Liferaft servicing- I can't belieeeve it!

[CeesH]

On the Dutch Sailors Forum there are two Topics about the DIY subject.

I made the link with Google Translate, I think understandable:

http://translate.google.com/translate?sl=nl&tl=en&u=http://www.zeilersforum.nl/index.php/forum-125/reisvoorbereiding-en-veiligheid/382396-zelf-reddingsvlot-inspecteren%23382396&sandbox=0&usg=ALkJrhh1PO5ZcdFODof6KlNwgChAHbbD3g

and

http://translate.google.com/translate?sl=nl&tl=en&u=http://www.zeilersforum.nl/index.php/forum-125/reisvoorbereiding-en-veiligheid/563672-waar-koppel-ik-de-drukfles-af&sandbox=0&usg=ALkJrhitj7O0yaBHYOjFtUjry9OBHK1-YA

CeesH

 

[MM5AHO]

I've examined my own raft once and had it done "professionally" once.
The method of sealing with the painter is simple. (at least on mine).
There are two ropes to the painter. The inner one is all inside the bag, but the bag has a sealed hole though both sides of the bag, and the rope inside that forms a loop. This hole though the bag is placed in the loop of the rope, such that the outer rope can be tied through the hole in the bag, which means also through the loop in the inner rope. It means that on inflation, the bag gets ripped, but that happens anyway. The outer rope pulls the inner (bowlines join the ropes) triggering the gas canister valve. This way no rope perforates the bag, so the vacuum seal is intact.

 

[prv]

The method of sealing with the painter is simple. (at least on mine).
There are two ropes to the painter. The inner one is all inside the bag, but the bag has a sealed hole though both sides of the bag, and the rope inside that forms a loop. This hole though the bag is placed in the loop of the rope, such that the outer rope can be tied through the hole in the bag, which means also through the loop in the inner rope. It means that on inflation, the bag gets ripped, but that happens anyway. The outer rope pulls the inner (bowlines join the ropes) triggering the gas canister valve. This way no rope perforates the bag, so the vacuum seal is intact.

Cheers. I was imagining a plastic or rubber fitting, integral with the bag, with a loop on the inside and one on the outside and a rope tied into each. The way you describe is simpler and stronger :encouragement:

Pete

 

[duncan99210]

To my mind, having repacked my raft once without vacuum packing, the main reason behind the vacuum packing is to reduce the volume of the raft so that it will fit within the cannister. The vacuum bag pulls the packed raft into as tight a bundle as possible whilst minimising the stress on the raft by applying pressure evenly over the whole of the package.

 

[JumbleDuck]

I just wonder how a court would view a a dead crew member due to no life raft versus a dead crew member due to a faulty life raft.

It's difficult to see how someone might die as a result of no liferaft. There would normally be some other factor, I think - the Pride of Bilbao, perhaps, or a leaking gas connection - and I hope that's what the courts would worry about, rather than missing liferafts, helicopters, friendly dolphins and so on.

 

[Robert Wilson]

Assuming you are talking about a non-commercial vessel, compliant with all legislation, then the lack of a life raft seems irrelevant to a court's findings. Surely you are not suggesting there is an element of legal negligence in taking someone sailing on a boat without a raft?

It's difficult to see how someone might die as a result of no liferaft. There would normally be some other factor, I think - the Pride of Bilbao, perhaps, or a leaking gas connection - and I hope that's what the courts would worry about, rather than missing liferafts, helicopters, friendly dolphins and so on.

I think KAM is suggesting that an unserviced/unserviceable might raise questions of negligence, rather than no life-raft at all?

 

[cliff]

Just asked for a quotation from my nearest Service station to do the first 3 yearly service on my £750 6-man cannister liferaft. Cost for service will be approx £350-£400 + vat (3 year dating) dependant on the expiry date of the light / battery inside. That makes it nearly £500 ????? Am I missing something or is this the normal price I should expect. Seems overly expensive! Would appreciate your thoughts before I commit. Tks Tormod

Try Ocean Safety in Greenock

 

[BERT T]

Have you tried Norwest Marine in Liverpool? I only found out about them after my liferaft (now sold) was committed to Cosalt, but Norwest quoted about 1/3 the price.

http://norwestmarine.co.uk/

+1 for that, I can send my liferaft to Norwest for a service and including the cost of the courier it works out about half of what I've been quoted locally here in N. Ireland

 

[PeterR]

So how do you re-seal and vacuum the inner bag?

Pete

I serviced my raft after 4 years and found that although it was packed in an inner bag there was no “vacuum” left within that bag. The inner bags are over-length and can be resealed several times. All you need to do is cut across the bag as close as possible to the old seal. After inflating the raft, leave it inflated to check for leaks, inspect and weigh the cylinder and replace consumables etc then repack exactly as before - pictures taken before unfolding are invaluable. A domestic iron applied across the open end of the bag will seal it. You need to practice on the bit of bag you have cut off to find the correct temperature and length of time to apply pressure. Any reasonable vacuum cleaner with an extension tube will provide enough suction when applied over the deflation tube in the other end of the bag to create an adequate reduction in pressure. – No one creates a real vacuum with this sort of kit - The reduction in pressure is not permanent but is more than adequate to enable atmospheric pressure to compress the raft down small enough to get it back inside its canister. Whilst not being sealed adequately to maintain a reduced pressure indefinitely it should keep any water out and is no worse sealed than it was in the first place.

The only difficult bit is getting the raft well enough folded and compressed to get it back in the canister. Getting one back in a valise is not much of a problem but getting both halves of a canister to meet perfectly takes a good deal of persuasion.

Is it dangerous to do it yourself? I don’t see why. If there were any doubt as to corrosion of the cylinder or inflation mechanism I would take it for professional servicing. You don’t need to be an expert to check if the raft stays inflated or to inspect for perished components. If the canister/valise is kept in a locker I don’t see a problem with reusing the inner bag although I accept this is less desirable for a canister kept on deck or in a compartment subject to water ingress.

Certainly, for those considering scrapping an old liferaft and doing without because of the cost of servicing it must be safer to carry a self-serviced one than none at all.

 

[Daydream believer]

May I take this opportunity to say that having a liferaft mounted over one side at the back, projecting way beyond the hull, is a rubbish idea for anyone thinking of going through a canal?

Are you likely to need it in a canal ( suez & panama excepted)

 

[JumbleDuck]

Are you likely to need it in a canal ( suez & panama excepted)

No, but - as I found out last summer - it can be a right pain in the neck to anyone trying to share a lock in the Crinan Canal. It's also not great for the boat with the liferaft if, as in the case I saw, its position means that the boat has to put the less convenient side, propwash-wise, to the side of the locks. All over the place in every lock they were.

 

[KAM]

I serviced my raft after 4 years and found that although it was packed in an inner bag there was no “vacuum” left within that bag. The inner bags are over-length and can be resealed several times. All you need to do is cut across the bag as close as possible to the old seal. After inflating the raft, leave it inflated to check for leaks, inspect and weigh the cylinder and replace consumables etc then repack exactly as before - pictures taken before unfolding are invaluable. A domestic iron applied across the open end of the bag will seal it. You need to practice on the bit of bag you have cut off to find the correct temperature and length of time to apply pressure. Any reasonable vacuum cleaner with an extension tube will provide enough suction when applied over the deflation tube in the other end of the bag to create an adequate reduction in pressure. – No one creates a real vacuum with this sort of kit - The reduction in pressure is not permanent but is more than adequate to enable atmospheric pressure to compress the raft down small enough to get it back inside its canister. Whilst not being sealed adequately to maintain a reduced pressure indefinitely it should keep any water out and is no worse sealed than it was in the first place.

The only difficult bit is getting the raft well enough folded and compressed to get it back in the canister. Getting one back in a valise is not much of a problem but getting both halves of a canister to meet perfectly takes a good deal of persuasion.

Is it dangerous to do it yourself? I don’t see why. If there were any doubt as to corrosion of the cylinder or inflation mechanism I would take it for professional servicing. You don’t need to be an expert to check if the raft stays inflated or to inspect for perished components. If the canister/valise is kept in a locker I don’t see a problem with reusing the inner bag although I accept this is less desirable for a canister kept on deck or in a compartment subject to water ingress.

Certainly, for those considering scrapping an old liferaft and doing without because of the cost of servicing it must be safer to carry a self-serviced one than none at all.

Besides the cost saving you will now know how to pump it up, where all the gear is stowed, how to get in, how to activate it if something goes wrong and how small it is.

 

[Sybarite]

You'd be dead of hypothermia in your liferaft by then, and wishing you were dead from seasickness long before that. Has anyone ever spent 24 hours in a liferaft before being rescued in UK coastal waters?

I know of somebody who almost died of hypothermia after one hour in the raft in August. The raft didn't inflate properly and was full of water.

 

[JumbleDuck]

I know of somebody who almost died of hypothermia after one hour in the raft in August. The raft didn't inflate properly and was full of water.

Yeah, well, that's French liferafts for you, innit?

 

[Strathglass]

I serviced my life raft myself. A four person plastimo in a bag. I took lots of photos and videos as I pulled it apart. I tried to inflate it using a compressor and found that one of the pressure release valves had a manufacturing fault from new one tube deflated completely within ten minutes. Once I sorted the valve it inflated fine and stayed up. I left it up fot 24 hours and it did not deflate..I weighed the air bottle and it was fine. The vacuum bag was very easy to deal with. There was more than adequate excess in the length of the bag to cover about four liferaft opening and resealing. The resealing was very easy I bought a vacuum bag resealer at a very low cost and it was easy to do a three line thermal seal. To deflate it I used a wet/dry vacuum cleaner. I had no problems repacking it to fit inside the carrier bag and none of the internal contents required replacement.
As I said I did take lots of videos during both the dissembly and the repacking it was a fairly easy job to do.

 

[Sybarite]

Yeah, well, that's French liferafts for you, innit?

It was actually a French man in an English made raft... in English waters....

 

[JumbleDuck]

It was actually a French man in an English made raft... in English waters....

Oh right, so operator error then.

 

[dom]

Oh right, so operator error then.

JD you just don't get it do you? An Englishman can't pull a string as well as a Frencman and English waters don't have proper waves. What is so difficult about that? ...and don't try and argue, it's an axiom I think!

The good news? ...the maestro hasn't included you lot ...yet .

 

[Sybarite]

JD you just don't get it do you? An Englishman can't pull a string as well as a Frencman and English waters don't have proper waves. What is so difficult about that? ...and don't try and argue, it's an axiom I think!

The good news? ...the maestro hasn't included you lot ...yet .

Wait for the May edition of YM.

 

[JumbleDuck]

Wait for the May edition of YM.

It won't be as good as the Mai issue of Voiles.