My Catalina was probably one of the most safety-ladened boats when it was at the marina (at least three of everything if not more) (less the BBQ
grills - just two of them!). Mostly due to when you buy a new to you boat - most of the safety gear is second hand and in my case, probably dated back to the date of manufacture of the boat. It did come with a Life-Sling contained in a moldy and worn case that I couldn't read the instructions. Seemed self-explanatory anyways, toss the thing out and reel them in...
That is after all what I would with the two other life rings (the hard ones) that were mounted on both port and starboard sides.
Thanks to
tenuki's post on the Man-Overboard...I went on reading and found this document on
Life-Slings and I realized I had it all wrong...
First I discovered that I do not have the 4-1 block to use with it. So, even if I had to use it - I couldn't EFFECTIVELY (and after reading all those reports on failures to bring someone on board).
Secondly, the version I have is apparently the same sold from the popular commercial outfits - its not inflatable (just float foam in yellow with who knows how much of the float-able
line), has no bowline or lifting eye, reflective tape, and nowhere to attach a strobe or light.
So, the cool thing is that I always KNEW that the hard life rings were not suggested (especially with them being white and not orange - but I did have the 150ft yellow floating nylon), but they were additional to be used as they were placed at other stations other than the helm. But looking back at the last two summers - the what-if scenario.... I would of never known how to use the Life-Sling - to begin with - much less know that it is really not up to standards at that rate...
That document was helpful in realizing what is required in regards to this piece of equipment - and perhaps this post, for others that acquired their boats second-hand or have put off looking at safety gear, would get the same insight I gleaned....