Liferaft annual costs

[Kelpie]

I'm considering adding a liferaft in the near future, and wondering about the costs.
From what I understand so far, the LR costs about £600 (or more) to buy, with an expected life of about 12 years, so about £50/yr in replacement cost.
Servicing, every three years, appears to cost around £125 but varies hugely. Carriage will be about another £60 return (yes, the perils of living in the stix), so annual cost works out at £60.
I am aware that there will be some items such as flares that need replaced on expiry, but not sure about how to cost that. It appears to be an option to use a grab-bag instead so that I can replace them myself.

Do these costings seem about right? Do the service costs and lifespan of rafts vary much between makes?


And of course there is the option of self-service. I do my own lifejackets, so why not?

 

[sailorman]

why not buy a basic raft without all those expensive disposable items stowed in it.Then have a panic bag with flares ect in that
Also some cheaper rafts are very heavy Waypoint make some of the lightest rafts

http://www.suffolkmarinesafety.com/4_Person_Waypoint_Coastal_Liferaft/p1825833_13217430.aspx

Its worth a call to Roland @ SmS he is very helpful

 

[Ammonite]

Force4 / seago want £350 to service my 4 man ISO 9650 raft. If I recall correctly it cost £800 when new.

It's nine years old and I'm inclined not to bother

Like the OP I'd like to know what makes others recommend taking quality, purchase and servicing costs into account?

Will take a look at waypoint rafts referred to above....

 

[Kelpie]

Just to follow up my initial question- what are people's experiences of liferafts older than 12yrs? I think I have read that some service agents reccommend annual servicing after that age. For a budget raft that would mean you would be cheaper to just buy a new one.

 

[[70521]]

For us hiring is the way to go, as it works out cheaper in the long run.

 

[Tranona]

Just to follow up my initial question- what are people's experiences of liferafts older than 12yrs? I think I have read that some service agents reccommend annual servicing after that age. For a budget raft that would mean you would be cheaper to just buy a new one.

Doubt many people keep rafts that long and given the cost of new ones (particularly the basic 4 man jobs) against servicing, replacement is more common. Having said that my last raft passed its last service at 10 years with no problem. However it was an old style mid range raft and had been serviced every year as the boat was coded (in Greece).

 

[sailorman]

Just to follow up my initial question- what are people's experiences of liferafts older than 12yrs? I think I have read that some service agents reccommend annual servicing after that age. For a budget raft that would mean you would be cheaper to just buy a new one.

I sold my 6 man Autoflug @ 20 yr on ebay some 5 yes ago. it was a quality raft. i replaced it with a 9 yr ols zodiac 4 man from a forumite, it was much heavier than the Autoflug. That has also just been sold on ebay @ 12 yr as the service was going to be expensive & would need a service every year it made £200.
I tracked doen a basic XM 6 man of ebay that was new this july ( re-badged Plastimo ), it was being sold by a trader & supplied to him under recall by Suffolk Marine Safety so had full history. I got it outside ebay from the trader @ a very popular price.
Failing that i would have had a Waypoint ORC from SMS. These are well spec`d, & light weight.
Check-out the dims & weights, some rafts are very heavy, the zodiac was actually 33.3kg it was according to the bumf 29kg

 

[30boat]

I still have my Lifeguard from 1992 and it'll be replaced next year.It was the best available when I got it .When serviced this Summer it was found to be in perfect condition.I believe that a modern liferaft should be good for a bit longer than 12 years.

 

[Kelpie]

Just FYI, the lowest cost option I have calculated so far is about £80/yr- by buying an ex stock Plastimo off eBay. Although I don't really like the sound of those rafts, single skinned floor sounds a bit chilly! So will probably spend a bit more than that, but good to know what the starting point is.
I still haven't budgeted for consumables but my thinking is that after the first service I would have a grab bag instead, I see a lot of advantages to that (e.g. can check contents are intact, electronics charged up etc).

 

[awol]

It may have just been my local liferaft servicing centre but I failed to persuade them to change my liferaft from its original specification. It was either to be done to the manufacturers specs or no service. Their argument was that they are certifying that it conforms to a specific standard.
You may end up doing your own servicing but as liferafts are mostly to give confidence (in my case, to my wife) the self-service route may not be successful.

 

[ghostlymoron]

I've never done it, but checking/servicing shouldn't be that difficult. Check that it stays inflated and that inflation mechanism works, replace consumables job done. The most tricky bit would be re-packing it. Then hope it works!