I opened up my liferaft today...

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pandos

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Today I finally opened up my liferaft which was not serviced since 2005 when it was "Surveyed & Tested, Repacked as original" it was in a cannister within which were two silver bags, sealed. one seems still vacume intact with flares, torch, batteries etc and sea sickness pills.

the other seemed fine but when I turned it over it had a small hole directly above a hole which was drilled in the outer case, I assume this was a drain hole but it seemed as if it was an after...thought.

we cut the raft out of the package to discover it was wet with a pinkish liquid, perhaps a pint in total all concentrated at the entrance to the raft, the wettest part was in the area where the supplies were kept in the form of a bag with paddles and sponges and a pump all of which were soaked and seemed to have a chrystal substance smeared upon them which had eaten through the aluminium on the oars... what could this be... I thought water pouch had burst,,, but no pouch for water... silca gel... but what source for redness and the liquid was fresh-ish water (i did not taste it..)

other than that the entire raft seemed immaculate, the fabric is very tough and with no sign of mildew delamination or any signs of ageing..

I worry about the piece of string that was used to tie the raft, It had the raft practically encircled and was tied to the grab handles on the underside.

I could not tear this string, it was strong enough to lift the raft by, if the raft had inflated I cannot see that it would not have sliced through the raft or caused it to deploy in a very odd fashion or end up with the entrance ladder tangled in it...

Is this normal practice..

will I be able to get this raft serviced and repacked or will a 16year old raft be scrapped, as being out of date.... I know I would be perfectly happy to jump into it (if the need arose)

And I would be happier in this old raft with an epirb and an AIS beacon then in a new raft without either.... (obviously new raft and both would be better)

any recommendations for reliable service centres with prices it is a Forties (b+) 6 man cannister with an RORC pack.
 
There’s a possibility the pink liquid could be due to mould growth. Some strains of mould can be quite pink in colour. The crystals on the oars are probably the result of aluminum corrosion. Has the raft got splashed with seawater during its life?
 
I had our LR, liferaft (for those who do not like acronyms) in HK around 1992 for a RORC China Sea Race by an approved service agent (I vaguely recall there were 2 service agents at the time and their major business was aircraft and commercial vessels) and received the appropriate certificate.

For a variety of reasons we did not need to re-service until we came to Australia. In Australia we re-serviced, or attempted to, the raft was condemned (nothing to do with the HK servicing) but the raft had no water, nor flares.

Most people never use a LR, most people would use the same service agent.

Jonathan
 
pandos said:
I worry about the piece of string that was used to tie the raft, It had the raft practically encircled and was tied to the grab handles on the underside.

I could not tear this string, it was strong enough to lift the raft by, if the raft had inflated I cannot see that it would not have sliced through the raft or caused it to deploy in a very odd fashion or end up with the entrance ladder tangled in it...

Is this normal practice..
Click to expand...

I don't know about strings, but it is normal for cannister rafts to have one or two packing bands around them, each of which are strong enough to lift the raft by. These are not meant to be cut off, they will break when the raft inflates, however surprising that seems (same way people are surprised that the heavy canister floats...)

That said, a string directly around the fabric is a different situation to having a canister half to push against, so I don't know if that was actually correct.

Pete
 
pandos said:
Today I finally opened up my liferaft which was not serviced since 2005 when it was "Surveyed & Tested, Repacked as original" it was in a cannister within which were two silver bags, sealed. one seems still vacume intact with flares, torch, batteries etc and sea sickness pills.

the other seemed fine but when I turned it over it had a small hole directly above a hole which was drilled in the outer case, I assume this was a drain hole but it seemed as if it was an after...thought.

we cut the raft out of the package to discover it was wet with a pinkish liquid, perhaps a pint in total all concentrated at the entrance to the raft, the wettest part was in the area where the supplies were kept in the form of a bag with paddles and sponges and a pump all of which were soaked and seemed to have a chrystal substance smeared upon them which had eaten through the aluminium on the oars... what could this be... I thought water pouch had burst,,, but no pouch for water... silca gel... but what source for redness and the liquid was fresh-ish water (i did not taste it..)

other than that the entire raft seemed immaculate, the fabric is very tough and with no sign of mildew delamination or any signs of ageing..

I worry about the piece of string that was used to tie the raft, It had the raft practically encircled and was tied to the grab handles on the underside.

I could not tear this string, it was strong enough to lift the raft by, if the raft had inflated I cannot see that it would not have sliced through the raft or caused it to deploy in a very odd fashion or end up with the entrance ladder tangled in it...

Is this normal practice..

will I be able to get this raft serviced and repacked or will a 16year old raft be scrapped, as being out of date.... I know I would be perfectly happy to jump into it (if the need arose)

And I would be happier in this old raft with an epirb and an AIS beacon then in a new raft without either.... (obviously new raft and both would be better)

any recommendations for reliable service centres with prices it is a Forties (b+) 6 man cannister with an RORC pack.
Click to expand...

Talk to Viking.
 
upon further investigation the flash light was expired, before the raft was last serviced, now it is possible new batteries were fitted the last time but these batteries had the best before stamp cut from the packaging and have 07-07 embossed on the batteries them selves, The manufacturers suggest they have a 7 year shelf life, which would suggest new in 2000 which would tie with the torch light. But would mean they would be out of date for the last year of the three year service from May 2005.

not alone was the torch out of date but almost impossible to switch on with warm hands in daylight would have been impossible with cold wet shaking hands...

I weighed the gas bottle and it is spot on. the hammer mechanism is immaculate, all the hoses look perfect.

the flares were in date./ but out of date now...

as were the seasick pills, but in a package that could not have been dealt with with cold shaking hands...
there was no water or food whatsoever.

but the string really bothers me, on closer examination I think it could have caused the raft to be cut in two, causing overpressure in one part that would have been vented resulting in an incompletely inflated raft... or to pull off one of the handles on the underside, ( the string ws fixed to two of these.

The raft never got seawater into it, I doubt the pink is mold more likely silca gel sachet or some other desiccant perhaps......https://www.amazon.co.uk/Silica-Gel...d=1518892773&sr=8-3&keywords=dessicant+silica

In any case I am going to inflate and wash the entire raft tomorrow then allow to dry and repack.. with new a new torch and supplies both in the raft and in the supplies pack.
 
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I think the risk in our climate is you will pack it up with moisture, which may condense when it cools. My raft was opened inspected and packed in an air conditioned room which has less moisture.
 
True... beig professionally serviced and certified is no guarantee I had forgotten about "Megawat"

see page 37 of report. here http://www.mcib.ie/_fileupload/Docum...awat_11_06.pdfimage: chrome-extension://nanapgdhdbkckgoonnmgkemmnhefniek/img/icon-fill.png
icon-fill.png

and also
http://www.mcib.ie/_fileupload/Docum...II_for_web.pdfimage: chrome-extension://nanapgdhdbkckgoonnmgkemmnhefniek/img/icon-fill.png
icon-fill.png



Asgard sinking people fell through floor of one raft... page 11...

Turns out both rafts had the same service company. .....

I recall that my own raft was actually bought as a new raft but when inspected after two years was found to have been several years older than thought and had been repacked..

that is two different service stations on this island that I would not trust, I am still open minded about a 3rd.

Might definitely be safer doing ones own servicing, subject to common sense and basic understanding mechanics.​
 
I'm going through a similar process to Pandos in that I've decided to try to service my own raft. But rather than risk mine from the outset, I've managed to get hold of a couple of very old and out-of-date rafts to experiment upon. I've opened one of the rafts - a 6 person canister and found that the raft and the emergency supplies were each sealed in a silver bag. In my case there was no leakage (or whatever) in the raft bag - there were some dehumidifier sachets and they were completely dry. My raft also had a thin piece of string tied tightly round it and I had to cut it to remove it - as per Pandos, I'm not sure it wouldn't have damaged the raft on inflation. The emergency supplies should have included food, but didn't - otherwise everything else was there. All out-of-date of course (last service was 2006) and the torch and its batteries had corroded. The canopy light, with a lithium battery (expiry date 2007) still worked. The boarding ladder was attached upside down - it would probably have still been usable but perhaps more difficult to get from the sea into the raft. Otherwise everything was in good condition.

The tricky part of servicing the raft will be refolding it. It is an extremely tight fit! So far I've managed to extract all of the air but my first couple of attempts to fold it haven't got it down to the right size. There is a lot of material with some thick seams - I suspect that the service centres may use some form of press to help with this but I plan to keep on trying.

If I can get it to the right size, then I plan to put it into a vacuum bag, with the dehumidifier sachets inside and I think that should be sufficient to keep it dry.
 
Mine was not that tightly rolled but methodical in that the paddles etc all lined up with the gas bottle, etc I intend to vacum out the air and vacum pack in one of those underbed storeage bags.



was your string tied two handles...
 
It was. The raft is also a Forties so possibly serviced by the same company as yours. Let me know if you manage to re-fold it and, if so, how you managed it.
 
Aeolus said:
It was. The raft is also a Forties so possibly serviced by the same company as yours. Let me know if you manage to re-fold it and, if so, how you managed it.
Click to expand...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZICBM4tcBIg


Mine had no foam around the vacum pack, the whipping on the painter was not there, but the string was exactly as per the video... what is that about?????
 
Judging by some stories I think we need to be sure the service people are trained and qualified. Last year I pulled my Plastimo, it had been stored for ten years and had been serviced by IBS Falmouth in 2006. The painter attachment is an 'ear' on the vacuum bag, which would not come through the painter hole in the canister, nor should it, took the bag out, pulled it again but the lanyard inside the bag to the bottle had been left slack. Had to cut open the vacuum bag to set it off, it was fine. Sent the Video to Plastimo for information only, no blame attached to them, they blankly refused to accept it was their raft, even after sending them a pic of the label. If you repack it yourself can you recreate the conditions in a good service centre, can you evacuate the bag, can you even get it into the canister? Also, they don't fire the raft, they inflate it with a pump, repeated exposure to the CO2 can degrade the fabric.
 
fisherman said:
Judging by some stories I think we need to be sure the service people are trained and qualified. Last year I pulled my Plastimo, it had been stored for ten years and had been serviced by IBS Falmouth in 2006. The painter attachment is an 'ear' on the vacuum bag, which would not come through the painter hole in the canister, nor should it, took the bag out, pulled it again but the lanyard inside the bag to the bottle had been left slack. Had to cut open the vacuum bag to set it off, it was fine. Sent the Video to Plastimo for information only, no blame attached to them, they blankly refused to accept it was their raft, even after sending them a pic of the label. If you repack it yourself can you recreate the conditions in a good service centre, can you evacuate the bag, can you even get it into the canister? Also, they don't fire the raft, they inflate it with a pump, repeated exposure to the CO2 can degrade the fabric.
Click to expand...
pride and desire to do proper job has been replaced by certified and approved. Certification and approvals are bought for the purpose of making money... Leading to shoddy high priced service. This can be accelerated by tender competitions where the service is deemed to be so regulated that only price is the deciding factor...



Fairly obvious not to fire the raft to test it. No magic involved in repacking the raft. In fact it is the exact raft in the utube i linked to above...
 
Aeolus said:
It was. The raft is also a Forties so possibly serviced by the same company as yours. Let me know if you manage to re-fold it and, if so, how you managed it.
Click to expand...

I self serviced mine a few years ago. Repacking was aided bu getting it to the right shape to fit in the lower case section the potting the upper lid on. This was around 3” raised which was slowly reduced by using ratchet straps. Once compressed, the raft actually kept its shape.

The big test will possibly be this year when I will fire it off on a hot sunny day and play with it.

After seeing how mine had been ‘professionally’ serviced 5 years previously, I would always do it myself in future.
 
I've not tried it with a life raft but we did take a 2" thick memory foam double mattress to our pad in France in the overhead locker. We used a vacuum bag and it shrank to resemble a mini ironing board. It took around two days to return to its original size.
 
Graham_Wright said:
I've not tried it with a life raft but we did take a 2" thick memory foam double mattress to our pad in France in the overhead locker. We used a vacuum bag and it shrank to resemble a mini ironing board. It took around two days to return to its original size.
Click to expand...

Hope I'm not relying on that when the ship goes down.
 
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