[Public-List] Liferaft Storage

[Gordon Laco]

Good day -

My only direct experience with life rafts was when I served as a consultant
on the television show 'Survivorman' in which Les Stroud is sent into
various environments and copes for five days with what one might expect to
have at hand.  Sometimes he's been in the desert, sometimes a swamp, the one
I did with him was assuming he'd had to abandon a yacht at sea and live in a
life raft for five days.

The production company made a deal with Switlik for the use of one of their
four person life rafts; but they backed out at the last minute suggesting
that a five day test of a life raft was unrealistic...their representative
said 'in this day and age anyone anywhere should expect rescue in two days'.

I reckon he doesn't read the news nor books much.

We were in a pickle; there we were in Belize about to set Les adrift but
without a raft.  I hit upon the idea of renting a raft from a yacht actually
on a voyage; there were several yachts around, I knew people would probably
be glad of the cash and it would add an interesting story point to be using
a 'real' raft in the midst of a voyage.

The first two rafts we tried (and you can guess where this is going) which
had both been stored in on-deck canisters, inflated correctly when the
lanyard was pulled.  The first literally fell to pieces before our eyes.
You should have seen the look on the owner's face.  The glue had perished
and the raft sank before our eyes as a bunch of sheets of hypalon rubber.

The second raft didn't quite fall to pieces, but it leaked so badly that we
couldn't use it.  You should have seen the look on that fellow's face too.

The third raft blew up and...and.... Stayed inflated.  However, when we
opened the emergency kit, we found twice the amount of food in the
container, but no water.  You should have seen the look on that fellow's
face.

Each of these rafts were by name-brand manufacturers you'd all know.  The
first two had been stored in deck canisters and I reckon baking in the sun
is what did them in.  The first one was three years past it's repack date,
the second one year past, as was  the third.

We gave Les a very old Zodiac inflatable boat reckoning that it was
reasonable to assume a sailor abandoning ship would bring his dink.

Les ended up living during the day in the life raft to get out of the sun,
but he had to work steadily to keep it inflated and also bailed out.  It
leaked through it's bottom.

The ancient Zodiac however, performed flawlessly and he slept in it at
night.  Which was fine except when it rained in which case he really
suffered.  

So what did I come away from that with?  Always observe the repack dates.
And with regard to stowage - most certainly on-deck stowage is best with
regard to getting the raft over the side; but beware the effect of the sun
baking your raft while you're sailing.  I'd suggest only putting it out on
deck when you're making a passage.

Well there's another long message, I hope it's interesting.

Gord #426 Surprise

On 25/11/13 1:23 PM, "gregr at nethere.com" <gregr at nethere.com> wrote:

> Hi Folks,
> 
> I'm in the process of adding a Viking RescYou 4 person life raft to Ayla.
> What are the good locations to store it?
> 
> Aft Lazarette: Fairly easy access. I try to only load the aft compartment
> with light stuff like cushions and fenders. Ayla already squats a bit due
> to the Yanmar 2GM. I'm not sure that another 60lbs would make much of a
> difference but it's going in the wrong direction...
> 
> Port Lazarette: Battery 2 in here to have it up higher to protect it. Also
> used for 5 gal water jug and sails. The battery and water help to balance
> the fuel on the Starboard side.
> 
> Starboard Lazarette: Original diesel tank. Boat maintenance stuff like
> bucket, boat brush, etc... Try to not had weight to the ~90lbs of fuel.
> 
> Cabin top between mast and turtle: Might be tough to launch from here in
> truly lousy conditions. Might further reduce visibility forward.
> 
> 
> Regards,
> 
> Greg
> 
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