Liferaft: Yes or No

[goboatingnow]

Originally Posted by Jimbo485

No worries, psneeld! Each to their own. May we all enjoy our time on the water and be prepared to pay all the costs that may result!

See ya out there somewhere for a beer one day. First shout is mine!

By all means Jimbo do as you wish, just dont try and justify it to us ( or is it yourself ) using a load of junk reasoning.

Dave

[barnakiel]

Originally Posted by Don Lucas

So in the latest issue of Cruiser's World is a article by Beth Leonard where she says to get the best life raft you can.

But I'm sure I've read on their website their reason9ing for NOT having one on thier boat.

What's up with that?

Anybody found the answer perhaps?

b.

[JanetGroene]

This is an interesting thread and it indicates that boaters put a lot of thought into it. If you have a raft you can always choose to remain with the boat but without one, choices dwindle. On the debit side are those people who jump into the raft at the first sign of trouble when it would have been safer to stay with the boat.

[Bash]

It's interesting to note the even split in the poll, now that 144 users have responded. Exactly 1/3 of the responders claim that they don't plan on using a life raft when they cruise, while 2/3 claim that this is indeed their plan.

[David_Old_Jersey]

Originally Posted by Bash

It's interesting to note the even split in the poll, now that 144 users have responded. Exactly 1/3 of the responders claim that they don't plan on using a life raft when they cruise, while 2/3 claim that this is indeed their plan.

I read the poll as only saying 2/3rds plan to have a liferaft onboard.......

.....although your reading of the stats may be nearer the truth

[barnakiel]

Given the fact that less than 1% of boats only ever go anywhere offshore, this makes for plenty of marina queens with liferafts onboard.

And why will they have them?

b.

[captainKJ]

Originally Posted by barnakiel

Given the fact that less than 1% of boats only ever go anywhere offshore, this makes for plenty of marina queens with liferafts onboard.

And why will they have them?

b.

because someone said you should,,,for coastal cruising i personally think they are a waist of money if you carry and ebirb and other safety equipment. off shore i would. interesting enough several round the world sailors dont carry them or were lifevests. there thinking is in parts of the world it is better to die quickly than spend many days slowly dying

[sabray]

10 Reasons I have a life raft .
10) movable ballast
9) exercise lifting movable ballast.
8) every 3 years I'm reminded that 3 years have past
7) I can put it on my equipment list. It helps lure crew aboard
6) it reduces space in the lazarette Doing so I stick less crap extra line etc.. in the lazarette
5) it's a really good place to hide a large stash of chocolate bars.
4) its a an investment that inflates
3) I liked the glossy sales brochure
2) the majority in a forum plan on having or have one or are about to use one.
1) 2 children.

[sailorboy1]

My last boat came with a life raft when I got it.
But the cert was expired, so the insurance company said I had to get it certified.
So I told them I took it off the boat.
They were OK with that. Apparently they didn't feel I needed it to start with.
But I never did take off the boat even though I met to because my wife couldn't see over it from the helm (didn't to deal with the holes).

In the 2 years I had that boat I never even took the cover off the damn thing.

[Mexdon]

Originally Posted by barnakiel

Given the fact that less than 1% of boats only ever go anywhere offshore, this makes for plenty of marina queens with liferafts onboard.

And why will they have them?

b.

Because it makes them LOOK like ocean going cruisers.

[capn_billl]

Of course the life raft is not as safe as the boat. If they were, we would be crossing oceans in THEM instead of these big fancy sailboats.

[wolfenzee]

Originally Posted by Mexdon

Because it makes them LOOK like ocean going cruisers.

So does a self-steering vane and they come in useful alot more of time (also don't take up any deck space).

[hellosailor]

"Because it makes them LOOK like ocean going cruisers."
Special for you, I make empty cannister with Gucci, Vuiton, Hermes logo your choice in correct pattern. Or genuine Swarovski crystal, covered all sides, forty thousand crystal all set with marine grade settings.

Sole supplier, act now!


<WEG>

[SVTwilight]

I am a little late for this one, but I enjoy the discourse here.

Much like people who are adamant they would never opt for extreme measures to save them at the end of life, I suspect that once faced with the prospect of imminent demise their positions might change. How many of us have not seen this with aging loved ones? If you fell overboard would you be happy to rely on your skills for swimming or rely on a life jacket? I wear a life jacket.

I can swim for miles, but the only reason I am able to write this today is due to having everyone available resource at my disposal when the chips were down. I have truly faced the end, not once, but three times (only once in the water). If you are dying of exposure in any ocean and would have been (potentially) saved by the simple use of a raft, would you not regret that as you slipped beneath the waves?

I proudly and diligently maintain my life raft along with my epirbs, flares, harnesses, jack lines, regular maintenance, sailing skills, etc. and I hope: my sense for self preservation for myself and my wife. Unless you are Buddhist ( or similar ) life only gives you one go and I intend to continue to take the risks that make life worth living, but to stack the deck for survival in my favor as much as possible.

I certainly understand those who do not take every possible/reasonable contingency measure, or even those who argue about what is reasonable, but that is an intimate personal choice such as the one that Beth and Evans appear to have made.

Safe voyaging,

Todd

[sandy daugherty]

SO: after all this heavy breathing, chest beating, and fact-flinging, has anybody changed their mind?
I know that those who can't afford a life raft and its maintenance will still not be able to afford them, so it doesn't matter what is said to justify that.
I know that quite a few have the equipment because somebody told them they have to. It doesn't matter what is said to justify that.
It appears that few if any posters started reading this thread with a truly open mind, and left with a huff or feeling they had scored on someone with a different point of view.
So, after 18 pages of flammable rhetoric, did anyone learn something that changed their mind, or has this all been a senseless abuse of innocent electrons?