Using an out of date life raft

[graham]

I fired (an out of date by about 5 years from memory)seago.

Only the lower of the 2 bouyancy rings inflated the top ring and the inflatable arch remained deflated.

It sounded like most of the gas was coming out of the safety valve. In calm waters even like that it would keep people afloat.

 

[Travelling Westerly]

I think he was being ironic (at least i hope so)

Not sure what was said by the daydreaming chap as he has long been on the ignored list (thank God for that function).

Can't really see there is much to comment on my personal findings though?

 

[lumphammer]

Why not hire one. It's works out at around £6 a week for my 12 man, gets changed for a serviced one every three years.

Taking into account all that's been said, I'm going to go with the existing out of date life raft for this year, then as suggested above will probably hire one for the summer season for succeeding years. Will also look at ways to stow the dinghy on the transom as a backup.
It seems that from all the comments that the most likely reason why a life raft won't inflate is that it has been serviced incorrectly, so unless you buy new every three years you are very much into the "pot luck" realm.

 

[Travelling Westerly]

If the bottle connection was loose it may not have had the pressure needed to burst open the cannister.

Had it been serviced?

If you want to repack it you could use a vacuum cleaner to extract the air from the raft itelf and then a vacuum storage bag to shrink the raft to less than cannister size...

Yeah I was thinking the same about vacuum packing it.

Didn't think about the lack of possible pressure not opening the cannister though. Good thinking

Not too sure if it's ever been serviced. Didn't look it though. The test weight and pressure details were in line with the original manufacturing dates. There were no further details in the log.

 

[Helidan]

Have you actually seen the joke hand pumps that come with the plastic spoons in leisure rafts?

Some rafts I service have got decent bellow made by the likes of Bravo, others however are nothing short of a joke!!

 

[Helidan]

If the bottle connection was loose it may not have had the pressure needed to burst open the cannister.

Had it been serviced?

If you want to repack it you could use a vacuum cleaner to extract the air from the raft itelf and then a vacuum storage bag to shrink the raft to less than cannister size...

This is where servicing experience comes in, some connections to the bottle can indeed be loose but that is by design. Some Plastimo rafts for example have a single exit from the operating head going into a heavy plastic splitter. The whole lot moves freely when the locking pins are installed but it IS gas tight (assuming the o-rings are good).