Liferaft Size

[CAVOK]

Will be sailing on a 46’ yacht in the Mediterranean in April, with intentions to do the ARC and possibly across the Pacific after that. Mostly sailing with 2 to 4 people and occasionally 6 on longer sectors.
My question is what size raft should I be looking at. Is an 8 man raft unstable with only 2 onboard in serious weather or should I go for a 6 man raft.

[Dennis.G]

I would not be surprised if even a 6 man raft is unstable with only 2 people. Also not sure if 2 people can move an 8 man raft. But I am just guessing as we only have a 4 man raft.

[OneHullPaul]

Mines a 4 too, in a softbag just inside the Pilothouse. I wouldn't want to move anything bigger. All hard external mounting on monohulls obscures vision. Maybe if you have 6 aboard, decide which 3 you like the mist? :-) You could send a life raft rental company website link to them explaining they will need to bring one with and they can split the cost?

[Tillsbury]

I'd certainly not go for any bigger than you absolutely need. If six is your biggest crew then six, but perhaps consider renting one for those legs then buying a 4-man for the boat permanently?

[thomm225]

Steven Callahan drifted 1,800 miles (across the Atlantic from a few hundred miles West of the Canary Islands where is boat sank) in his Avon six man life raft. (It took 76 days)

He had a four man but after testing it realized that it was way to small to spend any length of time in.

Running in the Rain: Steven Callahan - Adrift 76 Days Alone at Sea

[Discovery 15797]

We've been down this path last month.

http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...ml#post3046518

The Winslow ultra-light 6-man offshore raft is 72 lbs.

The major stability factors for an offshore life raft are the ballast bags and the drogue.

The weight of bodies in the boat is not a factor when designing life raft stability. This is not to say it is not a factor, but whether you have 1 man or 4 men in a 6 man life raft will have little impact on it's overall stability.

(When USAF SAR C-130's deploy a raft to downed pilots they throw out a 20 man life raft. They don't force additional airmen to parachute out to help the 1 or 2 pilots in the water 'stabilize' the raft.)