Where to install an EPIRB?

[EmeraldCoastSailor]

I have done my coastal cruising and gulf passages with a PLB attached to my life vest (along with handheld VHF and strobes) but my PLB is beyond its 5 year battery life. Given battery replacement costs and timeframe I am ordering another one and I think I will also get an EPIRB for the boat and increased safety.

When I am solo sailing I spend almost all time in cockpit on a bean bag. With crew, I snooze below if the weather is cool enough. I am not crossing oceans but I am crossing Gulf of Mexico. Two logical places to install EPIRB are in the companionway area or on the compression post. Or do I keep it in the ditch bag?

[marshmat]

If it's in a hydrostatic auto-release mount, it should be placed so that it's sure to float free if the boat's capsized and sinking.


If it's the kind that's kept in a pouch until manually activated, I'd be inclined to keep it in the ditch bag.


I don't see much point in having an EPIRB in a fixed mount below decks. That'd negate any automatic activation function, and would be just one more thing you have to grab in a situation where every second counts and you don't have time to think.

[CarlF]

Deck mounting and hydrostatic releases are best for commercial vessels where the mounting is high above any waves. Too many EPIRBS have been washed over the side.

Since you solo sail, I would just get another PLB and have a lanyard to go around your neck. Costs less money and can’t get left behind in the cabin. The PLB batteries last 24 hours instead of 48 hours but in the waters you sail a chopper will be overhead in two hours - so it makes no difference.

In the beacon database use the comments section to give the CG a complete description of the boat and your itinerary. This will help them mount a rescue.

Since 99% of EPIRB/PLB activations are false alarms, the CG will delay launching a rescue for as much as two hours - trying to verify the distress by calling the contacts you put in the database. Before your trip, call the contacts to make sure you have a current phone number and that they won’t say “Huh?” if they get a call in the middle of the night from the CG.

Also, consider an InReach in addition to a PLB - or even instead of one if budget is tight. This lets family communicate to know you are safe, contact a mechanic if you have engine trouble, get weather reports, and is a newer technology than the creaky 60 year old EPIRB satellite technology. Four day battery and can go in the water. It’s two way communication so verification is as simple as the CG texting you back. Best of all, you can use it to tell SAR that you are in a tight spot but are not declaring a MayDay (which usually ends with you being forced to abandon your boat as they take you off). They will establish a contact schedule over the InReach and have a rescue plan that can be launched on a moments notice if you miss a contact.

[Paul L]

If you mount the Eprib then it should be in a location where you can reasonably grab it if you are in the cockpit and a fire starts below. Next to the companionway is a good choice.

[DeValency]

Mounted the EPIRB right inside the companionway, easily reached from the cockpit without stepping down

[Stewie12]

I would go along with right inside the companionway.

[meirriba]

If you sail alone - PLB on your body is best.
If in company: nice to have personal AIS units attached to individual crew members that raise an alarm directly on your boat (and any other boat in the vicinity).
EPIRB should be in a position that you may easily take it with you when you need to abandon the boat.
If you have a ditch bag, this is best. BUT the bag should be in a (very) accessible place not hidden somewhere deep, (I usually designate a crew member whose responsibility it is to take the ditch bag to the liferaft in the unlikely case of abandoning).
If no ditch bag, but your cockpit has a fixed bimini, you may install it outside in a protected place.
Othewise, inside as near as possible to the companionway.

[captmikem]

I always put mine in the top of a hanging locker. out of the way where it won't get knocked off. Your boat is not going to sink in 20 seconds (Unless you are run down an cut in half) and most fires are electrical or from an alcohol stove, so a fire extinguisher is more useful just inside the companionway.

As for having gear hanging around your neck, that sound downright dangerous when you have to go on deck in a breeze to do some work.

M

[meirriba]

Originally Posted by captmikem

I always put mine in the top of a hanging locker. out of the way where it won't get knocked off. Your boat is not going to sink in 20 seconds (Unless you are run down an cut in half) and most fires are electrical or from an alcohol stove, so a fire extinguisher is more useful just inside the companionway.

As for having gear hanging around your neck, that sound downright dangerous when you have to go on deck in a breeze to do some work.

M

Not 20 sec but 10-15 min in which you will have a long list of actions to take. And I am writing from actual experience.
After no more than 5 min from the moment we found ingress of water, the saloon floorboards were deep underwater and the saloon was dangerous to enter.
So, as suggested by many here, an inside locker is not the best of ideas.
As to fire extinguishers, you should have more than one. One near the companionway is fine if you have to enter the boat from the cockpit to kill the fire.
But, you need more, e.g. in the case you need to come to a fire from your cabin and the burning galley is exactly on your way from your cabin to the lone extinguisher near the companionway.

[Cadence]

Originally Posted by EmeraldCoastSailor

I have done my coastal cruising and gulf passages with a PLB attached to my life vest (along with handheld VHF and strobes) but my PLB is beyond its 5 year battery life. Given battery replacement costs and timeframe I am ordering another one and I think I will also get an EPIRB for the boat and increased safety.

When I am solo sailing I spend almost all time in cockpit on a bean bag. With crew, I snooze below if the weather is cool enough. I am not crossing oceans but I am crossing Gulf of Mexico. Two logical places to install EPIRB are in the companionway area or on the compression post. Or do I keep it in the ditch bag?

I have opted for the companionway. If you need it you don't want to have to look for it.

[boat driver]

The question has migrated from EPIRB location.
The EPIRB should be mounted in the best most logical location for your vessel and its use/design. The purpose of the EPIRB is to alert authorities to come and get you. It is also a location for same.
Location should include a review of scenarios for your vessel- If rapid sinking (holed by container, whale, deadhead/ etc. then can you retrieve the EPIRB with floorboards floating and debris blocking normal operations?
Fire and smoke, can the EPIRB be found if no ingress to interior is an option?
If a pitchpole rollover happens, can EPIRB be located upside down?

Float-free exterior location is by far the best option. That said, smaller vessels are often susceptible to exterior locations and unintentional loss of EPIRB, including theft.
Putting inside the grab bag is fine if the grab bag is float free, but if it the grab bag is stowed interior, can it be accessed in the majority of scenarios?

The often general compromise is just inside the companionway in a location that is very obvious and often easy to reach from the exterior. Remember, it is the last opportunity to call for help.

[waterman46]

Ditch bag, for sure. I want it to go with me to the liferaft without having to think of a separate item to take, which might get dropped. Ditch bag has good handles for carrying. The bag protects it.

If I need the EPIRB before abandoning ship, then its easy enough to unzip the bag to get it out.

Ditch bag is under the nav desk usually, but underway sometimes I tie it to a protected location in the cockpit or to the liferaft itself in good weather. Life raft is in a semi-protected area just aft of the cockpit.

[roverhi]

Pack one in your life raft. Don't make it the only one though. If you really are in an abandon ship situation you'll be deploying the raft and be sure of having an epirb with you. Have another that you'll take with you as rafts have been known to go walk about in strong wind and waves before the crew can climb in.

[FabioC]

I would say within two feet of the companionway, so you can reach it without going downstairs, but out of the way enough that you do not bang on it every time you use the companionway. Usually, those two requirements alone are satisfied by at most one precise location on the boat (or none, then you have to relax the requirements...)

[CassidyNZ]

Originally Posted by waterman46

Ditch bag, for sure. I want it to go with me to the liferaft without having to think of a separate item to take, which might get dropped. Ditch bag has good handles for carrying.

Totally agree.

I have mine mounted to the ceiling just inside the companionway but have often thought to move it to the grab bag. After all, I’m only going to activate it when it becomes obvious that the boat is irretrievably lost (guaranteed to sink) at which time the grab bag should already be on deck.

In practice I would think it completely logical that I would trigger the EPIRB from the liferaft. Being in the grab bag ensures it doesn’t get lost in the abandon-ship process.

Up until now I’ve just been too lazy to change it.