A Self-Service Liferaft Design - Interested ?

[Island Time O25]

Also, a cheap self-repack would allow for frequent training drills. As things stand now how many people want (or can afford to) to spend $1,200+ for each training drill? But at a cost of a new gas cylinder and may be a few dropped in the water doodahs it would be a much needed safety lesson.

[Ambler]

I have been servicing and repacking my own liferaft for over 25 years.

My trust in life raft servicers was shattered whe I paid for the first service on a new one I had bought 18 months earlier. Half the equipment was destroyed by a crap quality supposedly waterproof torch that had leaky batteries in it. I purchased all new provisions and a dive torch placed them in a proper roll top dry bag and then watched the technician inflate with a pump, pressure test, then test again after 24 hours then deflate and repack it.

There was no equipment that expires within 3 years so i began a 3 year test regime up to 18 years. The tank was hydro tested and refilled at 12 years. The raft was written off when the fabric began to get a bit stiff. So I repacked it again and test fired it after ordering a new raft.

The test fire gave me confidence that the raft would have still been good to use for at least another couple of seasons too. I don't race so i don't have to satisfy any authority to have it serviced annually which in my opinion is over servicing. But not servicing annually when crap quality goods are packed into the raft by so called trained professionals would be negligent too.

Just my opinion. I trust very few people with my life.

[Pete7]

Originally Posted by Island Time O25

Also, a cheap self-repack would allow for frequent training drills. As things stand now how many people want (or can afford to) to spend $1,200+ for each training drill? But at a cost of a new gas cylinder and may be a few dropped in the water doodahs it would be a much needed safety lesson.

Why is a major safety item so expensive to buy and service in the USA, is it down to a risk of litigation? 1200USD for a service? good grief

My offshore Seago cost £600 in 2011 and the last service which was a major to include the cylinder testing £264. Servicing is 3 yearly.

At those sort of prices I am happy to buy a new one and have it serviced by the manufacturer every 3 years.

Pete

[goeasy123]

Originally Posted by GordMay

You're proposing an attractive concept, that's just not practical. A liferaft is like a parachute. It's got to work right the first time, every time.

Here’s how Winslow service liferafts.
➥ WINSLOW® Liferaft Company

How many of these steps will a typical owner be properly equipped to perform? Which would you eliminate? Would you be prepared to warrant that anything has actually been done, merely on the owner's word?

I pack my own parachute!!... kinda standard practice in skydivingland... for very good reasons that might apply to yotties.

[a64pilot]

Self packing a parachute is allowed, for sport jumpers it’s not a requirement, and I’d bet is driven first by sheer numbers and ease of doing it, and litigation.
If you paid to have it packed and it malfunctioned, do you think just maybe the packer would be sued by surviving family members, and what do you think the odds of winning that lawsuit would be?

Having said that any time I flew a high risk test flight, I had to wear a chute and boots, the chute was required to have been inspected and repacked by a certified agency, within I believe 90 days, FAA didn’t allow self packing or inspection. Surprisingly I didn’t have to sign anything saying that if it didn’t work it wasn’t their fault etc.
Don’t know why.

[Rob Curtis]

Originally Posted by Island Time O25

Came across this thread a week and half ago. Gave me the incentive to find a cheap expired liferaft to learn from. This weekend found one online for under $100. Whoopee!

Called my old salt friend for adivice. His bio - 45+ years of marine related experience from merchant marine school at 15 to captaining large ships at 30-35 to 25 years of liveaboard and 2 circumnavs in the meantime.

Anyway, he said that repacking is not a rocket science and that he had done it numerous times beginning when he was a student at that merchant marine school. Will help me out with the procedure when he gets back to town, hopefully in the Spring. And he confirmed that just like a lot of other manufactured goods, the lemons are found right away. Meaning if anything is wrong with the raft or other contents means it would be probably just as bad during the first year or two of manufacture. And if the raft seams/layers are OK the rest of the stuff is easily and less expensively replaceable then the cost of the service re-pack. And unless one is entering an official race it would be just as good as doing it for mucho denero at a service shop.

At a minimum and worst comes to worst (if the raft is toast) I like the thought of under $100 repacking lesson plus the price of a nice dinner with a friend.

Make the life raft flat. You can use a vacuum cleaner to pull the air out of the life raft to make it easy to pack. Move the port to the center line then move the starboard to the center line. Roll the bow toward the transom (gas tank). Put some high density foam on the bottom of the bag, it may already have it, then wrap the raft in plastic. The underlying fundamental is to protect it from punctures. Close the bag. All packed.