Is a used liferaft worth anything?

[nuru05]

I have a 6 person liferaft that we no longer need (have to go check the brand). It's about 10-12 years old and is about a year out of service. Basically it's the soft case and we are going to upgrade to the hard case and deck mount it to save space.

Is there any actual value to this? Or even a place I could donate it? Seems like a waste to just toss it

[sailingunity]

I would imagine someone would be interested in it for free. When I took mine in to have it recertified, the tech said he would keep an older one in service over buying a new one, as the older liferafts are built better (seams welded instead of glued). A frugal sailor might undertake testing and repacking it themselves, which I've heard is not as hard as it seems.

[SailingHarmonie]

Value of a used raft depends on the state of service. If it is currently certified it's of some value, even if only for a single passage. I am guesing one that old requires annual service, whereas some of the newer ones go 3 years. That's a huge difference in hassle and cost.

The problem for a buyer with one that needs service is it is very hard to predict the cost of service. It depends greatly on which parts inside are out of date. For example, if the gas tank and firing mechanism are due for replacement, you might as well just buy a new one.

It IS of value to you, probably. We had an old, very out of date raft that came with our boat. We replaced it with new, and kept the old one until we were at a place we could host a life raft party. Most cruisers have never seen one in real life, and certainly never actually tried to climb into one from the water. It's a worthy exercise, and very educational.

[caradow]

In my opinion it would cost more to have it certified than what you could sell it for.
Not sure who would want a 10-12 year old raft without it being certified. By the way did you personally observe the repacking process one year ago when your 10 year old raft was last inspected?

Also if someone offered you money for it I would personally not want that on my conscious. Certainly a very false sense of security.

Maybe donate it to a local sailing club to be used for demonstration purposes ONLY.
If it opens great but I would be interested on how long it would hold air.
So maybe just chuck it.

Oh yeah one more thing, I am personally aware of a raft inspection company that never really does an inspection just charges money and stamps it as certified. Their business model refuses to allow the owner of the raft to observe the inspection/repacking process. So beware!
Guess no one ever comes back and says hey I needed that life raft you sold me or inspected and it didn't work.

[shrspeedblade]

One can look at it from a risk management perspective.

The only way to have 100% reduction in risk is to never go out.

With a new raft, say you have a 99% chance it will deploy properly, or that you won't drown. You accept that 1% reduction because not going...well, sucks!

With a recertified one, 98%. You accept that 1% reduction to not reduce the cruising kitty as much.

With an older non-certified one, say it goes all the way down to 80%. You accept that further 18% increase just like anyone who engages in a higher risk sport.

You just rely on the dinghy, dropping it down to 60%. You simply would prefer to die doing something you love than wasting away on the couch watching Laverne & Shirley reruns.

No back up at all= 50%. This is of course ridiculously too high compared to offshore sailors who have to abandon ship but you get my point.

That risk management will probably even change depending on where you are going and who you are going with. Oftentimes in any activity it's more about peace of mind or perceived reduction than actual risk reduction.

[donradcliffe]

The certification shop said my 20 year old AVON was a better raft than my 3 year old Plastimo. I used to service the Avon every 3 years.

[nuru05]

Originally Posted by donradcliffe

The certification shop said my 20 year old AVON was a better raft than my 3 year old Plastimo. I used to service the Avon every 3 years.

Honestly I wouldn't mind keeping it but I need a hard case because we just don't have room down in the boat. I also have no need for a 6 person when there will never be more than 3 of us going offshore

[GILow]

I’ve deployed two old life rafts in the last ten years. Both were around twenty years old. Both inflated perfectly.

Both then went flat in totally calm conditions (back garden and marina) in a few hours.

Ditch the old stuff, it’s a false security.

[KompetentKrew]

I bet you'd get £200 for it if you were located in the Solent area and posted in one of the sailing stuff for sale Facebook groups.

[Kd9truck]

Originally Posted by nuru05

Honestly I wouldn't mind keeping it but I need a hard case because we just don't have room down in the boat. I also have no need for a 6 person when there will never be more than 3 of us going offshore

If you have never crawled up and into a life raft in training you may want to. After a pre Covid safety at sea seminar I noticed that they are “person” rated like tents. What ever the rating is cut that in half. So a 5-6 person will realistically fit 3+. Without looking like a can of sardines. Cheers

[Celestialsailor]

Originally Posted by caradow

Maybe donate it to a local sailing club to be used for demonstration purposes ONLY.

One of my boats, I sold in La Paz. I had an out of date Viking. I ran out of time before i had to fly back to the ranch but I was going to do a raffle/bet that if the raft would open AND hold air in the harbor. I was going to sell tickets for Yay or Nay and donate the funds to the local grade school. At $5 a ticket and a hundred cruisers, it would have been a good donation to the school.

[BlueH2Obound]

I've pulled the cord on three commercial life rafts.

• One (and third), was an Avon, 26 years out of inspection, and it functioned flawlessly, and 5 days later when they started repacking it, it still held air perfectly
• The second, not sure what brand, was 11 years out of inspection, functioned flawlessly as well, and held air just fine 3 days later.
• The third . . . well actually, the first one, the Avon, after it was repacked by a company in Seattle, and after sailing down the West Coast, and to Hawaii, then around Hawaiian Islands for almost a year, was 8 months out of inspection, I pulled the cord . . . and absolutely nothing happened. . . . . The shop in Honolulu, HI who did the inspection, and who handled all our over water ALSE equipment for our unit in the Army, did a "Forensic inspection" (at some cost). The finding was that although the shop in Seattle had done everything else correctly, including hydro inspecting the CO2 Bottle, they had never charged it with CO2 . . . The bottle still had air, 78% nitrogen, 21% Oxygen, 1% misc gasses. They did a formal statement of the analysis, to include the contents of the bottle. . . .

[Marathon1150]

We gave away a 6 person liferaft that the manufacturer would no longer service. The person who took it was very happy to have a liferaft even though some of the contents might be beyond their best before date.

[George_SD]

A lot of folks would rather have a used/expired raft for free than none at all.

Someone may also have the skills and knowledge to inspect and ensure that it would work. Yet, it would not be certified, but as long as it works certification doesn't mater. As pointed out by BH2O - you may have it repacked professionally and recertified, but it still can fail. So it's not a guarantee.

[SailingHarmonie]

There is a LOT more to a liferaft than just "does it inflate."

Are the batteries for the lights still good? Is the food edible? Water drinkable? Has the outer case suffered from water intrusion and corrosion damage?

If they get old enough, they have a pretty large gas cylinder inside there that can fail. Like this: (Photo taken at Viking repack center, it nearly killed one of their techs) Killed by a liferaft. Could there be a more ironic way to die?