Thread: Epirb
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Old 09-20-2012, 09:08 PM   #17
Marin
Scraping Paint
 
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Join Date: Oct 2007
Posts: 13,745
Given the waters where we boat and are likely to boat in the near future we don't see a value for either an EPIRB or a PLB. We have a waterproof handheld VHF that would go in the ditch bag that gets clipped to the dinghy in the event of an emergency.

If we are someday able to go up the Inside Passage into SE Alaska an EPIRB on the boat might be something we'd install if we could be convinced of its value. It would depend on how adventuresome and exploratory we wanted to be.

If we boated in the open ocean, or if I was still in Hawaii and was boating there, I would want a self-deploying EPIRB on the boat and very likely a PLB as well. But here the water temperature is such that survival times are fairly short unless you have a survival suit or can stay out of the water in a dinghy or raft. Even if one had a PLB, if they went into the water in the typical boater's clothing for this area by the time anything able to receive and track a locator signal got to you, you'd most likely be dead. Particularly if the emergency occurred up the coast.
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