🔍 Key Concepts

• 46 CFR requirements for lifesaving appliances, especially life floats and buoyant apparatus • Purpose of a painter (the line/rope attached to a life float, buoyant apparatus, or survival craft) • How capacity (number of persons) and stowage for automatic payout affect painter design and strength

💭 Think About

• Think about why the painter exists in the first place. What must it safely do when the vessel is sinking or survivors are in the water? • Consider whether regulations usually require just one feature (like strength) or combine several safety features for lifesaving gear. • Ask yourself which options describe typical regulatory-style language: are they specific numeric requirements, performance requirements (what it must do), material requirements, or a combination?

✅ Before You Answer

• Verify if the regulations specify a minimum breaking strength related to capacity for painters on life floats or buoyant apparatus. • Check whether there is a requirement that painters must be stowed so they can run out freely if the vessel sinks, rather than being tied off or fouled. • Look for any explicit requirement that the painter material be resistant to UV (ultraviolet) deterioration or if that type of requirement is more general to other survival craft equipment.