ISO vs Non-ISO Life Rafts?

jerrytug said:
I bought my boat with an Ocean Safety ISO 4-man canister. I sent it to be serviced at OS, Plymouth branch, and they condemned it out of hand, at about 4 yrs old, due to a manufacturing defect in the fabric or stitching, they were unclear (except that it would have sunk......

So I recommend Ocean Safety as a company with good service and a reputation to uphold
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Are you serious? You recommend a company because they replaced it FOC, regardless of the fact their product could have cost you your life? There is no wonder they replaced it and I'm surprised they didn't send you lifetime servicing FOC also as that type of publicity would have have been hugely damaging.

Can you clarify which one you had? Was it their top of the range job or their bought in SeaSafe copy model?
 
northcave said:
Are you serious? You recommend a company because they replaced it FOC, regardless of the fact their product could have cost you your life? There is no wonder they replaced it and I'm surprised they didn't send you lifetime servicing FOC also as that type of publicity would have have been hugely damaging.

Can you clarify which one you had? Was it their top of the range job or their bought in SeaSafe copy model?
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Ocean Safety liferafts are highly regarded by magazines generally, together with Viking. I have an Ocean Safety Ocean ISO raft and have every confidence it would work if I need it.
 
pvb said:
Ocean Safety liferafts are highly regarded by magazines generally, together with Viking. I have an Ocean Safety Ocean ISO raft and have every confidence it would work if I need it.
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I have no problem with the Ocean Safety Chinese raft as we have the same SeaSafe make but the self righting version. Ours came via Marine Safety in Gib and, of the many makes he services & sells, was the one he recommended.
 
pvb said:
Ocean Safety liferafts are highly regarded by magazines generally, together with Viking. I have an Ocean Safety Ocean ISO raft and have every confidence it would work if I need it.
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Ok so there is little or no real life data to suggest any brand is better than another plus someone just said his Ocean Safety raft would not have worked or sunk. And you still say "I have every confidence it would work if needed".

I don't debate they might be good in magazines but just curious where your confidence comes from given a real life example above.

Was that to do with the fact the QC was shoddy in China or was it just a 1 in a million? I would argue the former.
 
northcave said:
Ok so there is little or no real life data to suggest any brand is better than another plus someone just said his Ocean Safety raft would not have worked or sunk. And you still say "I have every confidence it would work if needed".

I don't debate they might be good in magazines but just curious where your confidence comes from given a real life example above.

Was that to do with the fact the QC was shoddy in China or was it just a 1 in a million? I would argue the former.
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Whenever mags do comparisons, they tend to favour Ocean Safety and Viking rafts. As a huge number of rafts are made in China, presumably you might not be happy with any of them? Chinese quality control can be very good indeed - as most consumer electronics demonstrate.

If you want expert opinions, why not go and talk to some liferaft service centres? If they service and sell a number of different makes, they should be able to give you valid reasons why they prefer particular makes. But bear in mind that production sourcing is changing all the time, so a make which was good when made 5 years ago might now be less good (or indeed vice versa).
 
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prv said:
..... The point I'm trying to make is not that ISO 9650-1 is a bad thing, just that it's not a magic wand that you can blindly trust to result in a vastly better raft. You still need to look at what you're actually buying, and the differences may be slight.

Pete
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I think you could trust an ISO compliant liferaft more than a non ISO liferaft assuming that the QAQC at the factory is adequate in both cases. ISO 9650 is a 3 part standard with Part 3 being about the materials, material testing and qualification standards that the materials should meet. Of course a non ISO liferaft might meet or exceed the ISO standard, or it might not but still be a good enough liferaft.

Personally, I will buy an ISO compliant liferaft when my current one expires as I believe it offers an acceptable minimum standard for design and construction of liferafts. Today I received a letter from VW that my EU compliant EA189 engine is in fact non compliant demonstrating once again that there are no guarantees in life.
 
Just been on the phone to Ocean Safety to ask about their Ocean Iso Charter. They told me it was made in France and were very abrupt about it. So I asked why is the photo the same photo as on the SeaSafe site and their rafts are Chinese. They said it wasn't. So I say well look on your picture on the website it even says SeaSafe at the top.

I got put on hold without warning and they came back and said "No its made in China. Anything else I can help you with?"

Really didn't sound very nice and they even struggled to answer how big the water ballast was. My confidence factor = nil.

Contrary to that I spoke with SeaSafe who in fact get the raft from France and its made in China. Much more open to advise and their tech guys knew everything off the top of his head. They can also offer the raft in a Prolite canister in everything up to Solas B.
 
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