🔍 Key Concepts

• SOLAS requirements for life-saving appliances, especially rigid life rafts • Purpose of a painter (tow line) on a life raft and why extra length is needed • Difference between reaching the waterline and providing extra length for operational safety

💭 Think About

• Ask yourself: Why does the painter need to be longer than just the distance from the raft’s stowage position to the waterline? What operations does this extra length support? • Consider: If the ship has a high freeboard (height from waterline to deck), how much extra painter length would reasonably be needed for safe launching and clearing the ship’s side? • Think about standard, rounded lengths often used in SOLAS for lines and painters—do any of the options look like a commonly used safety margin?

✅ Before You Answer

• Verify what SOLAS / LSA Code says specifically about the minimum length of a life raft painter beyond the height from stowage position to the waterline. • Check whether the required extra length is meant to allow the raft to clear the ship’s side and remain attached while it inflates and is boarded. • Confirm that the total painter length must be at least height of stowage above waterline + required extra length given in one of the answer choices.