Unsinkable Boats Are the FUTURE of Sailing!
The 47-foot Motor Lifeboat (MLB) of the US Coast Guard is specifically designed to be unsinkable. Its ability to remain afloat is crucial for the Coast Guard, as they frequently rescue individuals caught in storms. The MLB's watertight cabin and hull, combined with its low center of gravity, enable it to stay buoyant even if it capsizes. Additionally, the MLB's low center of gravity allows for quick flipping of the boat back upright.

#boat #capsize #sink



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ADDITIONAL READINGS:

The 47-foot MLB is the standard lifeboat of the United States Coast Guard (USCG). The 47′ MLB is the successor to the 44′ MLB.

At Station Chatham where the new 47-foot boat would draw too much to get over the bar, the 42-foot Near Shore Lifeboat was designed to replace the 44' MLB.

The 47′ MLB is designed to weather hurricane force winds and heavy seas, capable of surviving winds up to 60 knots (110 km/h), breaking surf up to 6 m (20 ft) and impacts up to three G's. If the boat should capsize, it self-rights in less than ten seconds with all equipment fully functional.

The boat's hull and superstructure are constructed entirely from 5456 marine grade aluminum. Designed with a hard chined deep "V" planing hull, the 47′ MLB exceeds its hull speed. The frame is composed of 17 vertical bulkhead frames, each of which is welded to the deck and hull, and five of which are watertight.

Employing "fly-by-wire" control systems, the boat can be operated from four different locations: two from the enclosed bridge, and two amidships from an open bridge. Because of the “by wire” system the boat is controlled by joysticks instead of wheels.

Situated less than 1 ft (30 cm) above the water line are recessed retrieval wells, allowing for easier recovery of persons and jetsam, and easier boardings. A watertight survivor's compartment is equipped for comprehensive first aid. It is situated at the combined center of rotation of the ship. if needed a light machine gun can be fitted at the front of the vessel.

The rigid buoyant boat (RBB) is a light-weight but high performance and high capacity boat. Based on the concept of a Rigid-hulled inflatable boat (RHIB), it has a tube/sponson manufactured from a solid material such as moulded polyethylene or aluminium and therefore being much more robust than the fabrics commonly used. Boats with foam filled collars such as the secure all-around flotation equipped (SAFE) boats[1] employed by the US Coast Guard can also be classified as Rigid Buoyant Boats rather than "true" RHIBs as the collar is solid foam rather than inflated. The handling tends to be very similar to a RHIB; likewise they will remain afloat (buoyant) even if completely flooded. Aluminium RBBs tend to be bespoke (custom-made to specification) or low-volume products whilst the tooling cost of rotomolded polyethylene boats tends to require these to be higher volume products. At least three manufacturers are producing rotomolded boats of this type.[2][3][4] One supplier has demonstrated the robustness of the boats by dropping one from a crane onto a concrete car park.[3] The U.S. Navy’s small unit riverine craft and the Coast Guard’s Defender class 25-foot (7.6 m) boats are examples of RBBs. Some boat builders make RBB's as workboat from HDPE sheets welded together. Similar deep V-hull can be made for good seakeeping. If buoyancy chambers are filled the hull becomes truly unsinkable and extremely indestructible making the RBB very suitable for rough conditions.

Boston Whaler is an American boat manufacturer. It is a subsidiary of the Brunswick Boat Group, a division of the Brunswick Corporation. Boston Whalers were originally produced in Massachusetts, hence the name, but today are manufactured in Edgewater, Florida.

Richard "Dick" Fisher graduated from Harvard University in 1936. He ran a company building small, lightweight boats out of balsa wood. He designed a rowboat and got the materials to build it, but he never completed it.

In the 1950s, polyurethane foam, a stiff, lightweight, buoyant material, was invented. Fisher imagined it as a replacement for the lightweight balsa used in small boat construction, and in 1954 he constructed a small sailing dinghy filled with the foam, with a design similar to the Sunfish. He showed the finished product to his friend, naval architect C. Raymond Hunt. Hunt recognized potential in the process, however he did not feel the design was particularly suited to sailboats. Instead, he created a design based on the Hickman Sea Sled featuring a cathedral hull.

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