Liferaft Stowage

another dimension...

pity us poor multihullers... having to work out how to stow a
raft so it can be deployed when inverted!

not that it will ever happen to me of course.

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I'm feeling left out here. Am I the only one who admits to not carrying one. Its very lonely out here all alone.

Martin

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Aye . . .

Yerr doooooooomed, laddie . . .

<font color=blue>Nick</font color=blue>
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Well you seem like a good kind of bloke. Could you follow me out & deploy your liferaft next to me.

Martin

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Heavy weather/liferafts

IS AN Oxymoron.

Innumerable examples of people taking to rafts under the delusion that it's safer than a disabled boat.

Both the Fastnet and Sydney/Hobart reports make this point forcibly.

Experience a liferaft in a seastate 8 and you'll not want to go to sea again for a very long time.

The only uses for liferafts are:

1. Sinking due to catastrophic collision
2. Fire
3. Getting a casualty into the chopper

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Stupid navigation

Ran us onto Longships outliers, boat holed and sank in about 40 minutes - Newlyn picked us up 80 minutes after we abandoned - and that was only in seastate 7.

PS I was NOT the navigator and not even on watch at the time.

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Sounds like you\'re wise

When you look at the angst it's raised here.

I think it's way down the list after EPIRB and VHF.

What's wrong with the rubberdubber, providing you have quick inflation available.

There are the, probably apocryphal, stories of people happily sailing offshore with a canister full of old scrap.

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Re: Heavy weather/liferafts

Agreed, liferafts are a last resort (step up into the liferaft...) but people do need them sometimes. In the Sydney/Hobart at least two boats sank due to catastrophic gear failure in the heavy weather - not due to a collision. And there have been several other examples - e.g. Yachts sinking as a result of grounding.

However apart from the case of collision there will always be enough time to make reasonable preparations to abandon ship - and as the case of Tuila shows in the case of collision, even liferafts/lifejackets may not help much.

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Re: \'Ware transom mountings

<...in some 60,000 miles covered I have never been pooped....>

I think you are more lucky not to have the thing ripped off by getting it entangled in another boat. Even if you are top notch at marina maneouvers, there is always someone else who isnt.

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Re: \'Ware transom mountings

Not easy to do, the raft is on the pushpit which is ahead & inboard of the stern scoop. We have had the lifebuoy frames bent before (on the quarters). We also had the stern ladder on our previous boat crushed by a certain well known sailing school who were teaching 'how to manouvre in marinas' to our fellow club members, fortunately they did not hit the raft which was also pushpit mounted.

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Liferaft Stowage - -addressing some of the points

Stern rail is generally v. vulnerable to accidental marina damage or large following sea taking raft and attachments away compete. Also heavy weights at ends are bad news - increasing pitching moment.

Cabin top is far easier to provide secure lashing. Hydrostatic is essential. A small percentage of cost. When inverted should be no problem as release is set at 3m depth - pressure. The only failure in hydrostatic should be to release the fastening.

Location behind mast is directly over centre of pivot point so effect on pitching is as low as you can get without putting it below.

Canister is highly unlikely to get tangled on rigging (even if rig collapsed) of sinking yacht, the hard, smooth, casing is very bouyant. Hydrostatic releases at 3m and lanyard allows it to surface before deploying raft at full extension. Hydrostatic (if rigged correctly) has weak link to then allow line to break free.

A valise could catch on rigging and snag, and protection of raft is much poorer - higher maintenance requirement.

In my opinion any stowage below (including decck locker) is untennable. Fire, explosion or catastrophic breach of hull will render it unaccessible. Far better to rely on hydrostatic taking care of deployment whilst grabbing whatever else your whits can assemble - in an exteme situation.

Valise stuffed under open cockpit locker is only 'manual' option I would consider, but it's a poor second to a fully auto- option.

'Solas Pack'. Basics packed in the raft, extras in a separate waterproof grab-bag. There is plenty of stuff in a Solas pack that you might need without having to deploy the liferaft. Extra flares, thermal blankets, medical supplies, radar reflector for example. You can 'service' these items yourself at leisure without having to pay to repack the raft. If the going starts to get a bit smelly in the underpants you can add a few extras like hh vhf, compass, gps, chart, torch, batteries, passports ...... etc. and congratulate yourselves later with a nervous laugh as you unpack them again in the safety of the harbour.

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