Abstract: An inflatable lifejacket for providing buoyancy in water to a wearer of the lifejacket, comprises an inflatable buoyancy envelope and an inflation unit mounted within the envelope for inflation thereof. The inflation unit comprises a storage cylinder which stores inflation gas and which is openable by an operating arm which in an inoperative disposition extends alongside the cylinder in spaced relation thereto and which when pulled away from the cylinder in an operating stroke is operative to release gas from the cylinder. The envelope includes a projecting tongue portion which receives the arm and which is so positioned in relation to an adjacent support portion of the envelope that, when the unit is assembled in a mounted disposition in the envelope with the arm located in the tongue portion, the cylinder is aligned with the adjacent support portion and is supported thereby when the arm is pulled to release gas from the cylinder.

Abstract: An inflatable liferaft comprises an inflatable buoyancy tube side wall structure and a floor so secured at its periphery to the side wall structure that the inflated liferaft can be used when deployed on water either way up. An inflatable protective tube structure inflates with the side wall structure and takes up a protective location in which it extends round the outside of the side wall structure. The protective tube structure is, however, displaceable either way from its protective location to a canopy support location above the floor of the liferaft and a canopy assembly is so secured to the protective tube structure and to the side wall structure that when the protective tube structure moves to its canopy support location the canopy assembly deploys with the protective tube structure and is supported thereby.

Abstract: An escape slide arranged to provide an inclined descent path for evacuees, the slide includes a support structure and a slideway supported thereby, the slideway includes a sheet of flexible material provided with holes through which water drains. The sheet preferably comprises a warp knitted fabric net.

Abstract: An inflatable raft in the deflated condition is stowed in a container attached to a platform adjacent a launching davit. The raft has a girt releasably connected to the container for stabilizing the raft during inflation and loading. The edges of the platform are positioned adjacent the davit for further stabilization of the raft. A sequential release mechanism is interconnected with the girt connection to the container and the brake of the supporting cable for the raft to insure release of the girt connection before the raft is lowered and thereby avoid upsetting the raft.