Why don't liferaft repacks use...

[hellosailor]

"HazMat shipping standards are set by the Federal Government. UPS, FedEx and others must meet these standards although..."


Yes, there are Federal standards. But all three major carriers (USPS, UPS, FedEx) implement them in different ways. Part of this has to do with whether a particular service will always be GROUND shipping, or whether it might also use AIR, which cannot be used with some goods.


I haven't checked each carrier's policies versus the CFR for this, but I can tell you that for some goods like fire extinguishers and CO2 bottles and "lamp carbide" (which generates acetylene gas when wet) all three carriers class the goods in different ways. The weight or amount of the materials also causes each carrier to treat them differently.


All three have "hazmat" shipping departments to handle phone inquiries, and hamat shipping publications that list specific goods, classes, and amounts. Guess what? All three sometimes give you one answer on the phone, and another in their published guide.


With FedEx, last year I shipped some ORD-M goods. The published regulations called for a "new" sticker, the guy on the phone insisted no, the published guide was wrong, they wanted to see the OLD sticker that was no longer supposed to be used.


Since the penalties involved all center around "known" and "intentional" violations, there's little reason for an individual not to call all three, look at the three manuals, and if any one of them says "This isn't hazmat" then just keep a copy and don't ship via hazmat. If the shipper says it isn't hazmat...that's their problem, not yours, if they are wrong.


Then there are some major companies, like Amazon, who ship all sorts of things without declaring them to be hazmat. Unless you want to return something, and all of a sudden, they say no, you'd have to ship that via hazmat. Same goods, same shipper...can't have it both ways, but they do, and in large volume.


As to the Fed requiring every "shipper" to have hazmat training and retraining...that's not quite right. What is a "shipper"? Carriers, yes. When I ship something, I'm the shipper, and I am not required to be hazmat trained. The CARRIER that I chose, has to have the training. And their policies also vary on that, some require you to drop off hazmat goods at a depot, some require that you have a pickup account....None will be happy to see you flagging down a truck "take this please" with a hazmat label on it.(G)


Yes, it is a serious matter when airplanes fall out of the sky. That's one reason the service type (routed by ground or air or both) matters. That's one reason hazmat is a serious problem. But as long as the fed and the carriers want to disagree about "what the meaning of is is" (as Slick Willy said) who are we to argue?

[taildragerdrive]

I have been researching the issue around getting my Givens 6 man life raft inspected.

It seems I can actually get it repacked if I want to. I have found several places so far that are certified to repack them.

It appears there is a place called Givens Marine Survival Company, Inc on their site is the following quote"Givens Marine Survival Company, Inc is not affiliated with Givens Marine Manufacturing, Inc" apparently they maintain Givens life rafts (Inspect)

Also two other sites say they inspect the life rafts:

Van Brothers, Baltimore MD
and
A Sailor's Place, Stewart, FL
There could be others.

I have only talked to the people from Van Brothers. I would like to be there when the raft is packed so they are not the best options. I'm still looking around.

So I'm guessing the Givens Marine Survival Company, Inc must be certifying people to inspect these rafts.

I'll continue to update this thread as I find out more.

[hellosailor]

Sounds like your best bet is to wait until you go to the boat (in the Keys, yes?) then sail up to Stewart and bring the raft in for a repack. I'd say take it up on the bus with you, but bus service up the east coast of Florida would make a rickshaw driver look like a fast and modern way to travel long distances.