[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 46, Volume 7]
[Revised as of October 1, 2003]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 46CFR180.175]

[Page 253-254]
 
                           TITLE 46--SHIPPING
 
   CHAPTER I--COAST GUARD, DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY (CONTINUED)
 
PART 180--LIFESAVING EQUIPMENT AND ARRANGEMENTS--Table of Contents
 
          Subpart D--Survival Craft Arrangements and Equipment
 
Sec. 180.175  Survival craft equipment.

    (a) General. Each item of survival craft equipment must be of good 
quality, and efficient for the purpose it is intended to serve. Unless 
otherwise stated in this section, each item of equipment carried, 
whether required under this section or not, must be secured by lashings, 
stored in lockers, compartments, brackets, or have equivalent mounting 
or storage arrangements that do not:
    (1) Reduce survival craft capacity;
    (2) Reduce space available to the occupants;
    (3) Interfere with launching, recovery, or rescue operations; or
    (4) Adversely affect seaworthiness of the survival craft.
    (b) Inflatable liferafts. Each inflatable liferaft must have one of 
the following equipment packs as shown by the markings on its container:
    (1) Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) B Pack; or
    (2) SOLAS A Pack.
    (c) Inflatable buoyant apparatus. Each inflatable buoyant apparatus 
must be equipped in accordance with the manufacturer's approved 
servicing manual.
    (d) Life floats. Each life float must be fitted with a lifeline, 
pendants, two paddles, a painter, and a light.
    (e) Buoyant apparatus. Each buoyant apparatus must be fitted with a 
lifeline, pendants, a painter, and a light.
    (f) Equipment specifications for life floats and buoyant apparatus. 
The equipment required for lifefloats and buoyant apparatus must meet 
the following specifications:
    (1) Lifeline and pendants. The lifeline and pendants must be as 
furnished by the manufacturer with the approved life float or buoyant 
apparatus. Replacement lifelines and pendants must meet the requirements 
in Subpart 160.010 of this chapter.
    (2) Paddle. Each paddle must be of at least 1,220 millimeters (4 
feet) in length, lashed to the life float to which it belongs and 
buoyant.
    (3) Painter. The painter must:

[[Page 254]]

    (i) Be of at least 30.5 meters (100 feet) in length, but not less 
than 3 times the distance between the deck where the life float or 
buoyant apparatus it serves is stowed and the lowest load waterline of 
the vessel;
    (ii) Have a breaking strength of at least 680 kilograms (1,500 
pounds), except that if the capacity of the life float or buoyant 
apparatus is 50 persons or more, the breaking strength must be at least 
1,360 kilograms (3,000 pounds);
    (iii) Be of a dark color if synthetic, or of a type certified to be 
resistant to deterioration from ultraviolet light; and
    (iv) Be stowed in such a way that it runs out freely when the life 
float or buoyant apparatus floats away from a sinking vessel.
    (4) Light. The light must be a floating waterlight approved under 
approval series 161.010 or other standard specified by the Commandant. 
The floating waterlight must be attached around the body of the life 
float or buoyant apparatus by a 10 mm (3/8 inch) lanyard, resistant to 
deterioration from ultraviolet light, and at least 5.5 meters (18 feet) 
in length.
    (g) Other survival craft. If survival craft other than inflatable 
liferafts, life floats, inflatable buoyant apparatus, and buoyant 
apparatus are carried on the vessel, such as lifeboats or rigid 
liferafts, they must be installed, arranged, and equipped as required 
under subchapter H (Passenger Vessels) of this chapter for passenger 
vessels on the same route.

[CGD 85-080, 61 FR 975, Jan. 10, 1996, as amended at 62 FR 51357, Sept. 
30, 1997]