Liferaft: Yes or No

[perchance]

Originally Posted by barnakiel

And what is the apparent problem testing yours?

Toss it overboard in the anchorage, pull the line and see what happens. Then dry, repack, replace the cylinder and you learn, first hand:
- how to open one,
- how to get into it,
- what is in,
-what is missing,
-how to re-rig it and pack it.

I re-arm our pdfs and helped re-arm a liferaft. No big deal and a great learning experience.

b.

I like your idea. After all, don't all skydivers repack their own chutes after each jump? Like you I have a lot more confidence in my own abilities than some nameless faceless person who may or may not be having a good day where they inspect and repack these things.

[David_Old_Jersey]

Originally Posted by James S

Neat looking little boat...what was the length?

27 foot (8 metre?)

[Mexdon]

Mingatt,
I've read quite a few reports of people who survived in a liferaft after their boat sank. I can't recall any tales of people surviving offshore in a dinghy. I'd be interested in hearing about any cases of people who were forced to abandon their boats for a dinghy in gale conditions offshore and lived to tell the story.

Captain Bligh for 47 days....a big dinghy admittedly but nonetheless a dinghy (23ft) no gales but cannibals in two or three water stops.

[barnakiel]

Originally Posted by wolfenzee

I would rather spend x$ on making my boat a safer vessel for things that will happen than on something that probably/hopefully will not.(...)

+1

Once happy with what you have achieved as per your post, if free cash left, would you consider buying a small, light liferaft? Or would you say: 'Nay, this boat is so safe she does not need one!'.

b.

[Mexdon]

Originally Posted by wolfenzee

I would rather spend x$ on making my boat a safer vessel for things that will happen than on something that probably/hopefully will not. preventive safety vs. one of the options for worst case senerio

Take head of Murphy's law......don't prepare for it and s..t will happen. All the other "likely to happen" will never occur because you prepared for them.

[barnakiel]

Originally Posted by Mexdon

Captain Bligh for 47 days....a big dinghy admittedly but nonetheless a dinghy (23ft) no gales but cannibals in two or three water stops.

Exactly, and their dink was way overloaded by ABYC, CE and all other standards!

Two years ago a French sailors had to abandon ship some 10 miles from Tristan da Cunha. He got there in his yoyo with a help from a small outboard, then rowing.

How long does it take to row 10 miles in a liferaft?

;-)
b.

[wolfenzee]

Originally Posted by barnakiel

+1

Once happy with what you have achieved as per your post, if free cash left, would you consider buying a small, light liferaft? Or would you say: 'Nay, this boat is so safe she does not need one!'.

b.

I would never say this boat is so safe.....that alone is tempting the gods and would show a certain degree of arrogance/stupidity/ignorance. An inflatable life raft is only one option....I plan on building a tender capable of being a functional life boat (enclose dry storage and flotation, etc), something better than what you suggest as a "small, light, inexpensive life raft". My father was a pilot in WWII, he and his navigator spent 4 days in one of the liferafts supplied by the USN....something I wouldn't trust spend any amount of time in.

[hellosailor]

I think a WWII-USN aircraft raft wouldn't pass muster as a pool toy these days. Rubber boats had their purpose as a necessity of wartime production, but the smallest lightest cheapest least-certified aircraft liferaft that you could buy today, would far surpass what the USN hastily used 70 years ago.

When you build your tender, remember that these days a life raft is designed so it won't capsize in heavy weather, or it will "re"vert if inverted. What will you do to your tender, to make sure it stays rightside up in Force 10?

[rebel heart]

Originally Posted by James S

And when dark is upon you...and boats that cant see you....?

The odds of sinking, then trying to swim to shore, and then being hit by a boat, is very small. I have a strobe in my lifejacket/harness as well as a chem stick, and anything a few miles offshore is probably (hopefully) listening on the vhf. You can throw worst case scenarios out but the reality is most coastal boats don't have life rafts, and if push comes to shove I'd rather have a plan (try to swim to shore) than just sit there and hope something works itself out naturally.

[psneeld]

Originally Posted by barnakiel

Yup. The ones we used for training all opened up and inflated properly. Old stuff and pretty beaten up. Can't see why a new unit would not.

I have only ever heard of one case where a pdf did not. Why would liferafts be less dependable?

b.

We popped a lifetaft for training and lo and behold...the packer had left an inflation port loose so one tube of the raft failed to inflate...luckily it was a 2 tube raft.

Even when I was in the USCG we had an awfully high rate of failure of inflatable safety gear.

While I still am in favor of most safety gear...the gear I inspect and repack gets a higher vote than through commercial packers.

[wolfenzee]

actually the US economy is more likely to crash than my boat sink and if having to spend an extra season or two here in the PNW while I save up enough money to by a life craft...

[psneeld]

Originally Posted by wolfenzee

actually the US economy is more likely to crash than my boat sink and if having to spend an extra season or two here in the PNW while I save up enough money to by a life craft...

The US economy crashes all the time so maybe your boat isn't all that far behind!!!!

If you properly outfit a dink and mostly coatal cruise...then stop worrying...not drowning or dying of hypothermia is the goal...there's lots of ways to beat the odds if you think things through and prepare for them...liferafts were/are the easy but not only answer....

[barnakiel]

Originally Posted by wolfenzee

(...)I plan on building a tender capable of being a functional life boat (enclose dry storage and flotation, etc), something better than what you suggest as a "small, light, inexpensive life raft".(...)

Sounds a good thing to me. I have read a yachting magazine test of boat tenders where one of the boats was a purpose built polypro pop in bright red color, with double hull and watertight lockers built in. It could be equipped with sails, canopy, etc.. Quite a little lifeboat of sorts. I like the idea very much.

b.

[Paul Elliott]

Originally Posted by barnakiel

Sounds a good thing to me. I have read a yachting magazine test of boat tenders where one of the boats was a purpose built polypro pop in bright red color, with double hull and watertight lockers built in. It could be equipped with sails, canopy, etc.. Quite a little lifeboat of sorts. I like the idea very much.

b.

You probably saw the "Portland Pudgy". It's heavy for it's size, but has a lot of nice features.

Testing a raft by pulling the ripcord will eventually weaken the fabric (at least that's what I was told about auto-inflate PFDs). The next time I get my raft re-packed, I'm going to have my full crew there so we can climb in and get a little more familiar with the thing. I believe the rafts are inflated with compressed air for the inspection.

I'm less concerned by my "false sense of security" than I would be by the "true insecurity" of not being prepared for a sinking.

[Mexdon]

Originally Posted by Paul Elliott

I'm less concerned by my "false sense of security" than I would be by the "true insecurity" of not being prepared for a sinking.

I could not agree more. At the moment I am in the middle of the buy process of a new (for me) yacht. As part of my homework I am investigating very thoroughly life rafts, which I hope I will never have to use but I believe a yacht without one is not properly prepared for sea.