Do I Need A Life Raft

[fish53]

Originally Posted by Randy

Underinflated is different from uninflated. Without air there is no buoyancy, it is just a 100 + lb weight.

You need to reread I did not say "underinflated" or partially inflated, I'm saying right as it comes from canister.

[Dockhead]

Originally Posted by fish53

You should put one in the water uninflated and try to sink it, I'll watch. As I've actually done this in a twelve to fifteen foot sea, wearing a survival suit and 40F water at night I can say it's quite doable, not fun but doable. If you put a moment of thought into it and perhaps watch a raft be repacked you'd realize that they never get all of the air out of the tubes and as there's not much non-buoyant weight in one they float quite well uninflated. All that's required is to climb in, find and attach the air pump and start pumping, it doesn't even take all that long. I've been running commercial boats for years and have instructed at sea survival courses and some of the myths and wishful thinking I see here could easily be fatal. By the way that's me in my avatar with my hand on the gallows of the stern trawler Endurance in the fall of 1983 so I've seem a little of what I'm referring to.

All right. I'm theorizing. You say you've actually done it.


OK, I would defer to that.

[fish53]

Originally Posted by Dockhead

All right. I'm theorizing. You say you've actually done it.


OK, I would defer to that.

I have but as I mentioned there's a considerable amount of air trapped in the tubes no matter how much they evacuate not to mention the various bags and containers in a SOLAS raft and the folds of the cover, they add up to quite a bit of buoyancy. The material of a raft is fairly close to neutral buoyancy anyway. All that said would I bet my life that out there somewhere is a raft that won't float? No, but one other thing to consider is that the canister seal would remain in the case of zero inflation providing yet more floatation. But have a knife or better a strap cutter to help remove the seal, depending on rafts. I want to say that this in no way should influence anyone into passing up on regular repacks.