The two boats at Portsmouth Lifebaot station are launched in different ways.

The Atlantic 75 is launched by using a tractor and trailer (shown below left).
This approach has the flexibility of the boat being towed to an alternative location to be lauched if there is a problem with the station slip way.

The D class is manually launched using a trolley and rope around a 'stag' to control the decent into the water. It is recovered using a motorised winch.