Anyone bought a Liferaft recently ?

[AIDY]

my old raft needs a service as it's 1.5 years out of date. A service is going to cost me C.£200 assuming i can sell my old raft on ebay for C.200 it' only going to cost me a few hundred to buy a half decent raft as a replacement.

Can anyone offer me some advice what to look at / and what to stay clear of for messing around the english channel, so no ocean passages. requirments are 6 man in a canister.

been looking at ocean safety, seago and plastimo range at present.

TIA

 

[sarabande]

FWIW, I bought two rafts off eBay last year, both about 3 yrs old, and almost in need of a service.

Both were then serviced with no problems.

Plastimo Ocean 6 man canister - £350
Arimar Europe 4 man valsie - £320

Genuine bargains are there if you put a Search request into ebay. It took about a month for the two to surface on eBay for me.

edit
A number of quality liferafts on ebay at the moment.

 

[Sans Bateau]

Aidy

I just bought a Seago 4 man in a canister for £499 from Force 4. They also sold me the SS cage/bracket for £99. My buying decision was based on the success of the raft in the recent PBO test.

If I were to be sailing off shore and in a boat other than an Etap I would not have bought a budget raft. I would have expected to have paid more like £1500.

 

[rays]

yes, bought a Plastimo 4 man off shore in valise approx £600 from Suffolk Sailing. Good service and nice people.

 

[boatmike]

I just looked at the whole range in depth and have just bought a Seago self righting one. It is built to ISO 9650-1 so is structurally identical to much more expensive SOLAS rafts. The contents are adequate but you can of course carry anything you feel you would like in a grab bag to effectively convert it to full SOLAS spec. It was £1025 all up in a canister.
I think you will find that even the budget raft at £499 in a canister is made of Butyl Rubber. Many of the others (including Ocean Safety) are PVC. PBO as said elsewhere tested several and this came out tops for budget ones. I felt the extra for a self righting ISO 9650-1 was justifiable as I sail single handed a lot of the time but frankly if you are on a tight budget it's a debatable extra. I looked at all of the ones you mentioned in the budget range and IMHO the Seago is remarkable value. Ocean Safety is OK but PVC and IMHO I wouldn't give the Plastimo house room. All prices shown are for 4 man not 6 man but the same applies. One thing you might consider is that with 2 people in a 6 man raft it is less stable than the equivalent 4 man. If this is a possible scenario it might be an additional argument for a self righting one. That's something you have to judge for yourself. On the other hand, if 2 or more of the 6 bodies are kids a 4 man might be better? All the seago ones have 100% reserve bouyancy with two seperate inflation tubes.....

 

[AIDY]

thanks mike some good info there /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[tyce]

The seago's are now selling for £450 so i fail to see how you obtained a bargain of ebay

 

[nigelhudson]

Have a look here Way Point Liferafts . I saw one of these at a local boat jumble being advertised new at £499 for the 4 man valise. I had really good look at it and was very impressed by the quality and features for the price. We are intending to hire one this year for our big trip but we might buy next year and this one will definitely be on our list.

 

[jorgen]

Having just completed a Sea Survival Course in the Maritime College in Cork I would not be tempted to save money on any safety equipment. We were 10 persons in a 12 man life raft, and the it was still very cramped. Big waves with rain and thunder. Makes you take note.

Don't skimp on safety!

 

[AIDY]

can anyone advise on which magzines pbo or YM tested the rafts recently and what month. just flicked through the vast amount i have but can't find it. I seemed to remember reading it or noticing it recently.

 

[Sans Bateau]

Try here:

Life raft test

 

[AIDY]

spot on..... downloaded it and now found the mag thanks

 

[Graham_Wright]

Big consideration is "can you get in it from the water?"

On a sea survival course, fabric ladders are a waste of time. You can't find them because you can't see your feet past your lifejacket; if you do make contact they disappear underneath. Some are rigid which helps. Some extend across the raft which helps more. But if you are first man in (from the water), God help you!

If you buy a life raft just because someone says you need one;- go for the cheapest rubbish you can find. If you want one you may want to use in anger, go on a sea survival course and opt for something with a boarding ramp. Even in the pool, first man in struggles without one.