choice of life raft

[The Third Man]

When my wife and I bought a liferaft for our new boat we took a realistic view of the need to be able to right a liferaft ourselves in dire circumstances. We soon decided that we would not be able to and so we bought a self righting Viking. Yes they are very expensive but you only have to look at them to see why.
I really do think that a good many people kid themselves that they would be able to right one of these things. With ours we would just step in via our transom gate without getting our feet wet!!

 

[Robin]

When my wife and I bought a liferaft for our new boat we took a realistic view of the need to be able to right a liferaft ourselves in dire circumstances. We soon decided that we would not be able to and so we bought a self righting Viking. Yes they are very expensive but you only have to look at them to see why.
I really do think that a good many people kid themselves that they would be able to right one of these things. With ours we would just step in via our transom gate without getting our feet wet!!

Such thoughts are dreams made of!

 

[Tranona]

With ours we would just step in via our transom gate without getting our feet wet!!

Then you will have to make sure that your "disaster" occurs in benign conditions and your boat is slowly sinking, giving you plenty of time for a textbook evacuation from the transom.

Unfortunately if you read most of the accounts of liferaft deployment, it is nothing like that. Most deployments involve extreme weather conditions and or sudden catastrophic failure. The sort of situations that are both unpredictable and result in the boat being unsuitable for survival.

Just "stepping off" in these situations is rarely possible.

I hope you and your wife have done one of the sea survival courses - if you have not it will convince you that you never want to get into a situation where you have to depend on a liferaft, no matter how expensive it is.

 

[webcraft]

.
Just like to add that I've done a sea survival course - a few times as I used to work offshore, in a pool with 1m wave simulation etc. Closest I have ever come to drowning - and that is with divers in the water. I also had a friend at the tome who did a lot of research for a major offshore rescue organisation - motly in a liferaft offshore with a rectal thermometer inserted. He was only retrieved when hypothermia had definitely set in. Always sick , always ill.

One thing it all taught me is that it will almost certainly not be as you imagine. A lot of the comments on here seem to be made by people who assume that if you spend enough money you will be fine. Better spending money duplicating your EPIRB or taking precautions to make your boat is less vulnerable IMO. If you are planning to take to a lifeeraft for more than 48 hours then either you are in the Pacific or your safety priorities are all wrong.

- W

 

[cloud7]

life raft

Some very interesting opinions & much appreciated , may i ask the forum for crossing biscay , canaries crossing, whats you choice of raft. Thks

 

[ukmctc]

looking at purchase of a new raft for off shore sailing , any opinions on seago , quality
and service.
thks

No-one knows until they use it!, buy from one of the hire companies, 6 man ocean from £250, never used. I got mine like that, serviced regularly never used it yet.

 

[webcraft]

Some very interesting opinions & much appreciated , may i ask the forum for crossing biscay , canaries crossing, whats you choice of raft. Thks

We took the Seago cheapie across Biscay, to the Canaries and then the Azores, back to Spain and then to Ireland. Never worried, but we had an EPIRB and satphone so didn't expect to be in it too long. Coming back from the Azores it was out of service date. We eventually got it serviced after 6 years - no problems reported and no extra costs, so I reckon it is good to go for another six years now, then we might look at a new one if we think we have any long trips left in us.

- W

 

[[10753]]

Might be worth chatting to a few of the service centres as they have wide experience of all types, shapes and sizes.

 

[Tranona]

Might be worth chatting to a few of the service centres as they have wide experience of all types, shapes and sizes.

While that may be useful in finding out which types seem to last better in between service, it depends very much on external factors such as how the raft is stored and serviced. It will provide little information on how effective they are in practice.

There have been a number of simulated deployment tests over the years which give some idea how well different types perform, but a reading of the reports of the very small number used "for real" gives a very mixed picture.

As Webcraft says a survival course is well worth doing if you are serious about the chances you may have to use one. It will convince you to avoid if at all possible. It is equally true that the "real" may be nothing like you ever expected - but at least you will know that!