Liferaft or inflatable dinghy

[MIKE_MCKIE]

I use an Avon Redstart as a tender & it is great. Mine is at least 20 years old, has had a hard life & still works fine. They are built like the proverbial & no mistake. HOWEVER, they go downwind like smoke, in any appreciable breeze they will easily flip over, and they have no protection from the elements. Even with a TPS, compressed air cylinder et al, I would never even consider using it as a liferaft on an ocean passage, except as absolute last resort (see below).
One other point of course is that most of them are grey-ish & so almost invisible in any seaway. Location by Rescue forces would be a major problem.
Of course in an emergency you use whatever is to hand, a a small carley float held my Dad & several of his mates up for days when he was torpedoed during WWII, but in a (relatively) sane world, go for a liferaft, no matter how small. At least it is designed & built for the job, & is presumably there to do what it says on the tin, ie SAVE YOUR LIFE.
Cheers
Mike

 

[NickiCrutchfield]

Thanks Mike. I've reluctantly come round to the same way of thinking. Such a big heavy thing in my tiny boat.
Cheers,
NIcki

 

[frauboot]

I feel the consensus as I read the discussion on liferafts and inflatables, is to buy a liferaft and rely on the water taxi in Newport. Just in case I don't end up in Newport but have to stop somewhere else without marina or water taxi - I am thinking Flores - I should take a children's inflatable boat.

Does anyone know where you can purchase a one person liferaft? It should be safer as it should not flip over without the weight of the additional persons. I know the various Air Forces around the world do them. But I can't find them on the commercial market.

 

[Tahitibelle]

Paul - I hope 'TB' has sunk, but I don't know for sure. She was filling up faster than I would have been able to continued bailing her, had I needed to contnue for another night. My last sighting was of her staggering, mortally wounded into the distance, half sunk, with a tiny rag of jib up, on her own, and no help from me - I felt a real shonet to leaving her. My guess is she would have gone under over a period of time, as the air escaped from the various compartments. I don't think there was enough buoyancy in the foam core material to float her. We all know from Jester 08 that in Jester 10, the probability is we will go through at least one probably more storms. The big lesson for me is there has to be some way to slow the boat down and action should be taken earlier rather than later also that you must have an alternative means of escape, one that you can live in for a few days if necessary i.e. liferaft. Using inflatable buoyancy bags in the hull (old dinghy fashion) is an interesting one - turning the whole boat into a crashproof survival capsule. Hey is there a spell cjeck on this thing somewhere?