How to lock a liferaft on deck

Twister_Ken

Twister_Ken

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Am planning to get rid of my valise l/r and replace it with a canister, to be kept on the coach roof.

Quite fancy getting some teak chocks made to fit, rather than the manufacturer's hugely expensive and ugly s/s cradle. No problem working out how to fix quick release webbing straps when the boat is in service, but am puzzled about how I'd make the l/r thief proof when the boat is unattended.

Any suggestions gratefully received.
 
Ken,

I used a standard stainless strop on mine, with a padlock sized so that it was a tight fit around the liferaft, and then to an eye bolted into the deck..... I then repeated this strop on the engine seacock..... only I put the key for the seaccock onto the liferaft strop so that I couldn't forget to unlock it....
 
I am sure that a visit to a Bondage & Fetish Goods manufacturer...

...or an Escapology Equipment supplier will enable you to have a three chains to a back-spine bridle made up in stainless steel which can then be padlocked as previously described to a pad eye or two. I'm sure that a few posters here, probably of the Scottish persuasion, might be able to point you in the right diretion in that respect.

I had such an item made up for a previous boat but sadly at a much less salubrious establishment, being the local brewery equipment manufacturer.

Steve Cronin
 
paint the liferaft valise in an ugly color (violet or a dirty pink), date it 15 years back with a notice, that it should be serviced not later then 1996.

I have a cover, to hide the horrable colour from my eyes. I'm a strong believer in Mr. Murphy and I'm capable to loose 3 keys.... /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Peter
 
ALL VERY WELL BUT DONT FORGET TO UNLOCK WHEN IN SERVICE AS TRYING TO FIND THE KEY WHEN SUDDENLY REQUIRED NOT RECOMENDED THE FEWER THINGS TO DO AT TIMES OF CRISIS THE BETTER /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif
 
We have a simple wire strop which we fit to lock the raft with a padlock when not in commission

Liferaft_Locked.JPG


The same key fits the lazarette and cockpit lockers, so we take 3 padlocks off before sailing, here you can see the wire strop hanging down below the raft. Works fine for us

Liferaft_Unocked.JPG
 
Just kicking ideas around in my head. I like rigging wire 3/16 as a convenient security device. It is not easy to cut and padlock goes through the thimbles.
However it occured to me that a bolt or clevis pin from the wire or chain that went through the deck could have a pin through the bolt to hold it down. The pin could either be availbale to remove from inside the boat ( a secure area) or the pin could be connected by a cord to a more convenient and secure area. A bit like pulling a parachute pin remotely. Unfortunately the bolt held down only by a pin would present water leakage problem.

How about the bolt/clevis pin going sideways through the teak box/chocks. The earea where the release pin sits would have to be boxed in and a remote cord led into the cabin or secure area.

just a brainstorm that might get someone thinking. olewill
 
Re our liferaft, I thought I was being very clever by stowing it (in its canister) below deck while Phoenix was unattended on her mooring.

However I was not reckoning on (what most probably were) a couple of drug addict barstewards breaking into the boat one day, and inflating the raft below deck - I presume in search of drugs (morphine?) in the (assumed) first aid kit in the liferaft? Or just cos they were being bloody minded?

Trouble is (or perhaps thankfully) the raft only partially inflated - perhaps 10% - which would not have been much use if we had to use it in anger. I must admit though that it had not been serviced for probably 3 or 4 years, but even so, I would have expected it to inflate.

Maybe it would have been better if we had kept it on deck, perhaps with a tight fitting S/S cable around the canister and a padlock.
 
We use a S/S cradle on the pushpit which has a S/S flat strap to hold the raft in place and this strap would work well on a coachroof cradle too I think. The strap is a flat strip of thin bendable stainless, in the centre is an overcentre highfield lever type catch which tensions it and provides a means of locking, padlock when left and drop pin when at sea. On a deck mount you could have 2 such straps, one on each deck chock. The advantage over wire or chain is that the strap is a secure holding device at sea yet easily released if required and being flat doesn't damage the cannister. You might be able to see one on a cradle in the chandlers and them make one up, there used to be an ad in the mags regularly for the overcentre catches, also used for lockers etc.

That said I wonder how many liferafts are actually stolen simply because they are so heavy and bulky, not easy to hide under a horizontally striped jacket or under the jemmy in the holdall.
 
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