life raft re-certification costs

[hellosailor]

It is a only a captive market for mandatory vessels, i.e. commercial ones. It may appear to be a captive market to the naive (who didn't research the rules) or the inept (I had an aunt who thought you hit nails with the claw end of the claw hammer) but for mandatory carry vessels, it is a monopoly.

Much as the way Uber and Lyft have run amok through taxi-license monopolies, the life raft industry will learn to change or die. At least for the recreational market. Taxi micenses (medallions) were going for 1.2-1.3 million dollars at auction two and three years ago. They go for more like $200k now. If you figure the mortgage interest on a 1.2 million dollar medallion...that's why the cabs are in service 24x7x3shifts a day, and there's still not enough profit left to pay the drivers a living wage.

This is not sustainable economics, once you learn there's a mere mortal behind the curtain.

[hzcruiser]

Originally Posted by liferaft

I used to own a life raft service facility and it was a difficult business to make a profit regardless of what everyone feels are super high pricing. In the US there is this little thing called "product liability" which drives many decisions. Even if a service station is the most cautious in all of their efforts, bad things can happen and you need to protect yourself.

Thanks a lot for the background info, Rollie!


We all know that everything is more expensive once "marine use" is stamped on it and even more so if it's related to safety and survival.

There is some competition amongst manufacturers, otherwise prices for (mandatory) equipment and testing would be much higher. As we've seen in this thread, some use higher quality materials which drives the initial price up but can bring the service fees down.
I recently bought a new life raft in a bag which is small enough to store in a lazarette while not off shore. That should help preserving it a bit better and hopefully longer. The old raft was in a valise and had water ingress through the vent hole. Also both overpressure relief valves had come off the tubes. Was quite a mess...

[Viking Sailor]

Originally Posted by J.Kitchens

I'm healthy, I exercise, I eat mostly healthy, I do my best to take care of myself. I also pay $3000+ per year for health/dental insurance. I go to the doctor once a year for a checkup and I go to the dentist twice a year for a checkup. Is this worth $3000+? Nope but I pay it anyway; it's insurance.

A quick search of the internet tells me a Viking RescYou 4 Person Life Raft costs $2350 plus lets say $150 for shipping. Total $2500.

People say maintenance is roughly $1500 every three years and the life raft has a life of twelve years. Total $6000.

Total cost of Life Raft ownership over twelve years = $8500
Total Monthly cost of life raft ownership = $59.03

For the low cost of $59.03 a month you are insuring yourself against having to tread water if you sink your boat.

Another way to do the above - is to buy a new Viking RescYou 4 for $2553.12, keep it for 3 years, then sell it for $750. The cost per month would be only $50.09. The big advantage is that your raft would never be damaged during re-certification. And, if the new owner could get the raft re-certified for $1500 he would only have $2250 invested in the raft saving him $303.12 for his trouble. Now that sounds like a win/win deal to me.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...5WW2FDI2&psc=1

[hellosailor]

Water coming in the vent hole:
For something like 40 years now, computer hard drives have addressed the same issue. The drive is in a hermetically sealed can, because even one dust mote or smoke particle entering will cause a head crash and data loss. But, as the drives spin up from ambient temperature to 5400-7200 rpm they generate heat, the air expands, the hermetically sealed container has to vent and breath--without anything except air passing in.
The vent hole is covered with a sheet of GoreTex material. Air moves through, as it heats, but nothing else does. (Since the interior is always the "hot" side, moisture doesn't enter)
It would seem fairly simple to "seal" the vent holes in a canister with a more robust version of the same thing, a membrane or membrane plus passage, that allowed the canister to breath as it heat cycled--but allowed condensation to move out, and kept water out. If dry packed, or allowed to thermal cycle for a while, there would be no more moisture inside.
And in theory, if the raft is sealed in a mylar bag inside the canister, the condensate is all OUTside of the mylar packed raft, and is just wetting the canister anyway.
Just saying.