Model Midget 530 MkII 5.32 m x 2.07 m x .76 m, 8-person rigid FRP rescue boat.

The boat and the thing that launches it are inspected as one. SOLAS III/20 and the guidance in MSC.1/Circ.1328 set the pattern: weekly and monthly checks by the crew, and once a year a thorough examination of the launching appliance and an operational test of the on-load release gear by a person certified for it. The release gear is overhauled and the falls are renewed on the longer cycle the same rules prescribe; falls are turned end for end or replaced on condition and on time, whichever comes first, because a fall fails at its hidden end. The engine follows the maker's schedule, with the detail that matters for a boat that sits unused: fuel is drawn off and checked rather than simply topped up, the raw-water impeller is treated as a wear item even without running hours, and the battery is load-tested instead of judged by its resting voltage. Every drill that puts the boat in the water is also the only real test of the recovery arrangement. An eight-person boat of 5.32 m sits in the range where one crew can handle it and where the launching appliance is modest, so the binding item is usually the annual release-gear test rather than the davit load test. Keep the boat's own equipment list with the maintenance record: on boats this size, missing inventory is the commonest finding, ahead of anything mechanical.