🔍 Key Concepts

• External lifelines (grab lines) on an inflatable liferaft and where they are normally located • Difference between external lifelines, the painter line, and the sea anchor line • How external lifelines are shown in standard USCG liferaft illustrations (continuous rope around the outside tube)

💭 Think About

• Look closely at which numbered arrow is pointing to the rope that runs all the way around the OUTSIDE of the raft’s buoyancy tube for people in the water to hold on to. Which number is that? • Which items are clearly something else, such as the boarding ladder, the sea anchor and its line, or fittings on the canopy, and can be eliminated as NOT being external lifelines? • Ask yourself: if someone were in the water next to this raft, which rope would they naturally grab that circles the raft at about water level?

✅ Before You Answer

• Make sure the item you pick is a continuous line around the outside of the raft, not a short handle, strap, or internal line. • Confirm it is not connected to the sea anchor (the drogue) or its line trailing away from the raft. • Verify that the item is secured to the outside of the buoyancy tube at multiple points, forming a perimeter grab line.