liferaft or not?

[newboater]

I have an ETAP28i and each year go accross to France with friends ,however we always hire a liferaft even though the boat is unsinkable, are we wasting our money ? (we do take an inflatable dinghy) We are off again in 10 days would appreciate any advice and perhaps where to hire liferafts at competitive prices,my boat is at Dartmouth.

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[tcm]

You have totally wasted your money so far, since there's been no disaster. You won't need a liferaft...unless you need a liferaft. So sadly, you wil have to rent one again.

I suppose that this is the probem with rentals - you have decide again and again, instead of just the once.

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[webcraft]

You must have heard that you should always step up to a liferaft.

From an unsinkable boat this simply isn't possible.

So - I would say, yes, you are wasting your money. Make sure instead that you have a good high-power waterproof hand-held vhf, spare arial for the main set, in date flares and a waterproofed fully charged mobile phone. You know you can't sink and you know you will be able to attract attention even if you've lost the rig and the batteries. The cost of this lot will probably not come to much more than one year's liferaft hire.

My next step would be to get an EPIRB.

Getting into a liferaft is generally a bad idea - many people have been lost in these circumstances yet their boats have been found intact. My personal nightmare is collision with a submerged object - or maybe a whale - and sudden/instant sinking. If I had a foam-filled hull I don't think I'd ever consider buying or hiring a liferaft.

- Nick






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[Sybarite]

My first reaction is that, no you shouldn't need one because part of the early publicity on Etaps was that even if they were cut in half each half would float. However how would you contend with fire? This would be my main worry. If you have really solid firefighting equipment then I would probably risk it provided also that just in case you had a large inflatable on board - eg a Tinker with the liferaft option.

Originally in France where the first certificates of unsinkability were issued, Etaps were exempted from carrying liferafts. However I have just read (I think in Voile magazine) that although Etaps have this certificate they are NOT now exempted. Maybe they had second thoughts about it too.

To sum up : I don't think anybody will take the decision for you !

John

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[Ivy]

I hope all the money spent on liferafts, flares, life jackets, EPIRB's and all the other safety kit is a total waste of money. It's all expensive and probably over priced, but if you are in the water it's all worth a lot more than you paid.


Wasn't the "Titanic" unsinkable ? /forums/images/icons/shocked.gif

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[Birdseye]

ok, so its unsinkable. so even if dismasted and holed in bad weather, you are probably better off staying with the boat

what do you do if it is set on fire? can you rely on being able to get to the dinghy?

i never bothered with a life raft on short sea crossings like the channel, but crossing biscay was different even though my boat is (in theory) unsuinkable.



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[dulcibella]

I'd go for a Tinker. You get a life raft, an efficient tender and a fun sailing dinghy all in one item so you are getting value for money even if, thank God, you never have to abandon ship. You can often get a great bargain 2nd hand.

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[Aeolus_IV]

I'd disagree with your "short sea crossings" comment. Regarding the yacht hitting/being hit by the merchant ship reciently and sinking in less than a couple of minutes. I appreciate that here we are talking about an Etap, but they were not picked up for over 10 hours, and at that almost by luck (correct?). If the Etap was burning could you sit in the water for that long?

Jeff.

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[LadyInBed]

Re: burning Etap

You might need a liferaft, but you wouldn't need flares! /forums/images/icons/blush.gif

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