Cotillion
Well-Known Member
I have a badly out of date Life Raft on deck and I’m going to France next week. Will I get fined if caught with it?
Life Raft
- Thread starter Cotillion
- Start date
Daydream believer
Well-Known Member
Get a dymo label & put a date on it showing next test as next year. No one will know otherwise.
failing that scrub out the test date if there is one. no one has ever looked at mine - but there again it has always been in date & i have had loads of French customs visits.
14 in one year alone
failing that scrub out the test date if there is one. no one has ever looked at mine - but there again it has always been in date & i have had loads of French customs visits.
14 in one year alone
mainsail1
Well-Known Member
In thirty years of sailing to France I have had one customs check. They did not look at the life raft. I think the chances of you having a problem are remote to say the least.
LadyInBed
Well-Known Member
Same here, customs man was more interested in asking about the boat, as he fancied buying one like it.
Cotillion
Well-Known Member
Thanks for the comments. Although it is out of date I’d rather have onboard if needed in the hope it’ll work rather than thinking about it sitting in the garage as the water comes up to my ankles.
Tranona
Well-Known Member
Does your boat leak that badly? Almost zero probability that a well found boat should sink between here and France.
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D
Deleted member 36384
Guest
That does not make sense. If you have decided that you want a life raft to mitigate against the consequences of sinking, why then reduce the probability of it working by not having it serviced? You state it is "badly out of date" so it is likely that will translate into an increased probability that it will not work when required. I get that on your boat is better than in your garage but it is not logical, either you want a working life raft, or you don't, if you do, have it serviced. Two big family meals out is about the cost of a service.
cmedsailor
Well-Known Member
Out of curiosity, since I don't live in that part of the world and therefore don't know, is it a law requirement in France for a private pleasure boat to have a liferaft?
Tranona
Well-Known Member
No, only if registered in France and then it depends on the classification of the boat. This determines how far you can go offshore and therefore the level of equipment required. of minor interest, if you have an ETAP boat then you are exempt - or were when they were current.
The French authorities do expect visitors' gear if carried - typically flares and liferafts to be in date with certificates to show if necessary. Enforcement - as in actually bothering to inspect is seemingly patchy.
cmedsailor
Well-Known Member
Thank you Tranona.
The exempt requirement for ETAP made me lough. The don't sink but what if they catch fire!
Biggles Wader
Well-Known Member
"Going to France next week" Hence the question makes sense as time and tide wont be kept waiting.
D
Deleted member 36384
Guest
It does not make sense. Why want a liferaft and not service it? The OP could hire one if he felt the consequence of sinking required a liferaft. However, that's another thread but I just thought I would point out a logic issue as I see it.
To get back on thread, my first visit to Europe, a marina in Belgium,, 1986 or '87 resulted in an interrogation from some authority who demanded that I show them every bit of safety kit including charts. It all culminated in them recording the serial number of the Engine before leaving. Recalling the event some time later, I wondered if it was to get me to open up lockers and bags / bottles, so they could do an informal drugs check, I was 18 back then and on a large yacht and by myself, with the crew ashore. I have never been approached since then.
A check could happen, the checker could look at the liferaft, they might have an issue with it. If I were a gambling man, I would bet that they won't though.
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I kept my boat in France for 5 years. There is no need for a foreign flagged vessel to carry any safety equipment required for French vessels. Out of date flares attract a fine under legislation relating to pytotechnics so that is the only prosecution risk pertaining to an unserviced liferaft.
I've been boarded three times by French customs in the last 2 years and they've shown no interest in expiration dates.
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Graham_Wright
Well-Known Member
Daydream believer
Well-Known Member
Would they repack it afterwards?
I was on The Isle De Groix some years ago & the customs noticed that a band around the liferaft on the motorboat next to us was snapped. they insisted that the owner unpacked it on the pontoon. the owner ( Dutch) had a right old argument but to no avail. They unrolled it & having looked they left him to sort it out. they then visited us & we had our fingers crossed that they would not do the same. We had the test cert ready which they did look at They were a bit grumpy at first but soon calmed down & departed quite friendly. ( No thanks to the Dutch bloke)
Several people have stated that they hardly ever get inspected by customs & it must be me, because my record for one trip to France was 14 visits one summer. i seem to be a magnet for Customs, especially in France.
2 years ago i went to Boulogne for the third time in one month & within 30 mins of my arriving 4 officers descended on me & spent 1 hour 5 mins searching my boat. Bedding, lockers under berths, everything !! Two kept me talking ( papers, then sailing, where I was going what i was doing etc etc) whilst the other 2 kept looking around the boat. I was even asked why I was so relaxed about it all.
There were 6 British boats there & i was the only one visited.
I rarely do a trip to France each summer without a visit somewhere. This year it was Cherbourg but the guy got called away, so just looked at my passport & went
I regularly get visited in Ostend & in the 70's they arrested me & marched me along the pontoon. All because we had forgotten our papers, passports etc.-Oh & my crew swore at the officer. But he did apologise afterwards..
Never been checked for fuel though, One customs officer said - We know you will not have white fuel so we will not look. which I though was decent even though I had white anyway.
In Ostend i have been threatened with fines twice (Once after actually helping by giving a TV interview with the customs & local TV station about a joint anti drugs initiative) For not having my boat name on the stern
In the 70's the b..dy UK customs in Burnham virtually stripped my boat- just because we had a few undeclared King Edwards cigars on board. later when he recognised me as a crew on a boat returning from an EAORA race to Ostend he gave that boat a hard time as well. As a result the owner would not let me crew any more races abroad.
Biggles Wader
Well-Known Member
You need to change the boats name
"poitiers agincourt up yours bonaparte" is too long and can be seen as provocative.
Rum Run
Well-Known Member
Blimey! You are Howard Marks and I claim my £5
prv
Well-Known Member
Seems like you and/or your boat must be on some list somewhere. Might records of an arrest in the 70s still be lurking in police computers to this day?
Pete
Sea-Fever
Well-Known Member
I think you are correct - you are obviously une merd magnetique.
