RNLI Atlantic 85, Manual

Page: 40 / 122

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Activity 4 - SAR Unit Handling and Seamanship
B Class Atlantic 85 Manual – First Issue, June 2017
Activity 4 - SAR Unit Handling and Seamanship
Starting and stopping engines
With both isolator switches in the ‘on’ position, firstly
prime the fuel bulbs located in front of both engines. With
both engines in the water (or water on if on carriage),
check the throttle levers are in the neutral position
then push each green start button individually until the
respective engine starts. Once running, check the ‘tell tale’
from the back of the engine to indicate the coolant system
is operational.
WARNING
Do not start the engine when in gear. The
propellers will rotate and could cause personal
injury or even death.
To shut down the engines, return throttle to neutral/idle
position, press and hold red button until engine stops, then
release button only once engine has completely stopped.
Throttles and gear selection
The levers control each engine individually in gear
selection, power and out of gear idle. When in the centre
upright position the engines will remain in neutral and at
idle. To increase revs whilst in this position, lift the lever
on top of the control box. To put the engine into gear and
then increase revs, lift the red interlock catch up and move
the lever forward or backward to select desired direction
of travel. The gearbox will firstly engage with a clunk, and
further movement of the lever will increase the revs in
the selected gear (there is no clutch fitted, so a positive
approach is required when initially selecting gear to avoid
wear on gearbox cogs). Engines should remain in neutral
when swapping crew on helm position.
Ballast system
Located next to the throttles is a smaller lever controlling
the water ballast system. A waterscoop can be dropped
from the transom to fill the ballast tank located under
the foredeck with 270kg of water, provided the boat is
travelling through the water at more than 15 knots. The
primary function of this system is to keep the bow heavy
when operating or launching into rough weather (up sea).
Push the lever down and back to fill the tank. Once full,
water will drain from the breather pipe by the sea anchor
stowage. To retain the ballast, simply move the lever to
the ‘hold’ position. The tank may require draining, this can
be done when returning to the station at a lower speed.
For certain recovery systems, this is a necessity.
Emergency steering (see page 100 )
rpm
Speed
(knots)
Fill time
(min-sec)
Drain time
(min-sec)
2000 2.15 (¼ full only) 0.33
2500 1.41 (½ full only) 1.24
2900 (Prefilled) 3.25
3000 15 2.30 3.23
3200 (Prefilled) 3.25
3500 18 1.40 3.35
4000 1.15 3.39
4500 1.00 4.09
5000 31 0.52 4.14
5500 36 0.47 4.07
Water Ballast System
SOP
Refer to your local operating
procedure for launch and recovery
LOP