Where do you keep your lifteraft (or alternative)?

Yes I have been giving this some serious thought. I used to part own a Barbican 33 and we had one on a frame on the pushpit, just needed to release it and it falls in the water and opens attached to its painter.

Now I have traded down to a 21ft Trailer sailer and do not have a liferaft but I do have a PLB and self inflating lifejacket. A colleague of mine had a small canoe on board which he used to paddle ashore as he tended to sail single handed.

The other alternative might be a surf board, which can be stored vertically on the rails. Hypothermia is the biggest risk and I figure if you can get your body out of the water that will prolong life. In colder weather a dry suit is also a life saver.

A towed inflatable is a bit of a pain, it slows the boat down, can become detached in heavier weather and gets in the way when you want to berth.

I have bought a second hand spine board used in the medical profession and plan to add bouyancy. I want to experiment with it in shallow water this next season to see if it can be used for MOB etc.
 
It seems to me that Avon should go back to manufacturing auto inflation sets for their dinghies as they did years ago
Alternatively, there must be a demand, which someone could fulfill, making a set that could be attached to a range of inflatable dinghies on isolated ocassions
ie use the dinghy as normal but when it is deflated on deck connect an air bottle for emergency inflation
It must be possible to take any dinghy & weld in a special adaptor to fit an air bottle.
The user would send it to a manufacturer to have one fitted independant to the normal valves
The air bottle may need dry air etc but I would have thought a dive shop could refill a couple of bottles every season & they could be packed in a cannister. Canister would also have a dinghy pump fitted for air top up plus an emegency pack, flares( or laser before some starts on flares again!!), water etc

Any ideas what it would cost to produce inc the valve, service etc & what the market would pay for such a device?
 
Daydream believer said:
It seems to me that Avon should go back to manufacturing auto inflation sets for their dinghies as they did years ago
Alternatively, there must be a demand, which someone could fulfill, making a set that could be attached to a range of inflatable dinghies on isolated ocassions
ie use the dinghy as normal but when it is deflated on deck connect an air bottle for emergency inflation
It must be possible to take any dinghy & weld in a special adaptor to fit an air bottle.
The user would send it to a manufacturer to have one fitted independant to the normal valves
The air bottle may need dry air etc but I would have thought a dive shop could refill a couple of bottles every season & they could be packed in a cannister. Canister would also have a dinghy pump fitted for air top up plus an emegency pack, flares( or laser before some starts on flares again!!), water etc

Any ideas what it would cost to produce inc the valve, service etc & what the market would pay for such a device?
Click to expand...

I've often wondered if one could use the boats' fire extinguishers to inflate a dinghy if things were really desperate but a bit botherered by the freezing and corrosive effects of the gas; never heard of this being tried, so it might fall into the category of " we've never had any complaints " !
 
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Seajet said:
I've often wondered if one could use the boats' fire extinguishers to inflate a dinghy if things were really desperate but a bit botherered by the freezing and corrosive effects of the gas; never heard of this being tried, so it might fall into the category of " we've never had any complaints " !
Click to expand...

A tinker I had used to have an option for a liferaft. You could fit an air bottle for inflation. I don't think it would be difficult to install a diving pony bottle such that you could inflate a dink in seconds.
 
SteveSarabande said:
Does a dinghy really work as a liferaft? From my sea survival course it seems you need protection from the weather and something less likely to capsize
Click to expand...

An avon with a bit of water in it is surprisingly stable.

As for the cold, a chap at Premium Liferafts once told me that the average time for people in a liferaft in UK coastal waters before being rescued was 45 minutes.I do not know the source of the info but I am sure premium have considered it.
I was querying the "non" insulation factor of my liferaft & wondering whether to upgrade to an insulated one

& before any one suggests that that short time is another reason not to have a liferaft I would suggest that 45 minutes is a long time to be in the water , liferaft or no liferaft- possibly with others, & in what may be difficult conditions - certainly stressfull
 
Mine is on the coachroof, but as my boat has a slight list to starboard, caused by the batteries I think, I am considering mounting it on the outside of the pushpit on the port side to balance things up.

Di
 
Yes I would have thought this a good idea of using gas canisters to inflate the dinghy rapidly as long as it is not overinflated and damages or bursts the tubes.


This is where the manufacturers could do us all a service by developing a system that is safe with their particular model of dinghy.
 
Daydream believer said:
An avon with a bit of water in it is surprisingly stable.

As for the cold, a chap at Premium Liferafts once told me that the average time for people in a liferaft in UK coastal waters before being rescued was 45 minutes.I do not know the source of the info but I am sure premium have considered it.
I was querying the "non" insulation factor of my liferaft & wondering whether to upgrade to an insulated one

& before any one suggests that that short time is another reason not to have a liferaft I would suggest that 45 minutes is a long time to be in the water , liferaft or no liferaft- possibly with others, & in what may be difficult conditions - certainly stressfull
Click to expand...

Their figure is tosh, ask them to list the coastal deployments of a liferaft and they won't be able to. Offshore is a different matter, and the Irish Sea had one in the last ten years - and that failed to inflate. We carry a liferaft, statistically we know we will never ever use it but it's worth it just for the peace of mind. Once you accept that staying in coastal waters means that you won't use it, the decision about where to put it becomes a matter of convenience and aesthetics.
 
Daydream believer said:
It seems to me that Avon should go back to manufacturing auto inflation sets for their dinghies as they did years ago Alternatively, there must be a demand, which someone could fulfill, making a set that could be attached to a range of inflatable dinghies on isolated ocassions ie use the dinghy as normal but when it is deflated on deck connect an air bottle for emergency inflation.
Click to expand...

A 7L Dive cylinder is £180, you would need some valves and air lines and the manufacturer needs to make a profit, so say £550. Would you pay £550 for this?

Daydream believer said:
It must be possible to take any dinghy & weld in a special adaptor to fit an air bottle.
The user would send it to a manufacturer to have one fitted independant to the normal valves.
Click to expand...

They already exist, think of the self righting bags on the back of a rib, or a manual version could be a modified version of a diver drysuit valve. You would need to take into account the number of separate chambers in an inflatable dinghy.

Daydream believer said:
The air bottle may need dry air etc but I would have thought a dive shop could refill a couple of bottles every season & they could be packed in a cannister. Canister would also have a dinghy pump fitted for air top up plus an emegency pack, flares( or laser before some starts on flares again!!), water etc
Click to expand...

I thought life rafts used CO2? Not sure if you are aware but even opening a diving cylinder wide open it still takes an age to empty. What's more frost even during the height of the summer will form both on the outside and inside of the cylinder compromising the flow of air. Not a problem if you are just emptying out a dive cylinder, might be if you are waiting for the home brewed dinghy inflation system to work so you can get off a burning boat.

Daydream believer said:
Any ideas what it would cost to produce inc the valve, service etc & what the market would pay for such a device?
Click to expand...

I could cobble one together for £550 or you could buy a new liferaft for 10% more.

Pete
 
Lazy Kipper said:
He didn't, it refused to inflate and it then sank, later to be recovered by divers. Your friend was rescued after calling the RNLI on his mobile phone.

Yes absolutely, I was trying to be careful about what I say about Premium. To be correct it partially inflated, but nowhere near enough to be any use. The skipper told me recently that when they heard the boat was to be raised premium badgered him daily to get the raft returned to them, while the MCA were telling him to on no account return it to premium. I have no qualms about repeating this info as the three of them could have easily perished, they were picked up by the pilot boat and transferred to the lifeboat, after phoning the CG. It should be pointed out that they had a VHF but as the wheelhouse was destroyed in the collision it was U/S, along with the bilge pump and flares. I understand that Premium have overhauled their procedures since.
Click to expand...
 
I am sure a calor gas cylinder would not cost £ 500 & if you have ever opened the valve on one ( the old type) to drain off excess gas you will see that they empty very quickly the valve is a simple screw, so It would not cost a fortune to put a non return on the dinghy
As for size - not sure - but a dinghy only needs 3 PSI so before some one suggests it I am sure you would not have the prospect of lugging a 32 lb bottle about
 
Isn't there are rather glaring flaw in the compressed air/dinghy plan?

To make the deployment largely automatic, you'd either need a dinghy with a single chamber, as opposed to the three or four chambers present on most models, or a cylinder for each chamber, which might be a tad cumbersome.
 
Daydream believer said:
I am sure a calor gas cylinder would not cost £ 500 & if you have ever opened the valve on one ( the old type) to drain off excess gas you will see that they empty very quickly the valve is a simple screw, so It would not cost a fortune to put a non return on the dinghy
As for size - not sure - but a dinghy only needs 3 PSI so before some one suggests it I am sure you would not have the prospect of lugging a 32 lb bottle about
Click to expand...

and of course your local dive shop will fill a calor gas cylinder with compressed air. Calor might have something to say about it as well, the cylinders remain their property. I look forward to the you tube video of your endeavour.
 
Pete7 said:
A 7L Dive cylinder is £180, you would need some valves and air lines and the manufacturer needs to make a profit, so say £550. Would you pay £550 for this?
Click to expand...

You can buy a new liferaft, including all the same inflation gubbins, for that sort of money. I think your costing may be a little on the high side.
 
JumbleDuck said:
You can buy a new liferaft, including all the same inflation gubbins, for that sort of money. I think your costing may be a little on the high side.
Click to expand...

I believe that is what I suggested in my last sentence and actually did, Seago 4 man lives under the chart table when at sea.
 
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