Lifeboat / Liferaft Accessories
Radar Reflectors
Radar Reflectors is a group of 2 IMPA-coded items (codes 330190–330191) under Lifeboat / Liferaft Accessories in the Safety Equipment section (IMPA 33). All of them are priced per piece. The list runs through 2 metric sizes from 320 mm to 460 mm.
Buying guide
A survival-craft radar reflector makes a lifeboat, liferaft or rescue boat show up on a searching ship’s radar. The group lists two SOLAS-approved types: a prefabricated (rigid) reflector of 320 mm diameter and an inflatable one of 460 mm, which packs small for a liferaft container.
They are part of the survival craft’s equipment. The officer in charge of life-saving appliances raises them when an item is found missing or damaged at the monthly inspection, or after a drill or service.
How to specify it
Say which craft it is for (lifeboat, rescue boat or liferaft) and which type fits its stowage: rigid 320 mm or inflatable 460 mm. Ask for the SOLAS approval to be stated on the quote, since this is LSA equipment and has to be an approved type.[1]
Check first whether a reflector is needed at all, or whether the craft carries a survival-craft radar transponder (SART) instead (see the rules below).[1]
A liferaft’s equipment is packed inside its container, so a reflector for a liferaft is normally renewed through the service station when the raft is serviced, not ordered loose.
Rules and certificates
LSA Code, as adopted: a liferaft carries "an efficient radar reflector, unless a survival craft radar transponder is stowed in the liferaft" (4.1.5.1.14). The same wording applies to the lifeboat (4.4.8.30). The rescue boat carries an efficient radar reflector with no SART alternative (5.1.2.2.12). The liferaft canopy must also have a means to mount a SART at least 1 m above the sea (4.1.1.5.7).[1]
SOLAS III/6.2.2, as replaced by resolution MSC.256(84), requires at least one search and rescue locating device on each side of every passenger ship and every cargo ship of 500 GT and upwards, and one on cargo ships of 300 to 500 GT. These are radar SARTs or AIS-SARTs, stowed so they can be put into any survival craft quickly, or stowed one in each survival craft.[2]
Questions buyers ask
- Do we need a radar reflector in the lifeboat if we carry a SART?
- Under the LSA Code, a lifeboat or liferaft needs one unless a survival craft radar transponder is stowed in that craft. A SART kept on the bridge for transfer does not count as stowed in the boat. A rescue boat always carries a reflector.
- Inflatable or rigid radar reflector: which do I order?
- Replace like with like. The catalogue lists a rigid 320 mm and an inflatable 460 mm type, both SOLAS approved; the inflatable one is the type that packs into a liferaft.
Sources
Published by Sherif Awad, founder of GeoMarineHub — in ship supply since 1990, a family business since 1981 (45 years). Last checked .
At a glance
Part of Safety Equipment (IMPA section 33): Life-saving and fire-fighting equipment — extinguishers, breathing apparatus, lifejackets, detectors, pyrotechnics.
It is one of 49 groups under Lifeboat / Liferaft Accessories; the others include Anti-seasickness Medicine, Bailers, Boat Hooks, Can Openers, Daylight Signal Mirrors and 43 more.
Post the ones you need as a requirement and verified suppliers activated at your port bid on them — sealed, so nobody sees another bid.
- Items
- 2
- IMPA codes
- 330190–330191
- Priced
- per piece
- Sizes
- 320 mm – 460 mm
Items
| IMPA | Item | Unit |
|---|---|---|
| 330190 | RADAR REFLECTOR PREFABRICATE, 320MM DIA SOLAS APPROVED | PCS |
| 330191 | RADAR REFLECTOR INFLATABLE, 460MM DIA SOLAS APPROVED | PCS |
Also under Lifeboat / Liferaft Accessories
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