Woodlouse
Well-Known Member
Good stuff. In any weather you wouldn't last five minutes on that. I'll take a life raft.No problem with the 34:
Do people bother with liferafts for coastal & cross Channel?
- Thread starter SolentBoat
- Start date
Seajet
...
Does look like a problem to me !
Incidentally I once helped rescue a sunken Anderson 22, even with 4 big flotation bags it looked exactly like this picture, with the foredeck submerged.
I used to have ideas of maybe inflating a dinghy or raft inside a boat's cabin to try to save her; after seeing the A22 awash I quickly changed my mind, use the dinghy and / or raft and get untied from the yacht before she departs !
Incidentally I once helped rescue a sunken Anderson 22, even with 4 big flotation bags it looked exactly like this picture, with the foredeck submerged.
I used to have ideas of maybe inflating a dinghy or raft inside a boat's cabin to try to save her; after seeing the A22 awash I quickly changed my mind, use the dinghy and / or raft and get untied from the yacht before she departs !
Elessar
Well-Known Member
lustyd
Well-Known Member
Bluddy hard to get to the stern to launch a liferaft though, eh? I assume this was one of the minority where the raft lived on the coachroof in the way rather than the normal sugar scoop mount out of the way?
grumpy_o_g
Well-Known Member
Are they rated for not catching fire too?
Seajet
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Or collisions with ships, daft high speed ferries doing Warp 9 in fog, submarine periscopes etc etc including lightning and meteorite hits and alien abduction.
BTW as well as a standard inflatable dinghy I have a 1 person liferaft I was given, the idea being at least it's something to hold onto until Darwin picks at least one of us; space, weight and cash rule out a raft unless I can get sailing seriously again.
prv
Well-Known Member
No problem with the 34:
"No problem"?
Granted it's not sunk to the seabed, but it's hardly sailable across the Channel like the 26 was.
Pete
nortada
Well-Known Member
This is why we travel with the life raft on the back rail & the dinghy, inflated & inverted (restrained by straps with quick release clips) forward of the main mast - hopefully covering most options.
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DJE
Well-Known Member
Sorry I missed off the smiley!
And "not sunk to the seabed" is infinitely better than the alternative surely? At the very least it gives you somewhere to inflate the dinghy and might be carrying good stocks of tinned food, bottled water, flares, etc. Much more than would fit in a grab bag. In that situation I would probably take to the dinghy but I would be very reluctant to let it drift away from the yacht. I assume that my Sadler 29 will come somewhere between the sailable 26 and the swamped 34 but I must admit that I am not in a hurrry to find out.
PhillM
Well-Known Member
Interesting thread, wondering how wood does? I guess the keel would pull her down if she were full of water. If the hull were compromised, all areas of the boat would flood, so I assume that would be game over. Oh, and wood does tend to burn quite well, it might be soaked but it does get kilos of inflamable paint and varnish lavished over it every year.
Currently dont have a raft but its on my to-buy list (when I eventually get the refit costs paid off).
if I were to get time to get out of the Solent, I guess I would rent.
Currently dont have a raft but its on my to-buy list (when I eventually get the refit costs paid off).
if I were to get time to get out of the Solent, I guess I would rent.
Seajet
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Another point is that both the semi-sunk Sadler 34 in the photo and the Anderson 22 ( with flotation bags ) I saw in a same state both had no mast stepped; the windage and inertia of that would render the situation a lot worse I'd think.
DaveS
Well-Known Member
I don't have the references, but ISTR that two Etaps have been sailed across the English Channel with the sea cocks open. At least one of them had the engine removed to avoid damaging it: I presume they added equivalent ballast but can't be sure.
The sea found its level below bunk tops, so definitely messy, but properly sail-able, and having the main boat as lifeboat (with all its stores of water, food, fuel, tools, spares, etc.) rather than a bare rubber raft does have distinct advantages.
The sea found its level below bunk tops, so definitely messy, but properly sail-able, and having the main boat as lifeboat (with all its stores of water, food, fuel, tools, spares, etc.) rather than a bare rubber raft does have distinct advantages.
Woodlouse
Well-Known Member
The ballast will sink any wooden boat pretty quickly. Naturally unballasted dinghys and the like float to a similar extent to that Sadler.
Whilst wood obviously burns it will burn much slower than fibreglass. The paint and varnish would peel off and burn daily rapidly but damp timber will take some time to go. Quite often with wooden boat fires the boat is gutted but the hull remains relatively intact. I still wouldn't want to be on one burning at sea though.
Boathook
Well-Known Member
No liferaft but the dinghy inflated for cross channel. At least I know that the dinghy inflates and that the items in it are useable.