🔍 Key Concepts

• Float-free link purpose – why it needs to part at a certain load when the ship sinks • Relationship between liferaft capacity (number of persons) and required breaking strength • How U.S. regulations group capacities into 10 or less, 11–20, and 21 or more

💭 Think About

• Ask yourself: does the question seem to be asking for just one specific breaking strength range, or is it summarizing several capacity categories from the regulation? • Think about why different-sized buoyant apparatus or liferafts would need different minimum breaking strengths for their float-free links. • Consider whether the regulation lists each capacity group separately, or whether it combines them into a single overall requirement.

✅ Before You Answer

• Check in 46 CFR for how float-free link breaking strength is specified for different capacity ranges. • Verify whether each listed breaking strength range in options A, B, and C actually appears word-for-word in the regulation. • Confirm if the regulation treats these three ranges as separate, all valid categories, or if only one of them is correct for the device in the question.