Sea-Safe liferafts: feedback requested

OR4751 said:
Our ancient Autoflug liferaft is beyond saving.
Looking at replacements.
Was thinking of getting a Sea-Safe one (4 persons - canister).

Any feedback gratefully received.
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I'm in the same position. My Lifeguard Forties liferaft c1993 is probably beyond future use - I don't really want to pay to have it tested and rejected - and anyway it only gets a 12 month certificate.

Just this week I've been talking to the people who serviced this liferaft up to three years ago - Marine Safety Centre at Lowestoft (http://www.themarinesafetycentre.co.uk). In fact, for the last two summer cruises I rented a 4-man canister off them as it was cheaper by a long way than having the Lifeguard serviced.

They are involved in commercial marine as well as leisure.

Justin Hunt, the boss, told me that they were now buying in Seago liferafts for their rental side, which rather surprised me as I always considered Seago a 'lesser' brand. He reckons (and I did press him on this) that they were more than capable of doing the job for which they were intended and that they had improved in specification over the years.

So, I think I'm probably going to go for the 4 man ISO in canister @ c£929 with a 3 year service interval (which, as you know, is the norm nowadays) - it fits in well with my future plans.
 
Tradewinds said:
Justin Hunt, the boss, told me that they were now buying in Seago liferafts for their rental side, which rather surprised me as I always considered Seago a 'lesser' brand. He reckons (and I did press him on this) that they were more than capable of doing the job for which they were intended and that they had improved in specification over the years.
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About ten years ago a converted trawler sank in the Irish Sea, with the five-person crew abandoning to a liferaft. The boat's VHF was faulty and they had no other long-range means of signalling distress, so they drifted for eight days before getting close enough to the Cornish coast to call 999 from a mobile.

The raft was a Seago, and the survivors were quite happy with its performance, the only exception being some difficulty working the topping-up pump.

Pete
 
nigelmercier said:
Viking, no contest.
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I hadn't heard of these, but they do appear to be the dog's dangly bits.
They only thing stopping me from ordering one of those is price.
A Viking 4 person, off-shore cannister is nearly twice the price of the Sea-Safe I was considering.
The Viking is what we're after, but bar a winning Euromillions ticket it's unaffordable - choices will have to be made.
 
Last time we had our then 17 year old Plastimo Offshore re-packed, the service agent said it was about time to replace it when next service due as bottle test would then be required, adding to the cost. He services and sells most of the popular leisure and commercial + big ship rafts and advised that the Sea-Safe was, in his opinion, the best of the cheaper end of the market and pointed out that some better known brands are made in the same factory. We've just bought the 4 person self-righting canister version. I'm told one of the Ocean Safety rafts is a rebadged Sea-Safe. Hope never to find out if I'm happy with the choice:)
 
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