Inflatable tender Vs liferaft?

You have to ask yourself how happy you'd be to step into an open, exposed tender in bad weather- and what would happen if it flipped over. If you're just thinking about an occasional adventurous excursion, how about renting one for each trip?

Otherwise, personally, I'd bite the bullet and buy a proper one.

An afterthought: I think you used to be able to buy a Tinker Tramp dinghy with a pack which turned it into a "liferaft". Not sure how efficacious this would be, and whether it's still obtainable, but it might be worth consideration?
 
The only comparison is that they both inflate!

Other than that they are designed for totally different purposes. Get your head on straight sir!

If you are unlucky enough to need one then you'll need a real one. What price do you value your life? is the real question. When someone else put that question up on here, it made me think too! /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif

I kept thinking the same way until I was out in some heavier weather. There is no way that you could deploy a dinghy quickly enough to be safe even if it was already inflated. Then if you did get into it you'd rather not be in it at all.
 
We carry both.

A good liferaft is ESSENTIAL equipment - you should never leave port without one - we use a valise type.

I never want to explain someones loss of life or injury due to the fact i never took all reasonable safety precautions.

please go the liferaft route
 
Somewhere amongst the books and articles written by Lyn & Larry Pardey is a description of there small rigid dinghy which they can convert into a liferaft, using an inflatable collar around the gunwhale.
 
Some say the sea is cruel but it isn't at all - its indifferent. That indifference can treat you, a human being, like a peice of discarded waste - you should always respect the sea and that indifference - get the liferaft and preferably a self righting one with an insulated floor and proper means of entry - not a silly rope ladder.

You cannot compare a liferaft to an inflatable dinghy.
 
I bought a liferaft so that if the boat sunk due to my stupidity then all on board would have a good chance of survival. Re: Your comment about very few vessels in Ramsgate having them aboard I would say that a large proportion of liferafts are the valise type stored in a locker and that the canister type will quite often be removed if the boat is to be left unattended for long periods. If I owned a light aircraft I would buy a parachute and not think that, if things went wrong, I would have to rely on my golf umbrella! /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif
 
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If I owned a light aircraft I would buy a parachute and not think that, if things went wrong, I would have to rely on my golf umbrella!

[/ QUOTE ]

I think that sums it up!! /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif
 
We had a decent little rib to act as lifeboat, theorising that something with a motor + a grab bag was a viable alternative. Being chicken we further theorised that we would not voluntarily be out in the sort of weather where the liferaft might be a better bet.

The rib was nicked leading me to ponder on how often liferafts are stolen and if that is a pertinent factor.
 
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
If I owned a light aircraft I would buy a parachute and not think that, if things went wrong, I would have to rely on my golf umbrella!

[/ QUOTE ]

I think that sums it up!! /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

[/ QUOTE ]

Ditto!!! Could you live with the fact that a liferaft "could" have saved a life when you opted for a small, possibly ill-equipped tender. You can hire them for a couple of hundred quid. What is your nearest and dearest lives worth? And as a skipper you have a legal duty of care....

GET A LIFERAFT! (and a dinghy for having fun on /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif!)
 
I think most people on here would agree that the need for a liferaft greatly exceeds any amount of money, if you are in a situation where you need one!

You can't plan for this sort of event and it's to late saying I wish!....

I have gone the extra step of acquiring some ex MOD (Navy) survival suits (cost about £25.00 a piece), which I have used before, whilst in the Navy, but I hope I never have to use them!

As far as I'm concerned any life is priceless!

DON'T SKIMP ON SAFETY!

Garry
 
I wasnt trying to recommend the Tinker Tramp, I had noticed the advert yesterday and it was an appropriate link to the post above.


As to needing a life raft in a 30ft boat doubtful.

many replies are from larger craft or posters who go out is Moderate conditions when a liferaft is a must.

99% of small pleasure boats wait for a calm sunny day and go out while there are dozens of other small craft out at the same time.

Thus if you boat sinks you only need to be in a dinghy for a short period waiting for the next small boat to come past, they will be using near as dam it the same track !

If the truth be known even remote East coasts are like Motorways with fast and slow boats going both ways. If you stop you see even more boats coming past that usually have to deviate to pass you as we all head 1 mile off the next headland !

If you are a fair weather boater then the inflated dinghy is fine.
If you are happy to cast off in a Force 5 then you best get a life raft as you may be alone for longer.
 
[ QUOTE ]
Somewhere amongst the books and articles written by Lyn & Larry Pardey is a description of there small rigid dinghy which they can convert into a liferaft, using an inflatable collar around the gunwhale.


[/ QUOTE ]

Since posting the above I found the relevent chapter in one of their books. ["The Self-Sufficient Sailor"]. Their thinking is that with a liferaft you have no choice but to sit in it and hope that someone else will come and get you out of the mess, but if you have a dinghy with adequate flotation, plus all the usual life-saving gear in a bag attached to the dinghy, then you can row or sail it to shore if you are near land or into the nearest shipping lane.

I think their many years and tens of thousands of miles of practical cruising gives their opinions a lot of weight.

I suppose it all depends on your philosophy of life. Do you try to help yourself or do you rely on other people? Would you "rather be a hammer than a nail"?

p.s.
Wasn't there a case last year when some people abandoned a burning boat in the Irish sea and drifted around in a liferaft for some days in sight of land but unable to row towards it?
 
Life rafts are often not seen as they are kept below out of sight of potential theives and as in my case, only brought out and placed in it's appropriate location when going across channel etc
 
I'll go along with most of you. We have elected not to carry an inflatable dinghy (no need as we use marinas) but I insist on a liferaft (we have a Seago 4 man valise).

In the channel if you fall in you have about 30 minutes before you start to lose motor function - less if you are old, thin or infirm.

To contemplate going out without protection is stupidity and I make no apology for using the word.

None of us can afford to risk losing a family member or passenger's life for the sake of £500 worth of protection that will last three years before needing service.

I, for one, would find it difficult to swim half a mile in the local sea temperature and thought of finding myself in the water, even with a lifejacket, that distance from shore and knowing I was going to lose not only my life but also those of my passengers is unacceptable.

The valise is stored below decks in the marina for security but in the cockpit under a seat at sea.
 
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