vixen. And from that I took it that elements of the story preceding WWI had some, well just some truth to them.

The boat itself depicted in the movie of the same name pictured below was the converted lifeboat Susan Ashley from RNLI Isle of Wight. Now thats a boat ...

[gjordan]

Many of those lifeboats that are for sale have hydraulic start motors, since batteries and electrical wiring would not be as reliable when stored for long periods of no use. Pump like hell on a short handle to build up pressure and then hope it starts quickly or you will be pumping again. Less easy than turning the key and using an electric starter but more reliable. I have seen lifeboats for sale on the Seattle Craigslist every few years. _____Grant

[Gdog6]

Originally Posted by Steadman Uhlich

Steady's Notes:

Converted Lifeboats are fairly common in the UK. I have seen many that have been converted to either power boat status or liveaboard (like a canal boat).

I am a member of a historical lifeboats group, and I follow some of the stories of the boats. Notably, there are many lifeboats around the UK, and they are a non-profit volunteer organization, the RNLI, sponsored by local coastal villages. Occasionally their older boats go up for sale.

I enjoy seeing these boats and I hope CF members will too.
Steady
_________________

Love the look of these two.
Thanks for the great thread Steady.

[MonkeyButler]

Burl Ives owned a nice lifeboat conversion.

https://books.google.com/books?id=bP...ilboat&f=false

[buzzstar]

Having been in a modern lifeboat from a passenger ship, I can say I was not impressed with the comfort level of the ride. I recall much rolling. Yes, it seemed very sturdy, and was dry inside. Some of the details remind of a recent experience where a friend had asked me to look into Fisher 34 information for him. I had not previously recognized the similarities in design between the Fisher 34 and some of the lifeboat conversions shown by the OP. Bottom line, at least in my opinion: I'd not want to do any long distance cruising in a conversion (or a Fisher 34), but depending upon amenities. either might be very suitable for solo sailing in my area, or more particularly in the northern latitudes for somewhat longer.

[Dougtiff]

Back in the 80'S, when i was working out of singapore as a Oilfield Diver, i heard about a L.B. conversion in Brunei, while taking my week time off ashore from working in Brunei, i hunted down the project, meeting the young Brit making the conversion, which was about three quarters done on a riveted steel 35 footer, she would be as i recall a sloop or possibly a Cutter, quite a nice job was done, year's later i came across a article published in" Nautical quarterly",it turned out the couple circumnavigated in the vessel.

[Bajansailor]

This is an excellent thread Steadman, thank you for starting it.

Another very nice sailing lifeboat is the former RNLI Watson class 46' lifeboat 'Swn Y Mor'

Here is her webpage
Swn Y Mor ~ The Sound of the Sea

[gjordan]

I think much of what Buzzstar says rings true. Lifeboats are meant to save lives, not keep people in comfort. I would assume (those are dangerous words) that any conversion would include some sort of keel and that would reduce the tendency of a round bottom hull to roll like a pig, while a mast would reduce it even more. Yes , I think they would still roll a lot but if you are in that economic situation that you need a cheep cruising boat, then you will compromise a bit on comfort. It still amazes me the number of people that are afraid to cross an ocean without a $200,00 boat with $30,000 worth of electronics on it. Remember that a Tropical Island looks the same from the cockpit of a 25 foot boat as it does from the cockpit of a 50 foot boat. Dont wait until you think you can afford it, because you just might never get to that point. Another 25 cent comment. ____Grant.

[ArmyDaveNY]

I believe that Buzzstar is correct in his assessment of the rolling of many lifeboats. I suspect that not all are like this. I noticed in the photos posted that there is a great variety of hull shapes and I am sure that not all are as prone to rolling as the more bulbous boats. The boats in posts #1 and #3 even look like they have a traditional keel to a varying extent.

Certainly some are suited from a comfort point of view to coastal or river travel, but I suspect that some are all right, especially if they have sails, for ocean travel.

[Steadman Uhlich]

Originally Posted by ArmyDaveNY

I believe that Buzzstar is correct in his assessment of the rolling of many lifeboats. I suspect that not all are like this. I noticed in the photos posted that there is a great variety of hull shapes and I am sure that not all are as prone to rolling as the more bulbous boats. The boats in posts #1 and #3 even look like they have a traditional keel to a varying extent.

Certainly some are suited from a comfort point of view to coastal or river travel, but I suspect that some are all right, especially if they have sails, for ocean travel.

Yes. Good post ARMYDAVENY.

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There is a vast difference in hull designs or boat designs for "Lifeboats."
They are not all the same or with same seakeeping or handling characteristics.

Traditional motor lifeboats used by the RNLI (in the UK) are often designed for duty in heavy surf, often with launching from rails on shore in shallow water, or "beach launch." They can have low freeboard designs (useful for MOB recovery).

Some of the other earlier designs were based on sailing to a ship, with auxiliary engines added later. Like pilot boats, they had to sail in extreme conditions.

Yes, the "big orange bubble" type of enclosed lifeboat we see hanging on most large commercial ships today is a different type. It has an engine, but is not intended for long voyages.

Some modern Lifeboats used in Europe are very robust motor vessels, with very powerful engines, some with relatively high superstructure, some are large and built to handle extreme conditions (rescues of ship's crews in the North Sea, English Channel, Iberian Peninsula, etc.). Most if not all are designed to self-right (360 inversion to righting) if capsized.

So, there are very big differences.

[ArmyDaveNY]

The article I linked is about the evolution of contemporary cruise ships and is quite interesting. The part I thought you might enjoy concerns the lifeboats on these behemoths. From the article:

“The complexity of building ships goes up exponentially” with size, Kulovaara says. (Previously, the largest lifeboats on the market carried 150 people. In designing Oasis, Royal Caribbean also had to develop a new class of 370-person lifeboats. Symphony has 18 of them.)"

370 passengers? That's a ship onto itself! To me it's difficult to comprehend 370 people in a boat that's "only" 16.7 m (54.275 feet) long and 5.6 m (18.2 feet) long. Still, that would make a great live aboard, assuming of course, that there are fewer than 370 on board!

https://www.rina.org.uk/mega-lifeboat.html

The dizzying story of Symphony of the Seas, the largest and most ambitious cruise ship ever built | WIRED UK