Liferaft Inspection in Panama

[Douglas McLean]

Greetings,

I have a 6-person Revere Offshore Elite liferaft due for recertification next month. Can anyone advise regarding inspection/recertification in Panama?

Cheers,
Douglas McLean
s/v Gillean
sailboat dot gillean at gmail dot com

[s/v Moondancer]

Only a negative one!

Liferaft Service in Panama City: A Warning —

[Douglas McLean]

Thanks Moondancer for the heads up. The usual Panama service sector crap. I was going to go with Panama Marine, so appreciate the heads up. Think I will take my chances with an outdated inspection/recertification by a reputable Ft. Lauderdale company than risk an inspection where they use duct tape on the repacked raft!

BTW, Revere Liferafts has been less than helpful in giving advice on how to proceed. So far its been "We don't have a recertification facility in Panama", and "We do recommend that you adhere to the three-year recertification schedule", with no assistance on how to accomplish that. Won't even say where or how to ship it to have it done. They've resorted to not answering my e-mails. Beware if you are considering a Revere Liferaft--you may find yourself with a worthless product three years out unless you're in the States.

Douglas McLean
s/v Gillean

[belizesailor]

You can ship life rafts via surface transport (ship) to the USA and return the same way. That would be the least cost shipping option. Its less expensive, has fewer HAZMAT constraints, but is realtively slow.

[belizesailor]

An unfortunately very common Central American experience described in the noonsite post. If you give someone money to do something for you, then you are likely getting scammed (with a few reputable exceptions) or at the very least over charged.

Quality controlled processes are rare to find in CA too.

For something critical like liferaft servicing I would either closely personally supervise or do it myself (the option I have chosen).

[Dougtiff]

When i was in Singapore years ago, i would go to a life raft station and watch them test the rafts, ask many questions, which they cheerfully answered, gave me any supply's taken out of rafts, i tried many rations, German, Japanese, etc., So, i test my own raft, inflate the unit with air, leave overnight, weigh the cylinders, check for corrosion, repack, some rafts are hard to repack, other wise its easy.

[Douglas McLean]

Thanks for the replies, guys.
Douglas McLean
s/v Gillean