Lifeboat AcademyCourse 2
Annual and Five-Yearly Thorough Examination
What the annual and five-yearly lifeboat examinations must cover under SOLAS III/20.11 and MSC.402(96), step by step.
8 lessons · about 120 minutes · Superintendents, technicians and surveyors
About
Once a year, every lifeboat, rescue boat, davit, winch and release hook on a SOLAS ship gets a thorough examination and operational test by a certified technician. Every five years, the same work is done with a heavier test load and a full overhaul of the release gear. This course follows that work in the order it happens on board: the paperwork first, then the boat, the release gear, the davit and winch, the falls, and finally the five-yearly proof load.
Each lesson quotes the paragraph of SOLAS chapter III or resolution MSC.402(96) that sets the requirement, and explains what it means in practice. The manufacturer’s manual for the equipment on your ship always comes first; this course explains the common rules that every manual has to meet.
It is written for superintendents who plan and check the work, technicians who carry it out, and surveyors who witness it. The tools in each lesson let you try the checks for yourself.
Lessons
- 01 Annual and five-yearly: what each one covers What the annual thorough examination and the five-yearly examination each include, who may do them, and how SOLAS III/20.11 grew from 1998 to 2028. Free · 12 min
- 02 Before you touch the boat: records, manuals and safety The documents to check and the safety arrangements to agree before an annual or five-yearly lifeboat examination starts. Free · 14 min
- 03 Examining the boat: hull, engine, systems and equipment The ten boat items of the annual thorough examination, what the LSA Code requires of each, and what a careful examiner looks at. Sign up free · 16 min
- 04 Release gear and the release tests How release gear is examined each year, and how the on-load, off-load, free-fall and davit-launched liferaft release tests are carried out. Sign up free · 16 min
- 05 Davits, winches and the brake test What the annual examination checks on davits and winches, how fast a boat may be lowered, and how the empty-boat brake test is done. Sign up free · 13 min
- 06 Falls and wire rope How lifeboat falls are inspected, when they must be renewed, why end-for-ending stopped in 2008, and which terminations flags no longer accept. Sign up free · 12 min
- 07 The five-yearly: proof load and hook overhaul The 1.1 × full-load winch test, how the test load is made up, and what a release gear overhaul involves. Sign up free · 14 min
- 08 Free-fall, rescue boats and what's coming How free-fall release systems and rescue boats are tested, and which new rules from 2026 to 2031 apply to which boats. Sign up free · 14 min
Final quiz
15 questions from across the course. Pass with 12.
Take it as many times as you like; each try draws a fresh mix of questions. When you pass, we congratulate you. We don't issue certificates.
Free awareness training. Lifeboat Inspections is not authorised to issue training certificates, so none is given, and this course is not a qualification. It doesn't replace STCW survival craft training, manufacturer training or MSC.402(96) technician certification. The manufacturer's manual and your flag's rules always come first.