Life raft, inflatable or wooden tender?

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PhillM

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Next season we plan to cruise a bit further than our usual Solent day sailing. Trips may include Weymouth, Brixham and potentially cross channel.

Thinking about "what ifs" and equipment. Today's it's the turn of, "what if we get run down in fog, or what if we spring a plank and start dunking, or what if the boat catches fire"

I don't have a life raft at the moment, but could hire or buy one of course.

I do have a dinghy but it's too larger to leave on deck, so either it would be below and uninflated or I'd have to blow it up and tow it.

I quite fancy building a wooden tender from a kit, so I could tow that.

Crew will be myself and either SWIMBO and or teenage sons.

I'd be interested to hear what you do / would do to be / feel safe.
 
Life raft : never ever heard of someone that has actually used or had to use the raft.
Here in the Med most yachts have a life raft or what once was a life raft. Very few have it serviced.

We towed a wooden made out of a kit dingy. ( Barrow Sailor ) We towed it trough Holland, France, Italy, Greece and Turkey. See the tread “Butting dingy”. After 13 years of hard life as a liveaboard dingy the epoxy keeping the wood together started dying so I used the dingy as a mould to build a ( slightly modified ) fibreglass dingy. This one costed less than 50 € and is still our working horse.

An inflatable is definitive your best option. ( No butting )
 
I do have a liferaft and also a large Avon which is stowed in a locker. However I also tow a 7'9" ply Eastport Pram dinghy from Fyne Boat Kits. They do larger models.
As for having to abandon ship then I guess I'd try to get the liferaft but I could get into the dinghy, I'm usually single handed but two up occasionally.
Dougal Robertson and family managed to survive in a nine foot dinghy, five people in all. You can see the dinghy at the NMMC in Falmouth.
I have the pram, not for life saving but because it's always there ready to use. It's no problem towing it, in fact it rather sets off my traditional boat. Since having the pram the Avon has been unused.

Edit. The liferaft weighs 25kg, the Avon 32kg and the pram 28kg !
 
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If you are considering what is suitable in the unlikely event of your boat sinking under you, then there is choice - it has to be a liferaft. An inflatable or a dinghy are unlikely to be any use in the sort of conditions that would result in your boat sinking. However, if you are crossing the channel in the summer and think there is significant risk of a sinking, perhaps you should not be going at all.

If you need the comfort of having ultimate survival gear then hire a raft for your passage. Not much point in owning one for one trip a year, although if it becomes a frequent habit and you like the comforting (if misplaced) feeling of having a raft, buy one to reduce your cost per passage.
 
Tranona said:
If you are considering what is suitable in the unlikely event of your boat sinking under you, then there is choice - it has to be a liferaft. An inflatable or a dinghy are unlikely to be any use in the sort of conditions that would result in your boat sinking. However, if you are crossing the channel in the summer and think there is significant risk of a sinking, perhaps you should not be going at all.

If you need the comfort of having ultimate survival gear then hire a raft for your passage. Not much point in owning one for one trip a year, although if it becomes a frequent habit and you like the comforting (if misplaced) feeling of having a raft, buy one to reduce your cost per passage.
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Hmm that's about where I am, with this. After all the work, I consider Paean to be very seaworthy. A life raft has only one use, a dinghy is itself useful for cruising. But as you say, except for fire or collision, a dinghy isn't going to be much use.

My gut feel was to go for a hard dinghy and tow it, like foeu (in fact the same one) but there is a small part f me that says should I ever need a life raft. I'd be very glad I had one! Perhaps add a life raft on hire for the longer and more exposed journeys like over Lyme bay and cross channel.
 
I don't fancy the weight, space taken or cost of a liferaft considering I only go across the Channel occasionally.

When I do go across I have the dinghy half inflated - and lashed down very securely - on the foredeck.

A compromise I'm happy with is a Hi-Speed inflator, this can inflate the dinghy in less than two minutes; before I go across again I also plan to invest in one of those self contained battery packs from Halfords, as a precaution against the main ship's battery being flooded.

http://www.force4.co.uk/rule-high-s...?gclid=CJeRqpPAtMICFQsXwwodsF0Acg#.VISUemcYso
 
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Dinghy inflated on the foredeck for me.

I do have a liferaft and recently got it serviced so I could meet some regs. Almost nobody ever needs them, and when they do the rafts a a pig to use if they work, so I wouldn't bother to buy or rent unless I was obliged to.

A great sea survival course showed me what a waste of time they are for a leisure sailor. Time and mental energy should be spent on ensuring the main boat doesn't get into trouble and that you have the skills and equipment to deal with it if it does.

The YBW Crash boat test is the best piece of useful journalism Ive ever seen to learn from. And the recent Ronert Redford film.
 
I have and have always had a liferaft and would probably not be happy going offshore without one.

I also have a clinker tender that can be towed in almost any weather, however I still bring it aboard for long trips in order to maintain best speed.
 
capnsensible said:
Liferaft, no contest.

Do people really still tow things around these days? How quaint. :nonchalance:
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Quaint enough ?
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2a1c48db.jpg
 
capnsensible said:
Liferaft, no contest.

Do people really still tow things around these days? How quaint. :nonchalance:
Click to expand...

I have an Avon R280 that I have owned and towed for the last 20 years. I keep the paddles in it so it ready to leap into in an emergency. I tow on a very short painter and it always behaves itself and has never flipped. I could not find the room to stow inflated on deck and with usually overnighting in harbour and going ashore for provisions or stopping off at an attractive cove or beach, it saves the hassle of inflating and deflating daily.

Not quaint but very convenient and practical.
 
When the wind does start to blow,

Your dinghy will most surely go,

An open boat in stormy weather,

Isn't big and isn't clever.

All those risks you might not mind.

But think of those you leave behind.......
 
theoldsalt said:
I have an Avon R280 that I have owned and towed for the last 20 years. I keep the paddles in it so it ready to leap into in an emergency. I tow on a very short painter and it always behaves itself and has never flipped. I could not find the room to stow inflated on deck and with usually overnighting in harbour and going ashore for provisions or stopping off at an attractive cove or beach, it saves the hassle of inflating and deflating daily.

Not quaint but very convenient and practical.
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The last time I towed an Avon in 30knot winds it flipped and flipped and flipped, even on a short painter. Never again, except on a very calm day perhaps.
 
The big boat is sinking and I have to abandon ship.

I can get into my everyday driver, a sturdy hypalon RIB which I carry on the foredeck on passage. The grab bag includes a tarpaulin which could be used as a sail and of course I could easily have time to get the engine and fuel tank which will give me 15 - 20 miles range.

OR I cn get into the liferaft, the material is flimsy compared to my RIB, I have paddles but significant progress is unlikely so I can really only drift.

It is also worth noting that two boats in the last twelve months have deployed liferafts in strong winds and have watched the painter connection fail and the life rafts have blown away.

Which one do I choose?
 
TQA said:
The big boat is sinking and I have to abandon ship.

I can get into my everyday driver, a sturdy hypalon RIB which I carry on the foredeck on passage. The grab bag includes a tarpaulin which could be used as a sail and of course I could easily have time to get the engine and fuel tank which will give me 15 - 20 miles range.

OR I cn get into the liferaft, the material is flimsy compared to my RIB, I have paddles but significant progress is unlikely so I can really only drift.

It is also worth noting that two boats in the last twelve months have deployed liferafts in strong winds and have watched the painter connection fail and the life rafts have blown away.

Which one do I choose?
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A combination of both. I'd be taking th liferaft with me in the rib or towing it behind.
 
TQA said:
The big boat is sinking and I have to abandon ship.

I can get into my everyday driver, a sturdy hypalon RIB which I carry on the foredeck on passage. The grab bag includes a tarpaulin which could be used as a sail and of course I could easily have time to get the engine and fuel tank which will give me 15 - 20 miles range.

OR I cn get into the liferaft, the material is flimsy compared to my RIB, I have paddles but significant progress is unlikely so I can really only drift.

It is also worth noting that two boats in the last twelve months have deployed liferafts in strong winds and have watched the painter connection fail and the life rafts have blown away.

Which one do I choose?
Click to expand...

Boats always sink 21 miles from help.

Good luck though, can I have your slippers?
 
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