Liferaft Lifespan.

[capnsensible]

We were told on the fisherman course, on a GRP boat, get off quick.

John was a friend of mine. I taught himastro on a trans Atlantic trip. A very switched on sailor.

Sailor found close to burning yacht killed by an explosion, police say

 

[Frogmogman]

Siting of the liferaft on a small vessel is as important as understanding the various potential sources of fire. As well as understanding how to tackle a blaze, especially the importance of dealing with it instantly or the games up.

One can learn a lot from a short firefighting course run by some sea schools.

I don’t know what they teach on firefighting courses as sea schools, but the one I did at HMS Phoenix was one of the more useful days I have spent.

It meant that when, in the kitchen of my pub, I was confronted with a blazing commercial deep fat fryer, with flames shooting up and across the ceiling, I had the confidence to tackle the blaze, and successfully extinguished it before the fire brigade arrived. Had I not done so, the whole building would have gone up.

Without having done that course, there’s no way I would have got stuck in.

 

[capnsensible]

I don’t know what they teach on firefighting courses as sea schools, but the one I did at HMS Phoenix was one of the more useful days I have spent.

It meant that when, in the kitchen of my pub, I was confronted with a blazing commercial deep fat fryer, with flames shooting up and across the ceiling, I had the confidence to tackle the blaze, and successfully extinguished it before the fire brigade arrived. Had I not done so, the whole building would have gone up.

Without having done that course, there’s no way I would have got stuck in.

Good one. You can't beat training to give you the edge when bad stuff happens.

 

[fisherman]

Yes, we had just done part of the first aid for fihermen course, one of us was in town when a cyclist came off in the street, bleeding badly, he looked up and said "I'm haemophiliac". Bit shaken at that, but buckled down and went through the routine.

 

[Sybarite]

Between capnsensible and Fred Russel the percentage of failure is 50%. I will go with that.. The advice to open it up and service it myself is something I never even thought of.and worth a try. I have been cruising most of my life and never owned a liferafr nor ever thought of buying one. Especially a six-man example. If it was a zodiac or similar it would have been in the skip 4 month ago, but the one I inherited is a Hyperlon Avon.

Waste of spsce? Yes but so could a brand new one because I guess 98% of liferafts are never needed. While those new ones may, for many reasons,c may not work.

50% is a reasonable hedge

A bit like insurance... what a waste of money......

 

[BurnitBlue]

A bit like insurance... what a waste of money......

I remember a discussion in a cafe when one skipper said he wanted to let his insurance lapse.but his broker said it was a mistake because after so many years insured with no claim, the very next day, Murphy's law would ensure he would have an incident. Same with liferaft service I suppose.

 

[Sneaky Pete]

It surely depends on your intended voyaging plans and location currently-if the Solent is your choice the risks might less than voyaging say cross channel at night or down to med. you have the one you have so just keep it and save for a new one surely . Personally I would buy another but a cheap one -might invest in first class version if going on the ARC -

Doesn't make any difference ot your voyage plans. Once your on the water and something goes wrong wether it's 500 meters from shore or mid channel you'll be wanting that liferaft to perform perfectly. Personally the age of liferaft would encourage me to send it to landfill.

 

[geem]

We had our liferaft serviced last year. Its now 4 years old. The company doing the services include showing you the workings of your liferaft in great detail.

They explained how everything works and went through the food rations. The drinking water pouches were interesting. They are highly chlorinated so that they don't go off. We were told to not drink anything for the first 24hrs in the raft. We were told that you will be seasick, even if you have never been seasick before. Drinking the water will just mean you will puke it up so don't. Make sure you dry yourself as much as possible once in the raft. Salt water sores from chafing on the raft are very likely. Keep water out of the raft. If you can take a set of dry clothes in a dry bag into the life raft, it makes a world of difference.
The lady doing the walk through and talk is also a Captain of the search and rescue vessel in St Martin, Caribbean. Super knowledgeable and very capable.
They took our old liferaft when we bought our new one from her as they use them to train sea cadets.
She also said that all new rafts have welded seams. Older rafts were glued and they fall apart after a few years, especially if they have been in the Tropics.