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Old 29-10-2009, 19:02   #16
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1st choice - dedicated locker or mounting above decks and somehere easily accessable without leaving the cockpit. (remember to tie the painter on and keep a knife nearby for cutting whatever holds it to the deck)
2nd choice - below decks - but this is not a choice I'd take if the other were available.

I don't like putting liferafts inside as they do occasionally go off when moving them from inside to out, they are heavy and in a situation of abandoning ship are likely to injur someone and they can go overboard without the painter being attached. There is also the fire issue mentioned earlier

Hydrostatic release - I have no experience with this type - would they go off if downstairs and the boat is full of water and that water is surging from end to end of the boat? I hydrostatic lifejacket certainly would.
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Old 29-10-2009, 19:42   #17
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On Deck...these things aren't made for stowing.....I have been in enough lazarettes or cockpit lockers......few, if any, would suffice. Most if not all are catchalls for crap
moldy lifejackets, cleaners, buckets of stuff and general junque.
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Old 30-10-2009, 04:04   #18
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Whilst I agree that canister liferafts are heavy and not easy to move around a boat (aka a complete pig ), I find the valise liferafts a whole different thing - first time I picked one up I wondered whether anything in it! (and I ain't exactly Schwarzenegger!).

Presently no liferaft onboard, but will probably get a Valise (for ease of manhandling) - stored in the aft cabin (to prolong life) except when on passage - then secured in the cockpit. To be honest not so worried about sinking on passage, more a refuge in case of fire.....and removing the annoyance factor if I ever find myself bobbing around in the ocean sans boat

In an ideal world 24/7 dedicated secure storage in the cockpit would be great - but for me not possible.
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Old 30-10-2009, 06:37   #19
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Ours in on the stern rail and can be launched by simply pulling a pin. It is out of the way and dosn't have to be wrestled out of a locker. On the down-side, it is exposed to the tropical sun. I keep a cover on the raft unless we are sailing off-shore but the heat and UV can shorten the raft's life.
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Old 30-10-2009, 23:02   #20
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dana,
If your boat can't sink, it might burn.

A few months ago, I saw a story in a magazine about a trimaran whose center hull burned completely. The crew had to cling to the floats for some time before being rescued. They would have liked to have a liferaft.

Alain
Hence the solid dinghy.
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Old 31-10-2009, 01:39   #21
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Cat owner, came with a liferaft bolted on the rear deck next to the swim ladder.
Uses up space and is on top of the engine.
Likely requirement is minimal, except in case of fire. So its on top of the engine.
So there's the dinghy stowed on the foredeck for a just in case emergency.
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Old 31-10-2009, 02:56   #22
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For what its worth, the racing requirements, which are usually well thought-out are:

4.20.3 Liferaft Packing and Stowage
A Liferaft shall be either:-
a) packed in a transportable rigid container or canisterand stowed on the working deck or in the cockpit,
or:-
b) packed in a transportable rigid container or canister or in a valise and stowed in a purpose-built rigid compartment containing liferaft(s) only and opening into or adjacent to the cockpit or working deck, or through a transom, provided that:- compartment is watertight or self-draining, the cover of each compartment is capable of being easily opened under water pressure, the compartment is designed and built to allow a liferaft to be removed and launched quickly and easily, in a yacht with age or series date before June 2001, a liferaft may be packed in a valise not exceeding 40kg securely stowed below deck adjacent to a companionway.


AND

4.20.4 Liferaft Launching
a) Each raft shall be capable of being got to the
lifelines or launched within 15 seconds.
b) Each liferaft of more than 40kg weight should be stowed in such a way that the liferaft can be
dragged or slid into the sea without significant lifting
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Old 31-10-2009, 18:05   #23
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Rafts can be heavy. I do not think I could hoist one and I am the bigger of the two - it has to be stored so that deployment is facilitated. Then, some accidents happen to fast to drag things from the inside. Then, you may have fire in the cabin.

So to my thinking: well secured, still outside.

b.
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Old 31-10-2009, 18:35   #24
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I honestly have to laugh, when sailors start quoting “racing safety regulations” made by a bunch of guys sitting around the yacht club bar making up some rules that will keep their member happy.

When you need a life raft; it aint no joke, there is no compromise and as chiefy says, “these things are not meant for stowing”... in lockers

On Deck, in a proper hard or soft container, designed and secured for automatic deployment with hydrostatic release to float away plus the ability to be manually be deployed by the weakest crew member is the only standard I would ever consider as a responsible captain.

4am…Middle of the ocean, your crew asleep on watch, drifting on a hazy sea and a freighter cuts you in half, without even seeing you, and keeps on going.

Treading water in that large and empty sea, thinking about your life raft snuggled safely in your locker 500 fathoms below you…. I bet you would feel like an idiot
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Old 31-10-2009, 20:20   #25
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Not for long :shrug:
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Old 31-10-2009, 20:55   #26
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My liferaft is stored in a shallow cockpit locker. IMHO, it's better protected (from sun, wave impact, theft, etc.) there than in a transom or deck cradle and still relatively easy to deploy.

Alain
I also store my liferaft in a shallow locker behind the wheel. I would need to take some stuff out but not very much. It is basically my emergency storage locker - liferaft, ditchbag, flairs, extra winches, emergency tiller, etc.

Robert
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Old 31-10-2009, 23:35   #27
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My liferaft is also in a locker near the stern. Since it is in a valise it is the only senseble method of stowing it. Again all my emergency items are right nextto it.
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Old 01-11-2009, 00:02   #28
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Quote:
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I “racing safety regulations” made by a bunch of guys sitting around the yacht club bar making up some rules that will keep their member happy.

When you need a life raft; it aint no joke, there is no compromise and as chiefy says, “these things are not meant for stowing”... in lockers
Pelagic, Have you ever studied the Offshore Special Regulations? I think you are being rather unkind/unfair to the folks who put those together. They are NOT a 'bunch if guys sitting around the yacht club bar', but rather some of the most experienced ocean sailors worldwide, trying to make the best most sensible and practical safety recommendations possible. They have the complete experience of the world's racing fleet available to them and so understand what actually happens at sea. Some of the recommendations I quibble with, but by and large, it is an excellent starting point for someone trying to understand the 'safety fitout'.

As far as rafts - There are all sorts o trade-offs which you don't seem to recognize. Hydrostatic deployment has its problems because it can and has deployed unintentionally in rough weather. Rafts on deck have proven to be vulnerable to damage and the damage may not be self-evident (until you need the thing). Protecting the raft in a dedicated locker (which meets the 15 second deployment rule) avoids this. Both of these aspects make sure that the raft will really be there and functional when you need it, but both also mean it will be a bit harder to launch - that trade-off is (properly) left to the skipper in these special regulations.
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Old 01-11-2009, 06:53   #29
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in any case--rules or none---who is gonna survive being chopped in half by a freighter!! no one--even the watch person...get real-----fire----onlyif it is contained will ye survive---another get real---if the liferaft is not in ready condition and available within very very short time, it may as well not be on board. i have none--is the reason why----but i have many dinghies--some of which are deployable in a great hiurry--and available to those who might bew able to tread water after a mayhem.....gooood luck to those who think keeping the liferaft under the ,,,,and inside a .... can actually vbe able to use them......have smooth sailing and may nothiong EVER happen to you or your boats~~~~~~~_/)~~~~~~~~
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Old 01-11-2009, 07:51   #30
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There seems to be a little confusion about what a hydrostatic release actually does. A hydrostatic release disconnects the raft from its mount after the boat has sunk to a specific depth, from 1.5 to 4 meters, depending on where the manufacturer set the release depth. The release itself does not inflate the raft. The raft floating to the surface pulling on the painter, pulling on the CO2 trigger inflates the raft. After the raft inflates, where the painter attaches to the boat, a weak link parts preventing the sinking boat from pulling the inflated raft underwater.

A hydrostatic release is part of a fully automated system that will deploy a raft without human intervention, provided there are no problems such as the raft snagging in the rigging. With this system you can of course manually release the hydrostatic release and deploy a raft before the boat goes under.
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