[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: 46CFR199.157]

[Page 489-490]
 
                           TITLE 46--SHIPPING
 
   CHAPTER I--COAST GUARD, DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY (CONTINUED)
 
PART 199--LIFESAVING SYSTEMS FOR CERTAIN INSPECTED VESSELS--Table of Contents
 
                 Subpart B--Requirements for All Vessels
 
Sec. 199.157  Free-fall lifeboat launching and recovery arrangements.

    (a) The launching appliance for a free-fall lifeboat must be 
designed and installed so that the launching appliance and the lifeboat 
it serves operate as a system to protect the occupants from harmful 
acceleration forces and to effectively clear the vessel.
    (b) The launching appliance must be designed and arranged so that, 
in its ready to launch position, the distance from the lowest point on 
the lifeboat it serves to the water surface with the vessel in its 
lightest seagoing condition does not exceed the lifeboat's certificated 
free-fall height.
    (c) The launching appliance must be arranged to preclude accidental 
release of the lifeboat in its unattended stowed position. If the means 
provided to secure the lifeboat cannot be released from inside the 
lifeboat, the means to secure the lifeboat must be arranged to preclude 
boarding the lifeboat without first releasing it.
    (d) Each free-fall launching arrangement must be provided with a 
secondary means to launch the lifeboat by falls. Such means must comply 
with the requirements of Secs. 199.150, 199.153, and 199.155. 
Notwithstanding Sec. 199.150(c), the secondary launching appliance must 
be capable of launching

[[Page 490]]

the lifeboat against unfavorable conditions of trim of 2 degrees either 
way and of list of 5 degrees either way. The secondary launching 
appliance need not comply with the speed requirements of Secs. 199.153 
(g), (h), and (i). If the secondary launching appliance is not dependent 
on gravity, stored mechanical power, or other manual means, the 
launching arrangement must be connected both to the vessel's main and 
emergency power supplies.