Where do you keep your lifteraft (or alternative)?

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carl170

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halcyon23.blogspot.co.uk
Hi.

I am looking to do some coastal sailing on a small 23 foot yacht. I do not have enough room to mount a liferaft on the cabin roof where they are traditionally mounted.

I know you can get valise types in a bag. Are these actually handy to use? Where do you keep one when sailing? Are they cumbersome to get out of the cabin ettc in an emergency?

Does anyone have any useful alternatives? I read somewhere that someone keeps a partially inflated boat ready for such an occasion, but I would imagine that trying to fully inflate in a panic would be difficult.

Where do all you small boat ownerss keep your liferaft?

Regards

Carl
 
carl170 said:
Hi.

I am looking to do some coastal sailing on a small 23 foot yacht. I do not have enough room to mount a liferaft on the cabin roof where they are traditionally mounted.

I know you can get valise types in a bag. Are these actually handy to use? Where do you keep one when sailing? Are they cumbersome to get out of the cabin ettc in an emergency?

Does anyone have any useful alternatives? I read somewhere that someone keeps a partially inflated boat ready for such an occasion, but I would imagine that trying to fully inflate in a panic would be difficult.

Where do all you small boat ownerss keep your liferaft?

Regards

Carl
Click to expand...

The main thing about a liferaft is getting in and closed down, after 20 minutes the atmosphere is saturated and you stop losing heat. Hence a partly inflated boat may not do the job. Most of the 35000 seamen who died in WW2 died from exposure.
 
carl170 said:
Hi.

I am looking to do some coastal sailing on a small 23 foot yacht. I do not have enough room to mount a liferaft on the cabin roof where they are traditionally mounted.

I know you can get valise types in a bag. Are these actually handy to use? Where do you keep one when sailing? Are they cumbersome to get out of the cabin ettc in an emergency?

Does anyone have any useful alternatives? I read somewhere that someone keeps a partially inflated boat ready for such an occasion, but I would imagine that trying to fully inflate in a panic would be difficult.

Where do all you small boat ownerss keep your liferaft?

Regards

Carl
Click to expand...

There are two schools of thought, keep it mounted on deck (in a canister) so you are not looking about for it down below in a sinking ship, or keep it down below so it is not swept away by whatever seas have brought about the situation in which you need to look for it in the first place. After reading Heavy Weather Sailing (can't remember if it was Adlard Coles or Peter Bruce edition), there were so many examples of deck mounted rafts being lost just at the point when they could become useful, I went for the down below option, stored in an unused berth with nothing preventing my getting to it. This has the side benefit that you can go for a valise and it is marginally easier to handle as well as cheaper.

I think the ideal option is a liferaft well beneath the cockpit floor, but few manufacturers spec that nowadays as there is so much drive for maximum room aft.

Cheers
 
Salty John said:
Do you need a liferaft for coastal sailing on a small boat? I wonder how many small boats carry them?
Click to expand...

Very few I suspect. I regarded the boat herself as our liferaft on Brigantia. The space taken up by a liferaft on a 23 footer would've been out of the question for us and hanging another 25 or 30 kilos right aft would also have been a non-starter (we had too much weight astern as it was)

In fact, I've just put ashore the valise liferaft on Erbas to make space for an inflatabe dinghy and I don't plan to reinstate it for coastal sailing - as and when we come to head offshore (if indeed we ever do) I'll contemplate making room for it temporarily or changing it for a canister version mounted on deck
 
First comment; a good many boats intended for coastal sailing don't carry liferafts. The theory is that they are more likely to be needed for offshore sailing. In any case, inshore you are more likely to be picked up quickly so a lifejacket (+ light + hood, and preferably PLB - PLB is stowed in your pocket) is adequate. For what it's worth; you may disagree.

Some might say that the cause of long life is better served by spending money on (for instance) nice new tyres for the car, rather than on a liferaft. After all, cars are more dangerous than boats.

My own boat is a 25' coastal cruiser and yes, it does have a liferaft.
And it does NOT go on the cabin roof! I like to see where I am going. A safety device should ideally not increase risk of collision.

Finding somewhere decent to put a liferaft is a challenge on 25' and even more so on 23'. I found that I could stand mine on end (check to see if it would like this before buying one) in the cockpit locker, where it was quite safe and would be easy to get out in a hurry. (Prior to that it was in a forepeak locker where it would need about 5 minutes of heaving pushing and swearing to get out - not ideal if the boat is sinking.)

It came with the boat. It was quite an expensive one. Incidentally the cheap ones can be much more bulky than better ones, so if you buy a cheap one you might have more trouble finding somewhere to put it.

You can get all manner of survival aids and stores packed with the liferaft. Apart from being expensive, they can make the package bulkier and heavier, which can make if more difficult to stow and to deploy, so the kit might be better in a grab bag. Your choice.

Biggest expense is not buying the raft in the first place, but in servicing it during its lifetime. Mine used to have a 3 year service interval, but due to its increasing age the makers now stipulate a 1 year interval (to check the fabric has not deteriorated). This puts up the cost to the point that the most cost effective solution might be to buy a new raft. Incidentally, before buying, decide who will service it and ask their advice. They might decline to service certain makes, which information might guide your purchase.
 
Liferaft for coastal sailing is arguably overkill, but does make you feel better. Bit like a condom - rather have one and not need it, than the reverse. Ours is on the pushpit, ready to be launched easily by anyone on board. We used to have a valise in a cockpit locker, until one day when we were practicing MOB processes and SWMBO could not move it out of the locker and hurt herself trying to. After that, it was replaced by the rail mounted canister. I think MOB is probably our main reason for wanting one. Another tool in the bag in case of an emergency.
 
We have one mounted immediately ahead of the mast on our Jag 25. As it normally has a solar panel held with bungies on top of it, it theoretically takes up no space at all.

Nice to have even though our sailing is mainly coastal (as I suspect is many/most people's, most of the time). Probably wouldn't bother if never offshore though. But why limit yourself?
 
Ours is on the coach house roof but Rampage is a lot bigger than the OPs boat. For a 23 foot boat, stowage for a liferaft is always going to be a bit of a problem. When driving a RIB full of divers in what were best characterised as coastal trips there was no thought of taking a liferaft along. I would tend to think that for coastal trips on a small boat, good life jackets, PLBs and good foul weather gear is probably a better investment than a liferaft. Venturing well offshore (two or three days at sea) is a different matter and that would be the time when I would look towards hiring a valise liferaft for that trip.
 
Mine sits on my Ladderelle (mix of a boarding ladder and passerelle) inboard in the centre of the pushpit.

If needed, the Ladderelle is deployed and the liferaft goes with it. In theory, it should be possible to board the liferaft and stay dry which, I think, is incredibly important.

The worry, as with all pushpit mounted liferafts is losing it in bad weather.
 
On my previous boat - an Etap 21i - I didn't need one. On my Contessa 26, I bought a valise version as didn't want to mount it for space or security (theft and weather). When sailing, it lives on the bunk just inside the hatch, otherwise up front.

I only bought it for offshore. Above suggestions for dinghy / life jackets for in-shore use make sense.
 
We have a four-man valise that is stored in a cockpit locker. On our previous (smaller) boat, we kept it in the spare cabin - but they are quite heavy and I'm glad I never had to carry it through a rolling boat in an emergency!
 
I have a 22' boat, used mainly for coastal sailing but we have done a fair few cross-Channel trips.

For those I carry the dinghy half inflated - and very well secured - on the foredeck, this used to be a regulation if without a raft, don't know if it still is but I do it anyway.

The weight and cost of a liferaft are major considerations, my boat like most hates weight aft so I would carry a valise in a quarter berth if bothering with one.

I do have a one man raft out of an aircraft ejection seat I was given, I sometimes carry this on the principle it would give us something to hang onto if the boat went down suddenly through collision or fire; as it's one man I'd have to hope my arm wrestling was better than the crew...

I do agree with having good lifejackets with spray visors & lights and a waterproof handheld VHF, hopefully a PLB too, and flares in a buoyant cannister.

Prevention is better than cure though, for a start I have plenty of big fire extinguishers throughout the boat and bilge pumps operable from inside & out + electric.
 
Mine is racked onto the back of the pushpit.

I used to have a valise in my previous boat and kept it in the trotter end of my pilot berth, near the companionway.

I have a Monitor windvane that has, in earlier sailing days, punctured and destroyed an inflatable dinghy from its sharp edges, so although I prefer a

liferaft near the cockpit and easily accessible, I'm not sure mine is in the best position at present.

As others comment, for coastal sailing I'd first put my pennies into staying alive and being found by having a good dsc vhf radio, plb's, lifejackets with

all the accessories, an EPIRB and quality sailing gear suited for the conditions you'r in.

Then as you become more adventurous, I'd invest in a liferaft to be stowed as accessible to the cockpit as possible.

One disadvantage of fitting a liferaft to the back of the pushpit in small lighter craft, is that it puts a lot of weight to the extreme end of the boat

which may encourage the boat to 'porpoise' in a swell.

S.
 
just thinking if your boat is short of space for carrying a liferaft what about 1 or 2 floatation suits like boat anglers wear i believe arco used to do a good one and remember reading some where about anglers who's boat sunk in the thames estuary i think survived several hours while they were found
 
Fantasie 19 said:
+1.. tow a tender if you must??
Click to expand...

A friend used to tow a tender around the Solent, the drag if one felt the painter was horrific and explained why we constantly missed tides and ended up back at the club in the early hours of Sunday mornings !

Also a liability in any significant waves, see Adlard Coles' ' Heavy Weather Sailing ' when he tried towing a dinghy across Lyme Bay...
 
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