Hunter H33 - Fire Safety; Fire Response Plan; Distress Signals

Hu
nt
e
r
33
• Boatin
g
Safet
y
4.1
2
I
f
a person
f
alls overboard, h
y
pothermia ma
y
be an
immediate concern. H
y
pothermia means a person
’
s bod
y
loses heat to the water faster than the bod
y
can replace
it. I
f
not rescued, the person will become exhausted and
likel
y
drown. In
g
eneral, the colder the water, the shorter
th
e
tim
e
f
o
r
su
rviv
a
l. PFD
s
will in
c
r
ease
su
rviv
a
l tim
e
because the
y
provide insulation.
Wa
t
e
r
T
emperatur
e
E
x
h
aust
i
on or
U
ncon-
scious
n
ess
E
xpected Time o
f
S
urvival
3
2.
5
U
nder 15 mi
n
U
nder 15 to 45 mi
n
3
2.5 – 40 15 –
3
0 mi
n
3
0 – 90 mi
n
40 – 5
0
3
0 – 60 mi
n
1 –
3
hrs
50 – 6
0
1 – 2 hr
s
2 – 4 hr
s
60
– 7
0
2 –
3
hrs 2 – 4 hr
s
7
0
–
80
3
– 12 hrs
3
hrs – indefinit
e
O
ver
80
In
de
finit
e
In
de
finit
e
4
.4 Fir
e
DANGER
! !
A fire aboard
y
our boat is serious. Explosion is pos-
sible. Respond immediatel
y
. Develop a fire response
p
lan
.
4
.4.1 Fir
e
E
ver
y
boater should develop a fire response plan to
determine what kind o
f
f
ire
(f
uel, electrical, etc.
)
mi
g
ht
break out, where it mi
g
ht break out, and the best wa
y
to
r
eac
t.
Important: Everyone on board should know where a fire extin-
guisher is and how to operate it.
An
y
f
ire requires stoppin
g
the en
g
ines immediatel
y
.
I
f
the
f
ire is in the en
g
ine compartment, shut o
ff
the bil
g
e
blower immediatel
y
. Do not open the hatch to the en
g
ine
c
ompartment. The fire will flare up as the fresh air suppl
y
increases suddenl
y.
Keep the
f
ire downwind i
f
possible. I
f
the
f
ire is a
f
t, head
i
nt
o
t
he
w
i
n
d
.
H
ave all persons on board put on their personal
f
lotation
devices
(
PFDs
)
.
I
f
y
ou can
g
et at the
f
ire, aim the
f
ire extin
g
uisher at the
base of the flames and use a sweepin
g
action to put out
th
e
f
ir
e
.
If the fire
g
ets out of control, make a distress si
g
nal and
c
all
f
or help on the radio.
D
ec
idi
n
g
w
h
et
h
er to sta
y
w
i
t
h
t
h
e
b
oat or a
b
an
d
on s
hi
p
will be di
ff
icult. I
f
the decision is to abandon ship, all per-
sons on board should
j
ump overboard and swim a sa
f
e
distance awa
y
from the burnin
g
boat
.
4
.5 Distress Si
g
nal
s
4
.5.1 Ma
y
da
y
If
y
ou have a VHF radio, heed storm warnin
g
s and
answer an
y
distress calls
f
rom other boats. The word
“
MAYDAY” spoken three times is the international si
g
nal
o
f distress. Monitor marine radio channel 16, which is
reserved
f
or emer
g
enc
y
and sa
f
et
y
messa
g
es. You can
a
l
so
use
thi
s
c
h
a
nn
e
l t
o
co
nt
ac
t th
e
Coas
t
Gua
r
d
o
r
o
th
e
r
boaters if
y
ou have trouble
.
Never send a “MAYDAY” message unless there is a serious
emergency and you are in need of immediately assistance.
4
.5.2 Visual Distress Si
g
nal
s
The U.S. Coast Guard requires that all boats operat-
in
g
on U.S. Coastal Waters have visual distress si
g
nal
e
quipment on board. In
g
eneral, coastal waters include
all waters except rivers, streams, and inland lakes. The
Great Lakes are considered coastal waters, as is a river
m
ou
th m
o
r
e
th
a
n tw
o
mil
es
wi
de
. B
oa
t
s
o
wn
ed
in th
e
U
nited States and operatin
g
on the hi
g
h seas must also
c
arr
y
v
i
sua
l
di
stress s
ig
na
l
equ
i
pment
.
V
isual distress equipment must be in serviceable con-
di
t
i
on an
d
stowe
d
i
n a rea
dily
access
ibl
e
l
ocat
i
on.
E
quipment havin
g
a date showin
g
use
f
ul service li
f
e must
be within the specified usa
g
e date shown. Both p
y
rotech-
nic and non-p
y
rotechnic equipment must be U.S. Coast
G
uard approved
.