Liferaft how many years to throw away

I had a canister Arimar made in 1992 which came (unserviced) with the boat. In 2007, I decided to chuck it away, and we had a family test on how to use a liferaft.

On the lawn with the canister, and daughter heaves away on the cord. Result ?

One perfectly inflated life raft which stayed up for three days before one tube needed topping up. The torch wasn't working, and the water packets were a bit suspect, and the safety knife is now doing duty in the greenhouse.

I now have a new Arimar (bought on the Forum:) )
 
Mine is 10 years old, serviced this year, no repairs required.

Life depends much on the seal staying intact and the raft not exposed to the elements - and of course regular servicing.
 
I'm of the school - If it is working ok, inspect but leave it alone.
But there's the rub, you don't know that it's working ok without deploying it.
Having then had it repacked, can you trust the re-packer?
Better test it just to be sure . . . . . :eek:
 
When I bought Almada in January there was a 19year old plastimo liferaft on board, I dont recall it being on the inventory. Just the look of the valise made me want to bin it, but I decided a phone call to the local plastimo service agent would not go amiss. He said bring it over and he would look at it. A previous thread on liferafts suggested it was good to be present when this was done. It was a good experience watching him inflate it, especially when it started to make some farty type noises, he explained that he put extra air into it to test the pressure release valves that stop it bursting should the gas bottle be over full, it was also nice to see what was what. All in all he said the condition looked very good, and in order to pass it must be left inflated for 24 hours and not lose any pressure at all. I phoned him the next day and he told me it had passed and was well worth repacking.
 
fergie_mac66 said:
This caused me to wonder as to how old a liferaft should be before it should be regarded as suspect, Even when serviced at the recommended time periods?5 years? 10 years ?15 years?
Click to expand...

It depends to some degree on the quality of the raft, and what it's made of. My 20-year old Autoflug was condemned this year because the rubberised fabric had become slightly porous. Modern raft fabrics might last longer, with regular inspections.

One factor in favour of extended life for modern rafts is that many are now vacuum packed, giving far more protection against water ingress.
 
pvb said:
It depends to some degree on the quality of the raft, and what it's made of. My 20-year old Autoflug was condemned this year because the rubberised fabric had become slightly porous. Modern raft fabrics might last longer, with regular inspections.

One factor in favour of extended life for modern rafts is that many are now vacuum packed, giving far more protection against water ingress.
Click to expand...

20 years seems that was a good deal ! modern materials might be better but not sure that modern liferafts will be made as well ! for some reason a lot of things made now seem to pack in or disintegrate !
 
I had a 4 man Avon in a cannister, bought new in '91. It was serviced annually (no vac-pac in those days) in order to keep the 12 year warranty valid. After year 11, the service agent said it would probably make the 12 years, but that the fabric would probably be suspect very shortly after the warranty period expired..... I think 'copperisation' or similar was the term used. That was a lot of service expenditure for that!!!! Current Viking raft (2003) still seems as good as new and only requires servicing one year in three.
 
Its a good question isn't it?
I have a liferaft that I inherited from my dad in 1996. I guess it was about 6-7 years old then. I have only had it services once, but then I don't see the point as it spend all its time on the bottom shelf in the garage. Often look at it under all the garage crud and wonder if it is worth keeping.
Over 20 years old, unserviced for ages. Is it worth trying it and if it works, it might be worth getting it serviced. Doubt if it would be worth flogging.
 
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