EPIRB - Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon

EPIRB - how it works:

EPIRB manufacturers normally offer two types of fixing brackets for the EPIRB - manual or automatic. With a manual bracket human intervention is required to remove the EPIRB from its bracket before its activation. The automatic bracket is designed to automatically release the EPIRB from its housing as the vessel sinks; once in contact with salt water, the EPIRB should start to transmit its emergency signal without you having to do a thing. The location of the EPIRB needs to be carefully thought through, especially if you decide on an automatic bracket, in which case the EPIRB must be in a position that enables it to be freely released should your boat founder, but which also affords it protection from accidental damage by crew or from being accidentally wet (or worse still washed overboard) and prevents it from being removed or stolen when the boat is unattended. A manually activated beacon is usually either clipped on the bulkhead, just inside the companionway or is kept in the life raft grab bag.