Plastimo Cruiser 6 Liferaft

[Malo37]

I have a Plastimo Cruiser 6 liferaft in a valise, bought new in 2010.
It has never been serviced but on the other hand has been in my house under the stairs for its entire life apart from the first three months when it was on the boat. (in a locker inside the main cabin)
Is it worth servicing, which I believe costs around £250, or should I sell it on eBay, or should I give it the the grandkids to make a summer paddling pool ?

 

[bitbaltic]

I’ve just sold a 2012 6-man Seago on eBay. It was 2 years out of service having been serviced in 2016 (3 year intervals) and the raft had three years of it’s 12 year lifespan still left to run.

it only made 40 quid. If you’re on the south coast you might do better (or if you’re willing to post a 6 man raft which I wasn’t).

I’d probably go with the paddling pool option.

I think your service quote is a bit light and the raft presumably has at best a year on its service lifetime.

it will very probably still work though.

 

[ithet]

Plastimo liferafts retain their three year service interval for life (unlike most others that go to annual service after a number of years). But yours would require a cylinder test as this is required every ten years by Plastimo which would add considerably to the cost. I thought the 2004 Plastimo cruiser that came with my current boat was not going to be worth servicing, but as the cylinder was in date I could get two more services out of it. Seeing it being serviced showed me that it was in excellent condition. To keep service costs down I downgraded the on-board pack to basic only with no flares.

 

[Deleted member 36384]

I have a 20 year old Cruiser 8. It’s in excellent condition, 3 year service interval, 6 years ago cylinder was changed.

In my opinion worth selling but research the market to set your price to sell.

 

[bitbaltic]

Plastimo liferafts retain their three year service interval for life (unlike most others that go to annual service after a number of years).

but how much hard data can support that either way? The rafts from different manufacturers are not made of hugely different materials, and the tiny number of deployments, especially as rafts get older, must mean that hard data on reliability is minimal.

I think service life is more related to what the manufacturer will stand by for the sale cost. FWIW I would have been happy to sail with the Seago I just sold for several years more whatever it’s supposed lifetime, but doubt I would sail with any raft (including a plastimo) more than 20 years old because, in the total absence of observational data, I’d have to make my decision on the basis of the average of all manufacturer’s claims.

I work in the business of abandoning oil wells and there are similarities. Nobody knows In any meaningful way how long a barrier, put in place to ensure the wells don’t leak, will last and prevent a leak. The whole industry works on the opinion that a barrier will last about 3,000 years (which is not very long in geological terms). This is because it is impossible to test the strength of any substance over many thousands of years in a human timeframe, and because we cannot design apparatus which can provide a proxy for anything more than 3,000 years. We do not have, and effectively will never have, observational data, and I think much the same applies to life raft lifespans.

 

[Deleted member 36384]

Hisssssss! An abandoner walks amongst us!

 

[bitbaltic]

Hisssssss! An abandoner walks amongst us!

Oh I’ve drilled my fair share too.

 

[Graham376]

Plastimo liferafts retain their three year service interval for life (unlike most others that go to annual service after a number of years). But yours would require a cylinder test as this is required every ten years by Plastimo which would add considerably to the cost. I thought the 2004 Plastimo cruiser that came with my current boat was not going to be worth servicing, but as the cylinder was in date I could get two more services out of it. Seeing it being serviced showed me that it was in excellent condition. To keep service costs down I downgraded the on-board pack to basic only with no flares.

We binned our Plastimo Offshore at 20 years. At the previous service, the centre said it was OK but recommended it wasn't done again as they couldn't guess how long the seams would last and it would need a bottle test as well as service charge.