Emergency dinghy inflation.

[mjcoon]

We always inflated and topped up our diving boats on expeditions with a diving cylinder fitted with a rubber hose on the A-clamp. Choose a hose that will just fit into the tube valve and will provide a good enough seal when held in place with a hand. Quick blasts from the cylinder and hey ho, there ya go.

Aren't you in danger of getting frostbite if you hold a hose with compressed air or CO2 discharging through it?

Mike.

 

[ronmarson]

I was about to ask if a CO2 fire extinguisher would work when some one suggested it first.
Does anyone feel it is viable???
Certainly a compressed air bottle of some kind would be the answer.
I carry a life raft but to be honest , if one is in sight of land a good inflatable is much better.
A few gallons of water in my Avon makes it very stable & unlike a life raft I could easily row it a few miles to the shore
A life raft may end up blowing off shore ;plus I would be less likely to get sea sick rowing a dinghy instead of curled up in a life raft
Even if it turned out a futile exercise rowing would help keep moral up for a while

I like the way you are thinking Daydream believer. I would rather be doing something than sitting in a life raft waiting to be found, and rowing would keep you warm.

 

[Tranona]

I like the way you are thinking Daydream believer. I would rather be doing something than sitting in a life raft waiting to be found, and rowing would keep you warm.

However, if you read the accounts of incidents where liferafts have been deployed in coastal waters it is very rare that rowing an open dinghy would have been useful or even possible. There is an argument if you abandon ship in the middle of the ocean as there are cases where taking a dinghy along with the liferaft has been a good strategy. However, this assumes that the foundering is of the type where one is able to plan - typical examples have been holing following collision and slow sinking. Most founderings are catastrophic or in extreme conditions where even a liferaft may not work properly. The key to (relative) safety in coastal waters is communications, so if you are able to communicate your position the time spent in a liferaft waiting for rescue is likely to be short.

By all means look on an inflated dinghy as something that may be useful in an emergency, but it is a poor alternative to the proper thing.

 

[Gordonmc]

Keeping a dink upright in a sea would be the main problem which is why LRs have water ballast pockets.
This thread got me thinking about carrying my spare 10 L scuba tank on board for quick dinghy inflation, but then I remembered the old liferaft I have in the garage. Its too old and big to make a service worthwhile but it does have an inflation cylinder which is still charged. I would need a valve but that might be a better solution than the bigger scuba tank.

 

[obmij]

Towing the dinghy is another idea, if you can't stow it inflated or partially inflated on deck.

That way if you did go into the water, you might be able to climb out into the dinghy: or you could recover someone else if you have a companion and they go in.

It's an idea, but a bad one in my experience.

I can't stow a dinghy on deck, either inflated or partially inflated so I towed it, in the absence of a liferaft.

Wind got up more than forcast and I lost it.

I now plan to hire liferafts when going offshore, which is fairly rare anyway. Thirty quid a week, or £250 per year.

Cheaper than a new dinghy!

 

[ronmarson]

It's an idea, but a bad one in my experience.

I can't stow a dinghy on deck, either inflated or partially inflated so I towed it, in the absence of a liferaft.

Wind got up more than forcast and I lost it.
I now plan to hire liferafts when going offshore, which is fairly rare anyway. Thirty quid a week, or £250 per year.

Cheaper than a new dinghy!

But you will have a devil of a job rowing it to the pub.

 

[graham]

I carried a partially inflated inflatable on the foredeck of a 22 foot yacht when going offshore. Not a liferaft but a lot better than nothing should it all go tits up.

 

[Iliade]

I'm sure with a lot of cunning one could made an arrangement of closed cell foam cockpit and interior cushions that strapped together to form a complete replica of the James Caird, complete with jury rig and effigy of Shackleton...

Plus one for using the dive bottle. took about 3 seconds to inflate my old Avon R250, one second per chamber.

A large sodastream bottle might well do a whole dinghy. Alternatively Halfords sell 'cheap' disposable welding gas bottles, contents various.

Personally I would not rely on anything electric. By the time I'm boarding the dinghy I'll be stepping up into it and the batteries will have exploded long ago.

For heavy weather offshore passages nowadays I carry the dinghy partially inflated on deck, where it is a complete pain, or in the same place in its bag if conditions are expected to be more mellow. When I grow up i'll get a boat big enough for davits or some of those glue-on clips that allow one to strap the dinghy to the transom.