Is there a quality assessment or standard for liferaft servicing companies?

[NPMR]

Seen with my own eyes, a report of a poor liferaft service and wondered about ours?

How can you tell if it's up to the job?

Who checks on the servicing companies?

 

[Tomahawk]

I was talking to the local company here in Essex on the same subject.

Seems the answer is no!

 

[ctelfer38]

OP asks a very good question. Some 5 years ago, I had my 10 man liferaft serviced by a good company out Essex way. I was invited to be present during the service only to find that the previous servicing outfit down Southampton way had been charging me for replacing the stickers. All the LR contents were well out of date including the gas bottles. I reported the errant Southampton outfit to the RYA at the time as my yacht was coded for commercial use. Lessson for me was always to have the option of attending whilst servicing was being done. CBT

 

[Simondjuk]

Whilst technically applicable only to the servicing of SOLAS life saving appliances, using a service station listed in the PDF found on this page: https://www.gov.uk/government/publi...stations-for-liferafts-boats-and-life-jackets and approved to service your make of raft would be as good a starting point as any.

 

[rotrax]

After having mine serviced by a top company based in the NW and with a good reputation I was upset to find an 8 inch gash-obviously done with a stanley knife or similar-in the side of the valise. Probably done when the box I sent it in was undone.

They denied all responsibility and offered nothing to put it right.

Servicing a leisure liferaft is not rocket science-I have done it before-and will do it again myself in future.

I cant trust them.

 

[NPMR]

Whilst technically applicable only to the servicing of SOLAS life saving appliances, using a service station listed in the PDF found on this page: https://www.gov.uk/government/publi...stations-for-liferafts-boats-and-life-jackets and approved to service your make of raft would be as good a starting point as any.

Ours is a Plastimo and I did not see their name on the makes covered.

But, as you point out, that at least makes it a good starting point.

 

[Tomahawk]

Very good business model.

Take a life raft and put it on the shelf for a week.
At the end of the week, put a new sticker on it
Send back and charge a huge amount of money.

If the customer needs it for real, they won't live long enough to complain.

 

[Neeves]

Very good business model.

Take a life raft and put it on the shelf for a week.
At the end of the week, put a new sticker on it
Send back and charge a huge amount of money.

If the customer needs it for real, they won't live long enough to complain.

25 years ago ours was serviced for a RORC bluewater event out of HK. On reservicing in Australia it was found to have no water, no flares and gashes in the fabric.

A suggested we would simply have disappeared somewhere in the South China Sea.

Jonathan

 

[Graham376]

Until you come to use it, you never know whether it will work. We had our Plastimo Offshore repacked by a Plastimo service agent and, at next service by a different agent, were called into the service station. The insulated floor was missing, the torch batteries hadn't been replaced and had leaked, the raft was muddy although vac packed but, worst of all, it had been folded wrongly and both inflation valves were cracked so the air would have leaked out as fast as it went in.

 

[fisherman]

I always quote the MAIB report on the Lady Hamilton, the hired raft failed, the hirers were very anxious to get it back when the boat was raised, as was the MCA. Someone here said they had a hired raft from the same outfit and had no problems with it....no they hadn't fired it.
I fired an old Plastimo that had been in store for ten years, the last service in 2007 by IBS in falmouth, now defunct. The bottle lanyard was rigged slack inside the bag, I had to cut open the canister, but it fired OK then. I sent a video to Plastimo for their info only, no blame attached, they flatly denied it was one of theirs despite a photo of the label and serial number.
The only cure is to watch the service and repack, see they check weight the bottle etc. IBS only made a mistake, but a catastrophe in the making.

 

[DJE]

https://assets.publishing.service.g...ft_Service_Station_Database_cs_11-02-2019.pdf

 

[DJE]

https://assets.publishing.service.g...ft_Service_Station_Database_cs_11-02-2019.pdf

From that list it looks like they should have a certificate that you could ask to see. It also seems that they should have been inspected.

 

[Sea Devil]

Very good business model.

Take a life raft and put it on the shelf for a week.
At the end of the week, put a new sticker on it
Send back and charge a huge amount of money.

If the customer needs it for real, they won't live long enough to complain.

Exactly that happened to me in France... With an Avon who are now owned by Zodiac. more here:
http://www.michaelbriant.com/avon_life_rafts.htm

 

[Halo]

The company that serviced mine was ISO9001 registered. This means the company has a quality manual, has standard procedures and can convince an auditor that it follows both. Some may argue that this is not a high standard but in my experience it is a reasonably reliable check that the company is soundly based and tries to do the right thing. I would trust an ISO 9001 company to service my liferaft much more than an un-certified one.