Where do you keep your lifteraft (or alternative)?

Simondjuk said:
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.
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Or a length of hose connected to 3 chambers. or 3 smaller cylinders
 
Pete7 said:
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.
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It was an example - it does not have to be calor gas - I was just demonstrating that compressed air cylinders need not cost as much as standard dive cylinders & the valve does not have to be as complicated as dive ones
The cylinder used in liferafts is quite small & when i had my liferaft serviced I had to pay £ 80-00 for a NEW ( not a relpacement) cylinder
A valve is not that expensive. In fact as one can buy a full liferaft for circa - mine cost less in 2003- £ 500-00 then the bits that inflates it must be considerably less. i would also point out that the volume of air in a liferaft is probably more than a dinghy so the bottles could be smaller, or if the same size have some reserve air

So whilst you are all taking the p...s you might like to stop & re think.
Not that I have any intention of worrying as I carry a liferaft!!!!
 
It was hard enough getting in and out of a liferaft in an outdoor pool, i think the idea of using a dinghy in a rough sea is pretty stupid. You will capsize so often you will be knackered in no time.

Either you don't believe you will ever need to abandon ship and therefore dont need anything, or if you think there may be a possibility then buy a liferaft.

So far i have done without, but if i was far offshore i would want one.
 
SteveSarabande said:
It was hard enough getting in and out of a liferaft in an outdoor pool, i think the idea of using a dinghy in a rough sea is pretty stupid. You will capsize so often you will be knackered in no time.

.
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Actually when I was younger I used to play with an old Avon. Once it had a few gallons of water in it it was almost impossible to turn over
Admittedly my friends & I were only 12-13 years old but 2 or 3 on the side is a fair test. A single sailor could actually survive in one for some time. He would get cold etc etc but afloat for a day or perhaps a little more. It is no harder to get in than a liferaft floating only 6 inches above waterline
if one sat or lay centrally it is quite hard to capsize . I am of course using an Avon as a model. i also have a Wetline & that should be called " deathline" as it is useless for rowing . But the inflatable floor would give some insulation

Was there not a true story about a family who lost their boat years ago & spent days in an inflatable dinghy & a GRP dinghy. Eventually the floor of the inflatable dinghy gave out & they all sat in the GRP dinghy until rescued by a Chinese fishing boat. They had the dinghy at the boat show one year with models demonstrating how they survived & slept.
 
When you were 12 did you try it in a moderate sea state, in a force 6 or more, in January?

If dinghies were that good they wouldnt have invented liferafts
 
Daydream believer said:
Was there not a true story about a family who lost their boat years ago & spent days in an inflatable dinghy & a GRP dinghy. Eventually the floor of the inflatable dinghy gave out & they all sat in the GRP dinghy until rescued by a Chinese fishing boat. They had the dinghy at the boat show one year with models demonstrating how they survived & slept.
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I think that was the Robertson family

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dougal_Robertson

Regards

Carl
 
SteveSarabande said:
When you were 12 did you try it in a moderate sea state, in a force 6 or more, in January?

If dinghies were that good they wouldnt have invented liferafts
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I do not go cruiser sailing in january. Nor do a lot of people.
But I have done polar series in a sailing dinghy & also sailboarding-pre easter or up to Xmas
I do have a lot of experience of getting onto a dinghy in fairly rough weather. It does take technique. However, falling in from a sailing dinghy is a bit different from going in from a cruiser. I have been over the side 3 times & it seems to me that an inflatable dinghy chucked over the side might be a life saver. ( assuming the sailor was not solo)At least the dinghy can be recovered & re used as a dinghy. I have never tried packing a liferaft on board & i would not have a spare cylinder anyway.

No ! dinghies would not be as good as a liferaft but was a suggestion for a cheap alternative- perhaps alternative is the wrong word- but a cheap way of keeping oneself afloat for a bit longer than nothing. & something which can be readied in a relatively short space of time.
Not all emergencies take place in heavy weather either.

A lot of people may well buy a "raft" if it had a dual, every day, use
 
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