very old liferaft

[tritonofnor]

I have just been given a SeaSava4 RFD liferaft, which has been locked in a shed for a few years (i.e. not exposed to the elements), but it has a servicing date of April 1981! What do you think the chances are of this being serviceable? Or am I just dreaming of saving a grand or so!

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[vyv_cox]

About 5%.

At the very least operate it and find out. Very little hope that it will hold gas in but it might make a nice paddling pool for the kids.

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[longjohnsilver]

I see you're in Devon, there's a place in Plymouth that services liferafts, I think they're called Cosalt, apparently a very helpful bunch, worth giving them a ring for some advice.

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[Sybarite]

In France liferafts have a statutory life of 12 years provided regular servicing takes place. First afer three years and then annual.

Moves are underway to change this life to 10, 15 or 20 years depending on the circumstances.

John

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[mickp]

I inherited an Avon 4 man liferaft in a valaise with my boat the liferaft was 21 yrs old i took it to a service agent in Liverpool and witnessed the service the liferaft was in very good order considering the age the dealer reckoned it had about another 8 years life. Maybe Avons are better made dont know ?

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[samuel]

If you can take it to a liferaft service agent & see it set off it is a useful experience. I was going to buy a cheeper type of liferaft but happened to be outside Premium liferafts in Burnham. I went in & made a some enquiries & I was shown couple of liferafts inflated & will definately go for a more expensive raft.
These people seem to know what's what where liferafts are concerned They hold a stock of 1800 for hire & regularly nearly run out of stock around about Burnham week. They know which ones last & which ones do not.
They will tell you if yours is OK & do not seem to be the sort of people who would tell you a raft was U S just to sell you a new one. Unlike the garage I was visiting at the time !!!!

<hr width=100% size=1>Justisla

 

[Avocet]

I inherited a very old RFD liferaft with our boat. The cannister was in two loose halves and I very gingerly opened it. Nothing happened. As I removed the top half completely, I noticed the liferaft was in a couple of black bin bags (probably not original packaging, I thought!) Anyway, I eventually plucked up courage to pull the cord and all of a sudden...

...nothing happened!

I phoned RFD and told them I had one of their very old liferafts and they asked if I had a serial number. I said "six" (or whatever it was) and there was a silence at the other end of the phone followed by "are there any other numbers or can't you read them?"

"No, that's it" I replied. Turns out I'd got one of the very earliest ones. The bloke was very honest. he said that there wouldn't be any point in servicing it because the fibre reinforcements on the very early ones was cotton and it would probably turn into a beach ball if I tried to inflate it!

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[stubate]

when i was working in angola in the oil field we had loads of rafts that had been sitting on the decks of the platforms for ten years. thewre was nowhere to service them so me (head of maintenance) decided to open them up and have a look. found them all to be servicable, no rot or perishing, the gas bottles looked like diving bottles but were full of CO2, out of 10 one was emptyish, and i think some one had been messing with it. the food supplies surprisingly enough looked ok, the weight of the bottle full is stamped on the side so you can check it to see if it is still full by weighing.
just open her up, have a carefull look at all, make sure that the valves are all ok and put her back together.
you have nothing to lose and if you have ANY doubts call in the experts
stu

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[AndrewB]

Possibly, but ....

... the cost may be uneconomically high. That point is reached when the annual service charge exceeds about £230, for one costing around £1,200 new. A decent liferaft service agency will be prepared to look at it and tell you, even if it can be fixed, whether it will be economic.

Survival liferafts seem to last up to about 15 years. They still deteriorate even if out of commission.

 

[Piers]

Call John Baker of Nationwide - he's helped me (and others from the Forum) well in the past. 07885 631 066. He won't give you any bull.

<hr width=100% size=1>Piers du Pré
http://www.dupre.co.uk