Life raft. Where to put it?

[Bouba]

Are you sure there’s not designer space for the life raft ?
We inherited a 10 pax which has similar issues re woman deploying wise .
A designer space is however a double edge sword as any prospective replacement needs to fit dimensions wise .

Also adding to the offshore anxiety suppression have you thought about a ERIB ? We have two .

I have the ERIB s serviced because the Fr are fussy like in date flares and more importantly have the paperwork to spill on the cockpit table for officialdom.

How ever with the LR I’ve let it lapse date wise .
I heard they only inflate and replace the grub + water ,and even @ service they don’t actually pull the gas cylinder.Nope they disconnect it and just blow it up with air before repacking it with in date food and water .They replace the food / water only .Gas is not touched .So that trigger is never tested , so what’s the point other than a rubber stamp .??

So based on that with two ERIBs and a tender on the bathing platform and extra food + water in the cockpit fridge to grab
I,am not fussed .
Service of a 10 P is similar to the cost of a new say 4/6 P , so it’s a no brainier to service it .
Officialdom ( been done 3x times in 14 years ) has never asked about LR at all , I guess because they patrol within 6 miles anyhow ? AND they crucially can’t see it to ask jumbled deliberate language works in your favour.

“ no we never go offshore officer “

Any how a few pic s View attachment 77186
ERIB In date .You really need one of theses so a helicopter will come for you think Costa Concordia :encouragement:

View attachment 77187

View attachment 77188
Dog sleeps on it .Its place is just behind dogs back legs ,

View attachment 77189
Behind that seat base .

View attachment 77190
Doubles up as one of the engine access hatches .

So good design me thinks .You See LR spaces on many boats .

So do you want visible ( and committed to buying new food + water every 3 years ) or hidden in Fr ?

There’s a nice spot on the flybridge railings facing the stern, and behind the ladder but nothing like a locker etc. The lazaret is very deep with a heavy (gas struts assisted) lid, climbing down and lifting out a life raft in a valise would be difficult.
An ERB is next on my list as is a fitted VHF, expect a thread

 

[Portofino]

It's an EPRIB Porto. :encouragement:

Where are you with life rafts and EPRIBs regarding your particular current boating ?
Just to add to getting a barometer on this subject since you appear interested .

 

[Mr Googler]

I’ve got a portable vhf DSC with its own GPS receiver. My thinking is I can hear what’s going on and communicate back. Better than sitting there wondering if anyone’s coming. Appreciate it doesn’t have the range of a EPIRB but at least people around me can come and help too (as I would for them)

Back on topic....how about on the transom when on passage.....behind the ladder when at the restaurant ( boat left within your line of sight of course ) or is it to heavy to move between the 2 positions for you?

 

[MapisM]

I concur fully but I can think of a Captain that was more useless in that situation.

While I was actually talking of bits of kit, I can't argue with that!

 

[Portofino]

There’s a nice spot on the flybridge railings facing the stern, and behind the ladder but nothing like a locker etc. The lazaret is very deep with a heavy (gas struts assisted) lid, climbing down and lifting out a life raft in a valise would be difficult.
An ERB is next on my list as is a fitted VHF, expect a thread

Jumping in the LR ( assuming it can be deployed ? ) without knowing your position accurately and relying on a mobile not to get wet sounds a bit below what’ I think “ she “ expects
Anyhow if she “ buys ‘ it well done mate enjoy Corsica ———- if you get there

Seriously you need to look at the overall safety package .What I am saying a LR on its own is not necessarily the right thing it needs to be taken along with the rest of the serviceable kit imho .
To save life 1 st
2nd placate officialdom in your area .

 

[MapisM]

Missed the point - again !

Copter pilots from the mainland 1st on the scene homed in on the ERIB sig .This is because the verbal normal stuff coming from the island was overwhelmingly seemingly incredible.

They followed SOPs ...... standard operating procedure.

From which source did you get that? My understanding is that the bridge was in radio contact with the CG, so I struggle to believe that they deployed choppers (or rather SAR boats) faster just because of an EPIRB signal.
BTW, afaik the SOP upon receipt of EPIRB signals is to call the respective contact person first, go figure...

Oh, and in reply to your question, nope, I don't have an EPIRB onboard - and believe it or not, not even a life raft.
Well, I have one actually, inherited from the previous owner, but it's expired and I'm not going to keep it.
Imho, the first is as useful as a chocolate teapot anywhere in the Med, and also the latter might be just a space waste, depending on your cruising habits...

 

[Nigelpickin]

Agree with the above, when we had restricted space and went more than 3 miles off shore - we would always put the raft in the cockpit, when just close to shore it stayed in the tender garage.

Bouba, I’d look at existing or bespoke stainless racks that put the raft away from usable space and deployable without lifting, iirc you have a Swift Trawler 34 - could you not put a rack on the rear of the FB either port or stbd?

I take the point about EPIRB’s but really agree a good DSC radio and understanding on Pan Pan and when to escalate is far more likely to be effective and more responsible. I’d put a sat phone way ahead of an EPIRB any day - also we’re talking parachutes here not pyrotechnics.

Fire is the biggest risk to life here, of course a boat can go down quickly with a breach but most likely you’ll want to get away from the boat in seconds if there’s an uncontainable fire, can’t think of a good reason not to have a life raft on a boat like the OPs.

 

[Bouba]

Agree with the above, when we had restricted space and went more than 3 miles off shore - we would always put the raft in the cockpit, when just close to shore it stayed in the tender garage.

Bouba, I’d look at existing or bespoke stainless racks that put the raft away from usable space and deployable without lifting, iirc you have a Swift Trawler 34 - could you not put a rack on the rear of the FB either port or stbd?

I take the point about EPIRB’s but really agree a good DSC radio and understanding on Pan Pan and when to escalate is far more likely to be effective and more responsible. I’d put a sat phone way ahead of an EPIRB any day - also we’re talking parachutes here not pyrotechnics.

Fire is the biggest risk to life here, of course a boat can go down quickly with a breach but most likely you’ll want to get away from the boat in seconds if there’s an uncontainable fire, can’t think of a good reason not to have a life raft on a boat like the OPs.

To be honest, the thought of going up to the flybridge during an emergency, doesn’t fill me with confidence!
I was thinking that if I place the life raft on the transom I will buy a rack. But if I put it somewhere else I will make one that has some kind of rotating or sliding feature to ease deployment. Also I’d make it lockable, has anyone heard of life rafts being stolen?

 

[Mr Googler]

How about starboard side on the outside of the flybridge rails. If you line it up with the flybridge support strut thing, it can only go in the water with a good shove out of the bracket.

It will also be on the same side as your gunwales door so you should be able to get in quick.

It will be the right way up so that’s handy :encouragement:

 

[MapisM]

can’t think of a good reason not to have a life raft on a boat like the OPs.

Just to put what I said previously in perspective, I fully agree that uncontainable fire is the typical event which could even force to jump out of a mobo PDQ, in the worst case scenario.
When I said that I'm not going to keep/maintain my life raft, that's strictly because my cruising habits in the foreseeable future are in coastal places, where jumping in the water is a pleasure rather than a hassle...
And life vests are always at hand anyway, of course.

 

[Bouba]

View attachment 77192

How about starboard side on the outside of the flybridge rails. If you line it up with the flybridge support strut thing, it can only go in the water with a good shove out of the bracket.

It will also be on the same side as your gunwales door so you should be able to get in quick.

It will be the right way up so that’s handy :encouragement:

The wife’s board lives just there, and without it I would have to give up boating
But if you look at your photo, there is a length of railing on the flybridge facing the stern on the starboard side. That would fit it perfectly, it’s just I’m not happy having to go upstairs in an emergency.
It might seem strange, but as I have to have a raft and it cost me nearly €1200, it had better be able to save our lifes:disgust:
And, to be honest, the weight of it really got me thinking about just how useful it is in reality. I mean how many people really know if they could deploy it in an emergency, or if they are busy or incapacitated, could their spouse?

 

[Mr Googler]

The wife’s board lives just there, and without it I would have to give up boating
But if you look at your photo, there is a length of railing on the flybridge facing the stern on the starboard side. That would fit it perfectly, it’s just I’m not happy having to go upstairs in an emergency.
It might seem strange, but as I have to have a raft and it cost me nearly €1200, it had better be able to save our lifes:disgust:
And, to be honest, the weight of it really got me thinking about just how useful it is in reality. I mean how many people really know if they could deploy it in an emergency, or if they are busy or incapacitated, could their spouse?

I think a bracket on the stern might be your only option.

You don’t have to thrown it. If youre getting in the raft....a few gel scratches don’t matter so a hard yank out the bracket and it’s in the drink. Pull on the trigger line if it’s not gone off and in. Handy cleat at the stern too to put the trigger line on before you toss it in. Nothing worse than seeing a plastic uninflated case floating away!

 

[Nigelpickin]

The wife’s board lives just there, and without it I would have to give up boating
But if you look at your photo, there is a length of railing on the flybridge facing the stern on the starboard side. That would fit it perfectly, it’s just I’m not happy having to go upstairs in an emergency.
It might seem strange, but as I have to have a raft and it cost me nearly €1200, it had better be able to save our lifes:disgust:
And, to be honest, the weight of it really got me thinking about just how useful it is in reality. I mean how many people really know if they could deploy it in an emergency, or if they are busy or incapacitated, could their spouse?

You could always trade the ST for a catamaran.....

 

[Portofino]

From which source did you get that? My understanding is that the bridge was in radio contact with the CG, so I struggle to believe that they deployed choppers (or rather SAR boats) faster just because of an EPIRB signal.
BTW, afaik the SOP upon receipt of EPIRB signals is to call the respective contact person first, go figure...

...

Saw a tv doc with footage from the very first copter on the scene .
Sure islanders were on there mobs , local CG alerted but in the mele it’s easy to Chinese msg the exact location .
It followed the EPRIB sig which had been deployed and checked for authentication.
The base was Cossetto not far away on the mainland .
Initially due to the magnitude and confusion they thought ( the std crew in a Augusta SAR ) that I’d was a shore transfer boat that had capsized not the mother ship .
The voice recordings of the crew when they saw it - the mods won,t like the language Hardly surprising since they had never seen anything like it .

The EPRIB is the backstop last resort .Ive got two btw each registered with different people to pick up the phone .
Sure if a slow leak or what ever with the VHF you can pan pan then escalate to May Day but you need to be confident of your position and yes we have DSC too and lat / long constantly displaying on the plotter .
But at night disoriented, lost power , swamping or explosion/ fire , our grab bag has one EPRIB and the other is a self deploy if sinks thingy .
Obviously one can’t really practice in a military sense and hope the LF deploys ( we have a tender as well ) .
Back toVHF the Fr don’t even respond to marina requests so listening to the VHF traffic in Fr waters it does not inspire confidence.
I assume VHF traffic say in the Dover straits / Solent is taken a bit more seriously.

Sat phones well you need a signal and it needs to be charged etc and presume a number to call and the then it’s open to Chinese msg the location I guess .

Basically a LR and some reliable method of alerting SAR where you are I think is sensible if you boat a lot irrespective of how far away from “ safe havens “
It doesn’t seem a great of £/€/$ in the general scheme of boat costs .

My 0.02.p s worth .

Edit the RPRIBs are water proof and float so you could jump in sans LR and wait .Meds warm in the season btw so hypothermia will not get you before the copter arrives .

 

[Portofino]

Just to put what I said previously in perspective, I fully agree that uncontainable fire is the typical event which could even force to jump out of a mobo PDQ, in the worst case scenario.
When I said that I'm not going to keep/maintain my life raft, that's strictly because my cruising habits in the foreseeable future are in coastal places, where jumping in the water is a pleasure rather than a hassle...
And life vests are always at hand anyway, of course.

It’s not you or your wife that griefs gonna come from if there’s a tragedy.
Think “ speed boat killer “ recent UK news event .
Owners got a custodial sentence .

So what duty of care if that’s the correct language do I afford theses guests ?

View attachment 77193

 

[Nigelpickin]

It’s not you or your wife that griefs gonna come from if there’s a tragedy.
Think “ speed boat killer “ recent UK news event .
Owners got a custodial sentence .

So what duty of care if that’s the correct language do I afford theses guests ?

View attachment 77193

That’s a tenuous link at best. The conviction was based on alcohol consumption, unsupervised driving, driving in the dark and breaking the speed limit.

Duty of care is a good point, we treat all new guests as if they were charter clients. Full walk through of safety equipment and general safety precautions, (we also email a ‘safety on board’ memo to guests before they arrive). That’s not to avoid prosecution - just to ensure we are being as safe as possible - without sucking all the fun out of it I hope....

 

[PilotWolf]

Is there space for a cradle on the foredeck?

If you lock when your away from the boat make sure you have some foolproof way of remembering to unlock it before leaving the dock.

W.

 

[MapisM]

So what duty of care if that’s the correct language do I afford theses guests ?

Do you mean that @rse covering is your reason for carrying two EPIRB?
We must be used to rather different guests, I reckon.
Mine are more likely to sue myself if I would run out of prosecco while they are onboard...

In any case, duty of care is a legal concept, and as such bound to be related to law infringement rather than opinions.
Up to 6Nm (from any coastline btw, no matter how safe the landing), a life raft is not required by IT regulation.
Not to mention EPIRB, which is only required when cruising at more than 50Nm offshore.
Which means not even when crossing from SoF to Corsica, just to give an idea - the only typical Med passages longer than 100Nm being Baldricks/Sardinia and Sardinia/Sicily.
And within 300m, not even life vests are required.

Now, guess how far I normally must go from my home berth, before finding a great anchorage?

 

[Poignard]

...To go more than six miles from a place of safety requires a Liferaft, it’s French law. ...

I have kept my boat in France for 5 years and I didn't know that. I still don't know it because you haven't told me. Right?

 

[PlanB]

Someone mentioned tieing the tether before heaving it in. I'd have the thing permanently tethered (on a long line) as the last thing you want to remember in a panic is to tie it on.