Coastal Liferafts

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bedouin

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My current liferaft is now more than 12yrs old and will probably be condemned if I get it serviced again.

I am wondering whether to replace it with a much ligher "coastal" model. Much lighter so much easier to store and deploy and the only real disadvantage seems to be they only have a single tube - and probably not an insulated bottom.

Anyone else looked into these - if so what conclusion did you come to?
 
Replace it with an empty container with a wee note inside saying 'the lifeboat will be here in 30 minutes, hold tight'! Then spend the money on things that prevent you ever needing a liferaft such as bilge alarm, bungs, fire alarm, extinguishers, ais etc
 
bedouin said:
My current liferaft is now more than 12yrs old and will probably be condemned if I get it serviced again.

I am wondering whether to replace it with a much ligher "coastal" model. Much lighter so much easier to store and deploy and the only real disadvantage seems to be they only have a single tube - and probably not an insulated bottom.

Anyone else looked into these - if so what conclusion did you come to?
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AFAIK all the latest rafts have two tubes. Perfectly adequate for coastal or cross channel sailing - and you won't need it anyway, but it is there. There are differences between the brands but mainly in details rather than fundamental capability. PBO regularly does comparative tests as the market goes through regular changes.
 
Tranona said:
AFAIK all the latest rafts have two tubes. Perfectly adequate for coastal or cross channel sailing - and you won't need it anyway, but it is there. There are differences between the brands but mainly in details rather than fundamental capability. PBO regularly does comparative tests as the market goes through regular changes.
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There are a handful of single tube liferafts available - and for a four man they typically weight less than 10kg which is a major plus point. As you say I have no intention of using it, and if I do with PLB, VHF etc I would hope to be rescued in a few hours I would think one of those would be adequate.

As a secondary question what is the smallest / lightest cannister available? A cannister mounted above deck must be the best option but I have very limited space and my current one is too big for it to be feasible.
 
bedouin said:
There are a handful of single tube liferafts available - and for a four man they typically weight less than 10kg which is a major plus point. As you say I have no intention of using it, and if I do with PLB, VHF etc I would hope to be rescued in a few hours I would think one of those would be adequate.

As a secondary question what is the smallest / lightest cannister available? A cannister mounted above deck must be the best option but I have very limited space and my current one is too big for it to be feasible.
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FWIW I would get the best LR available. You never know when your life will depend on it. Three years ago I did an article on a French sailor who had just solo-circumnavigated Iceland (in his Bavaria 34) and was on his last leg between the Humber and Holland. 10 miles from the coast a fire suddenly took place leading very quickly to an explosion which brought the mast down. He had not had the time nor the possibility to access his radio or his extinguishers. By the greatest of good luck he was able to get a call through on his cell phone before it went out of range.

Once in the raft it only half inflated and it was not even due its first service (English brand....!!!). Because it was only half inflated the floor sagged which meant that it filled with water and the foot pump provided could only be used by him pressing it by hand against his chest. The result was that he nearly died of exposure (an early August morning) before being picked up by a helicopter - followed a little while thereafter by two RNLI boats.

He was a recently retired colonel of the French Fire brigade and he gave me an analysis of all the potential causes of the fire as well as the flamability of the various items on board. Personally I consider fire as the greatest potential hazard when I am cruising.

I would never treat a LR lightly and my personal choice would be for a Plastimo which is now guaranteed for 18 years and usually comes out on top of French tests.

But then I would wouldn't I? Just to preempt the inevitable...:D
 
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bedouin said:
There are a handful of single tube liferafts available - and for a four man they typically weight less than 10kg which is a major plus point. As you say I have no intention of using it, and if I do with PLB, VHF etc I would hope to be rescued in a few hours I would think one of those would be adequate.

As a secondary question what is the smallest / lightest cannister available? A cannister mounted above deck must be the best option but I have very limited space and my current one is too big for it to be feasible.
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About the only single-tube coastal liferaft I've seen is the Waypoint one, which weighs 9kg. Frankly, it looks pretty flimsy and I don't think I'd want to rely on it in extreme conditions. Plus it's only available in a valise, I believe, and it costs about £600. Surely, if you believe you actually need a liferaft, it's worth spending a bit more and getting something rather more substantial. OK, it'll be heavier, but if you need to use it, the adrenalin will make it seem as light as a feather! Also, weight is less of a consideration with a deck-mounted container than a valise which has to be hauled on deck from below, or out of a locker. So, for £750 for example, you could get a Seago Sea Cruiser 4-man raft in a container.

When I had my old HR352, the liferaft was mounted on the coachroof right in front of the helm, so container height was an important consideration. When the original Autoflug raft died, I searched around and found that Zodiac generally have the slimmest containers. For about £980, you can get a Zodiac Eversafe raft in a container which is only 23cm high and weighs 26kg.

Owning a small liferaft will cost at least £200 a year in lifetime costs. If you only want a liferaft for odd longer trips, why not hire? They're only about £50 a week.
 
The issue is not about price - you don't save much. A liferaft is no good if it goes down with the boat. My current canister must weight the best part of 30kg and is too big to mount permanently above deck and that reduces the chance of deploying it in an emergency. I very much doubt whether my wife would be able to get it over the rails on her own.

A smaller, lighter one might sacrifice a little in quality but might make up for that in being easier to deploy.

The issue is not the cost - hiring doesn't help as you still have the problem of storing it in a way that can easily be deployed in an emergency.
 
pvb said:
Could you stow it in a pushpit bracket? Perhaps it would help if you revealed what your boat is.
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The boat is a Centurion 32 - the pushpit is too small (and maybe too weak / exposed) to mount it there. Looking at images of other Centurions the only place to mount it seems to be on the hatch garage - and that significantly reduces visibility
 
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