Inspection on deck

Lazarette locker

The lazarette contained a liferaft and nothing else, which is good because there was nothing to hinder rapid deployment. But I think we can utilize the remaining space for other safety gear and make it the dedicated safety locker for the gear we need on deck – if we ever need this gear we’ll need it immediately.

Firstly, we hauled out the liferaft, or rather tried to because it’s quite a snug fit and to access it you must remove the lazarette lid and the two catches were found to be firmly seized! WD40 penetrating fluid was applied and a few minutes later the lid was off. Then we removed the salt deposits from the catches and applied a layer of grease – smooth operation was restored and confidence in a rapid abandonment increased. When we hauled the liferaft out of the locker it was found to be six months out of date and it had also been sitting in water (the lazarette’s drainage hole was blocked) so was looking rather the worse for wear. It was sent for servicing.

Cockpit locker

Bolt cutters and a soon-to-be-out-of-date coastal flare pack were found in separate locations in the saloon, given a wrap of luminous tape and then placed in the lazarette for quick accessibility.

We also acquired an offshore flare pack which we were planning to put in the lazarette also, but simultaneously discovered the other cockpit lockers had no drainage or venting so we had to store the fuel cans for the new tender’s motor next to the liferaft instead.

“There’s a fire extinguisher in the port cockpit locker,” said the skipper. There was – we eventually found it under a multitude of rope, hoses and other assorted equipment, but its gauge was showing red and so the extinguisher was replaced. This locker received a ruthless

Bolt cutters are now found in a reorganised cockpit locker

The liferaft was situated in this admirably uncluttered lazarette locker, but the drain was blocked so the raft was sitting in water and was out of date, so we sent it for servicing. The locker lid also needed attention so it could be fully removed to extract the liferaft

We eventually had to stow the dinghy fuel tanks in with the liferaft as the other cockpit locker wasn’t fitted with drains

Bolt cutters were stowed in a locker in the saloon – too far from the deck where they’ll be needed