Blow-up your liferaft, worth doing

[Twister_Ken]

Just before skiiving off last week, I left my liferaft (due for a service) with an agent that was having an open day. So we duly pulled the string (we had to tug it very hard to activate it, so worries about accidental inflation have moved one step backwards), and made the thing go bang. It struggled in a vaguely primeval manner to burst free of its vacuum packed plastic bag for a second or two, then writhed around the shed floor before becoming first a double tubed square paddling pool sort of affair, and then erecting an arch from which a rather fetching 'blood orange' coloured canopy deployed.

So we were reassured that the thing probably would work as advertised in the event that it was ever needed. Surprises:

For a 4-man it looked small, but as we are normally only 2 aboard, it would be OK

Frost formed on the tubes after inflation - is it Boyle's Law that states that gases moving from high pressure to low pressure cool?

There is a knife velcro-strapped close to the doorway, to allow the painter to be cut. But I wouldn't have known if the agent hadn't shown it to me. It is actually a cork block with a spring-loaded blade retracted inside it. It looks just like a cork block. I've asked them to felt-tip 'knife' on it before repacking.

There were no water or rations included. It'll be repacked with some sacheted water, and some dextrose tablets.

Three hand held reds hardly seemed adequate. They'll be joined by three more, plus three red parachutes, plus one orange smoke.

Also to go in, two foil-lined mountaineers survival bags.

<hr width=100% size=1>

 

[Viking]

Have you done a Sea Survive Course? Its very interesting. First checking your life jackets 70% of those who had autoinflation type didnt work. Then trying to get into a liftraft with the lifejacket on is really hard going, the bloody thing gets in the way all the time. Trying to get the inflated jacket and your weight over the rim of the inflated rings of the liferaft and that was in calm water of a swimming pool. They say a to bigger liftraft can be unstable. But it can get very warm inside after a time when full.

<hr width=100% size=1>

 

[DeeGee]

Was that you with wife and two young girls?

It was interesting that nobody tried to identify other SB'ers.

<hr width=100% size=1>Black Sugar - the sweetest of all

 

[Twister_Ken]

No, just self and Madame, about 3.00pm

<hr width=100% size=1>

 

[Aeolus_IV]

Messenger Marine open day? We were there 10am - yes, worth doing. Surprised ours worked despite age (a rather old Plastimo 4 man raft), and a year out of service. Didn't see anyone I recognised - no name tags .

Jeff.

<hr width=100% size=1>

 

[Celena]

If you take yours to a service centre (like we did on Friday) they will blow it up with compressed air in your presence and explain the ins and outs to you. This can save you £30 as you do not have to have the gas cylinder re-filled (if in date) this way.

<hr width=100% size=1>

 

[Dominic]

Re: Should You Blow-up your liferaft ?

That´s interesting.

I was under the impression that blowing it up for test purposes with the gas bottle was not a good idea - something about too much pressure being not very good for it - only designed to be inflated once.

I thought blowing it up gently with an air hose is the usual way of testing for leaks/serviceability rather than blasting it with CO2.

Anyone know the true answer ?

<hr width=100% size=1>

 

[Cornishman]

Well done, Ken. BTW, what sort of orange smoke have you loaded? Hand held or buoyant.
I can recommend you attend the Sea Survival Course. You will learn all you need to know about liferafts, pyrotechnics, contents of the different survival packs,etc.
We used to cast MN officers into the sea for their 2 day course, and they had to swim about 50 yds to the liferaft, get in it and then help an injured person get in. We used 20 man (Yes, there were no 'persons' in the 80s) liferafts and they are BIG. They then stayed in it for 1 hour!
There's a heck of difference between the full scale course as opposed to the yottie one, but it's still worth doing.

<hr width=100% size=1>

 

[roger]

Well done for doing the test. Theres a real problem over raft sizing. You are an important part of the wight giving stability to the raft in rough conditions. This means according to the experts that you should fill the raft to capacity. Unfortunately that will almost certainly be very very uncomfortable.
A further note about "extras" in a raft. a boarding pillow makes getting in much easier. A double floor will help with hypothermia. Some rafts come without lights or reflective patches

<hr width=100% size=1>Roger

 

[jimi]

Life raft size

I think I hade a mistake I got an 8 man one a couple of years ago on the basis, the bigger the better. It would certainly be a mistake in rough conditions, but part of my thinking was that its unlikely to be rough weather that'll make me take to it, its more likely to be fire or catastrophic damage to the hull, which probably woulfd not happen in rough weather so the bigger the better. Still not sure of the pros and cons, any thoughts?


<hr width=100% size=1>

 

[Twister_Ken]

>Hand held or buoyant.<

Buoyant. I've let off a handheld (on a demo day) and I'm not sure I'd want to do it sitting on the side of a raft. Good chance you'd end up breathing that orange powder. We managed to turn a white car orange(ish) which was parked about 30 yards away.

Same with the h/held reds, in fact. They burn very hot and drip hot 'slag'. Which might also signal the end of a liferaft.

<hr width=100% size=1>

 

[StephenSails]

Re: Should You Blow-up your liferaft ?

Its absolutely fine to blow a liferaft up with compressed air, I used to work for said liferaft service station and that is common practice as cylinders at that time worked on a 5 year cycle unless coded for Solas.

Cheers

Stephen

<hr width=100% size=1>http://www.yachtinguniverse.com

 

[tome]

Re: Life raft size

My boat came with an 8 man liferaft and the same thought ocurred to me, especially sailing with just wife and self. I rarely sail offshore with more than 4 persons total so probably should downsize this for better stability.

Previous boat had a 6 man raft. During servicing, I arranged to take wife along to see the inflated raft and familiarise ourselves with the equipment.

<hr width=100% size=1>

 

[Cornishman]

That's interesting because one of the criteria laid down by the Dept of Transport, as it was then, was for hand held flares NOT to drop hot or burning material. They should conform to SOLAS 74/83 regs for use in small and inflatable craft. Were they UK manufacture? PM me if you like

<hr width=100% size=1>

 

[BrendanS]

We had an RNLI talk on flares and rockets etc at our club last year. At the end, many different flares were let off outside. I'd say that just about all of them dropped or spat out bits that would damage glassfibre boats or liferaft material.

One of the things we all went away with was a firm belief that if letting one off, it would be held downwind, well out over the water.

<hr width=100% size=1>

 

[david_e]

This is a good idea, but I suspect many won't or wouldn't do it because of the cost and b***erance factor in getting it re-packed and serviced before it's due date. It would, IMHO, be a positive advantage to sales if a manufacturer offered a low fixed price re-pack & re-arm service for purchasers who wanted to demo their new purchase within a reasonable time, say 6 months. (Of course some might do this already, I don't know) This would at least give the chance to try and personalise as you have done.

<hr width=100% size=1>