Liferafts

petem

petem

Well-Known Member
Joined
16 May 2001
Messages
19,152
Location
Cotswolds / Altea
www.fairlineownersclub.com
We'd like to replace the liferaft that we have on board.

We're pretty constrained by storage space so would like something as compact and light as possible.

We're med based and don't generally go out if it's rough.

I'm curious to know what others have (e.g. single tube, multiple tube, coastal, offshore) and what sort of cruising they do?
 
I'm currently looking at a valise type due to boat size.
The one I have seen is a sea go iso type 2 for the area we're covering.
Jon
 
Currently got some massive 10 P zillion kg thing under a seat .Wife cannot lift it it’s that heavy .Throw back to the PO a Capri hotel owner using the boat as a taxi / day tripper .
Also looking to replace it this summer .
Irrc in Italy under a Italian flag they have to service LR s every 2 yrs irrespective of the manufacture or age of the thing .
Fortunately under a red ensign no such stipulation to fly a red , hold U.K. registration.
How ever having said that it’s wise to follow what ever the manufacture states .

I found this a few months back
4 Person Lalizas Leisure-Raft Liferaft | Suffolk Marine Safety

I think it was the smallest- read lightest .
We have 2x ERIPBs as well both in date so the build quality of the LR is not a priority for us as we don’t intend to spend long in it .
Tender sits ready to go quickly too on the bathing platform .

Obviously if was crossing to Green land in February I would not pick this one .
 
Portofino said:
Currently got some massive 10 P zillion kg thing under a seat .Wife cannot lift it it’s that heavy .Throw back to the PO a Capri hotel owner using the boat as a taxi / day tripper .
Also looking to replace it this summer .
Irrc in Italy under a Italian flag they have to service LR s every 2 yrs irrespective of the manufacture or age of the thing .
Fortunately under a red ensign no such stipulation to fly a red , hold U.K. registration.
How ever having said that it’s wise to follow what ever the manufacture states .

I found this a few months back
4 Person Lalizas Leisure-Raft Liferaft | Suffolk Marine Safety

I think it was the smallest- read lightest .
We have 2x ERIPBs as well both in date so the build quality of the LR is not a priority for us as we don’t intend to spend long in it .
Tender sits ready to go quickly too on the bathing platform .

Obviously if was crossing to Green land in February I would not pick this one .
Click to expand...
Thanks, I'd come across that one too. It would certainly fit my size and weight requirement.
 
@Portofino we bought the Lalizas. Seemed to be sufficient for the summer inshore boating that we mostly do. Obviously wouldn't be suitable for north sea boating n the winter.

They had a six man in stock on special offer for €850 (inc VAT) which I though was a pretty good deal.
 
I'm interested to know under what circumstances people deem a liferaft necessary to carry. It'll obviously vary person to person depending on your attitude to risk etc.and I guess if your crossing large expanses of open water it's a no brainer to carry one.

We don't have one,but primarily we're just bay hopping in the summer in good weather, we are usually no more than 15 miles from land,but frequenty a lot closer.

I might go Majorca to Ibiza (~45 miles ) at some point.
 
Last edited:
On the S37 we are constrained to what will go in the space under the cockpit seat. First time around we bought an Arimar in Italy and last year in Spain an Ocean Safety.
We went 4 man because that’s our norm and apparently larger ones are more unstable when a few people are in.
Apart from stabilising bags and self righting considerations one of ours was time between servicing which varies make to make.
 
Hi Pete , snap .We have bought one two 4 pax .It’s so compact and light .

@julians .As you say island hoping for reassurance.

Just for piece of mind like A N Other piece of safety kit I guess ,

Its isn’t the weather theses days due to accurate enough forecasting and pretty decent hulls it s just a Sod’s law under water strike or worse fire .

In my early years in the Porto 35 ( same as Petes T 34 ) took the family to Corsica a few times .Obviously suitable weather read wave height window .About 100 miles so eco cruising at 26 knots 3100-3200 rpm on the KAD 300 s took a good 4 hrs .
Its amazing having normally cruise the mountainous CdA coast from Genoa to Marseille how quick the sight of land dissapeared.
1/2 and hour and you are on your own , with just your plotter pointing at an island .

The first time we only had a ERIPB and the tender fully inflated sat on the cockpit table in August sea temps high 20 s .
Figured if a leg rips off or we punch a hole from semi underwater obstacles we could jump in , grab the grab bag and request rescue via the ERIB .
Corsica to Elba is eye ball apart distance so not so scary.

The new boat to me from summer 15 came with a LR and another ERIPB , Bigger boat and far better handling bigger seas so wider use age envelope potentially .A bit quicker too so less thinking time if you see something ahead semi submerged .

Also even coast hopping there’s some big bays for shorter passages to cross ie the gulf of Genoa and now I have more time a extended season - read cooler sea temps .
Also feel confident accepting friends ( as well as family ) on board ……newbie types doing as full as possible safety briefing as I can .If that makes sense in todays world of trigger happy litigation …….should something untoward happen .

I can see your point along with many others day boating , bay hopping , a few miles from the marina in the busy summer whereby the waves are not from the wind but from the actual boat density of stuff continuously crossing every anchorage.

But i think its one of those things you do either all in get everything or nothing .
 
We have a 6 man Seago in a valise. We usually sail directly from Dover to the Channel Islands so 30 miles + from shore and out of sight of land for 6 hours. However the prospect of lifting the liferaft from under a seat to the water is enough to have cardiac arrest.
 
Portofino said:
Hi Pete , snap .We have bought one two 4 pax .It’s so compact and light .

@julians .As you say island hoping for reassurance.

Just for piece of mind like A N Other piece of safety kit I guess ,

Its isn’t the weather theses days due to accurate enough forecasting and pretty decent hulls it s just a Sod’s law under water strike or worse fire .

In my early years in the Porto 35 ( same as Petes T 34 ) took the family to Corsica a few times .Obviously suitable weather read wave height window .About 100 miles so eco cruising at 26 knots 3100-3200 rpm on the KAD 300 s took a good 4 hrs .
Its amazing having normally cruise the mountainous CdA coast from Genoa to Marseille how quick the sight of land dissapeared.
1/2 and hour and you are on your own , with just your plotter pointing at an island .

The first time we only had a ERIPB and the tender fully inflated sat on the cockpit table in August sea temps high 20 s .
Figured if a leg rips off or we punch a hole from semi underwater obstacles we could jump in , grab the grab bag and request rescue via the ERIB .
Corsica to Elba is eye ball apart distance so not so scary.

The new boat to me from summer 15 came with a LR and another ERIPB , Bigger boat and far better handling bigger seas so wider use age envelope potentially .A bit quicker too so less thinking time if you see something ahead semi submerged .

Also even coast hopping there’s some big bays for shorter passages to cross ie the gulf of Genoa and now I have more time a extended season - read cooler sea temps .
Also feel confident accepting friends ( as well as family ) on board ……newbie types doing as full as possible safety briefing as I can .If that makes sense in todays world of trigger happy litigation …….should something untoward happen .

I can see your point along with many others day boating , bay hopping , a few miles from the marina in the busy summer whereby the waves are not from the wind but from the actual boat density of stuff continuously crossing every anchorage.

But i think its one of those things you do either all in get everything or nothing .
Click to expand...
Thanks for your viewpoint, I guess with a larger boat the space taken up by a raft is less of an issue too.

If we head over to Ibiza I will probably get a satellite communicator (probably a Garmin in reach mini 2). It's only a 2 hour crossing in good weather,maybe out of sight of land for 30 mins,out of phone range for the same maybe. Worst case scenario we decamp to the SUP or inflatable kayak!
 
julians said:
I'm interested to know under what circumstances people deem a liferaft necessary to carry. It'll obviously vary person to person depending on your attitude to risk etc.and I guess if your crossing large expanses of open water it's a no brainer to carry one.

We don't have one, but primarily we're just bay hopping in the summer in good weather, we are usually no more than 15 miles from land, but frequently a lot closer.

I might go Majorca to Ibiza (~45 miles ) at some point.
Click to expand...
As Porto says, it's an underwater strike, fire or a catastrophic failure of a hose or seacock.

There's normally other boats in sight but it's sods law that it will happen when there's nobody else about.

Have a look at the Lalizas ones, they're really compact and very light (unlike the old one that I guess was 25kg or so).
 
Also consider the Waypoint ones - very similar to the Lazilas ones mentioned above.

For my usage the only likely use cases are serious collision (with a ship or a rock) or fire. If I have a PLB I need something that can be deployed quickly and simply and keep me safe for a few hours while help comes. To me the ease of handling the lighter weight liferaft means it is a much safer option than a heavier valise - that my wife would struggle to handle and deploy.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page

Top