What kind of liferaft do you carry?

[Refueler]

My understanding is that Valise version is brought out from stowage for the 'voyage' if not immedaitely available ....

I further accept that a Hard Case LR in a Hydro mount is better placed to act in emergency ... but unless you have a reasonably sized boat - not so easy to mount.

 

[Supertramp]

Deck mounted canister, tied on. I have a lot of concern about the idea of ever using it because of the risk of it tangling up in bits of rigging etc. I would prefer rail mounted although that trades the problem for getting in the way during normal operations. I always have a dinghy on deck or davits which I am much more practised with!

 

[fisherman]

I scrapped a large canister liferaft on the foredeck which I think had been a “coding” requirement and fitted two valises - a four man and a six man - in the cockpit lockers. I should explain that the lockers are not in the seats but in the sides of the cockpit and are self draining.





I think this is what the designer intended and I feel safer with it.

Even an unfit and portly 71 year old can pull a small valise raft sideways out of the lockers and up to the side decks. I find it difficult to picture a situation in which the helmsman could not get a raft over the side; the rafts are well protected from the weather and for a small crew the small raft is safer. Also, there are two!

Picture the boat on its beam ends, maybe swamped, maybe stranded, in a swell, and the raft is on the low side.

 

[14K478]

Picture the boat on its beam ends, maybe swamped, maybe stranded, in a swell, and the raft is on the low side.

I should have explained better.

There are rafts on both sides. Six man valise in the starboard liferaft locker, four man valise in the port one.

Getting forward with the boat on her beam ends, in the conditions Fisherman envisages, to release a big canister raft, would be no picnic, and once released it would float forward of the mast and shrouds, with the surviving crew aft…

 

[fisherman]

I should have explained better.

There are rafts on both sides. Six man valise in the starboard liferaft locker, four man valise in the port one.

Getting forward with the boat on her beam ends, in the conditions Fisherman envisages, to release a big canister raft, would be no picnic, and once released it would float forward of the mast and shrouds, with the surviving crew aft…

Yes. I think in terms of hydrostatic release, as per regs for FVs. Recent sinking here had the crew sitting on the upturned hull waiting for it to sink and release the raft. But what if the boat sank inverted and the raft was trapped in the cradle? Sh!t happens.

 

[14K478]

Yes. I think in terms of hydrostatic release, as per regs for FVs. Recent sinking here had the crew sitting on the upturned hull waiting for it to sink and release the raft. But what if the boat sank inverted and the raft was trapped in the cradle? Sh!t happens.

Yes, there is no ideal solution.

Big ships have a small canister raft on or sheltered by the foredeck in case something happens too quickly for crew working forward to get aft (this happened in the case of the 227,000dwt ore / bulk / oil carrier “Berge Istra” in December 1975. Two crew members who were working forward when she blew up survived).

These forward canister liferafts in cradles with hydrostatic releases get damaged and/or swept away rather frequently, in my experience, but they are a good idea.

A friend with a sister boat to mine which he races (she is a very lucky boat, with a devoted owner) had to withdraw from the Fastnet this year when a green sea chucked his canister liferaft (hydrostatic release, in stainless cradle on coach roof) into the cockpit. No-one was hurt and he had a second raft but had to withdraw as he now had more crew than raft places. Another argument for having two, anyway.

 

[xyachtdave]

For bombing about locally and short coastal passages port to port I can live without one. I had a Viking Valise but the ridiculous service costs finally led me to sell it on.

I came to the conclusion the money was better spent on the basics, rigging, engine servicing and hull maintenance.