Life rafts on small bluewater boats

[JohnHolland]

We carried a 4 person offshore liferaft in a valise on an Alberg 30 under the V-berth seat. It never got hot or wet. We practiced retrieving it into the cockpit for release...took about 30 seconds. Luckily never had to use it.

[Scorpius]

Liferafts have stabilizing bags underneath to stop them from flipping in high winds and big seas. Dinghies do not. If you have to abandon ship in a storm* the likelihood of being flipped in a dinghy is probable.

*Unless your mothership is about to disappear beneath the waves DO NOT leave it. It is far safer than a liferaft almost regardless of its condition. Too, too many boats have been found happily floating after a storm - with the liferaft and previous occupants gone, never to be seen again.

[Minggat]

Originally Posted by Mara Mae

….I have also listened to cruisers who have prepared their dinks with ditch bags and auto inflators …… .

I would like to hear more about the dinghy auto inflators. Never heard of them before.

BTW
I did get the Ryobi inflator cordless tool. The foot pump is only used at the end to pressurize. Love it.

[Cheechako]

Life raft in a valise is not a big problem on a small boat. That was my final decision. I dont see using a dink of any kind in a storm bad enough to abandon ship. To survive you are going to have to be in a contained enclosure and live through being rolled around like a ball. But any hard dink is not survivable. Swamped it provides you nothing really.
Certainly using a RIB or Inflatable is an option for cruising the islands of say the E. Carribean etc. or if your boat just sinks in calm weather.
There's a reason commercial lifeboats look like this:

[Mike OReilly]

My question "How many offshore cruisers are NOT carrying an auto inflating life raft?

I'm not really an offshore sailor. I have done a few crossings where we are a day, or more, away from shore, but I wouldn't really call that offshore sailing. Still... it doesn't take much "offshoreness" to put you in dire situations should the mothership become non-functional. And most of my cruising in relatively remote areas, where help is often a long way away, so a liferaft could theoretically be useful.

We cruise on an older-design 37-footer. We are also, ahem, frugal. This means bulk storage space, and money, is at a premium.

I just provide that as context... We have yet to carry a liferaft, or indeed an EPIRB.

Why...? Cost and space requirements are the largest consideration for the liferaft. The price of these things is significant, and the ongoing maintenance demands in both time and money make them very pricey items. I also question their efficacy in a real crisis, both in terms of actual deployment, and also in terms of function. There have been too many reports of failures right out of the can or valise to give me much faith in them.

All that said, if they were cheaper (or I was richer), and less of a pita to keep certified, and I had the space on board, I'd probably carry one all the time. Why not... But unfortunately I have none of these things, so they remain a questionable tool.

I think if we were crossing oceans, we might try and rent one (if that is possible). But for our current cruising lifestyle, I feel comfortable with the risk assessment of not having one.

[OldManMirage]

I'm following this with interest, as I am one of the mind-set of not having a liferaft. I have read many accounts, especially the ones made into books (just finished the Robertson's "Survive the Savage Sea for the second time), and I don't think life rafts are the best option in many cases.

In the Robertson's case, they ended up abandoning the liferaft and transferring to the dinghy. Which they sailed to eventual rescue.

As others have pointed out, with today's modern electronics, we are not easily caught unawares, nor are we without ways to get attention to our plight.

To me, IMHO, it seems the biggest danger sailors face nowadays is running into something unseen, holing the boat and sinking. Having a hard dinghy or inflatable that can be launched in a reasonable amount of time seems a better alternative.

I am going to buy or build a hard dinghy to use as my ship tender/water taxi, add enough flotation in it to keep it from sinking, and equip it accordingly to use as a lifeboat in an emergency. Something that I can also add an easily rigged sail.

Something like this...
https://miami.craigslist.org/mdc/boa...389530480.html
Modified to be unsinkable.

Stored upside-down on the foredeck for a passage, equipped and ready to go with a quick release attachments and a painter attached. If the boat is sinking, it should take but a moment to release the attachments, shove it over the side and follow it. Work out a system that allows you to right it if it flips. (The best one I've ever seen was a series of handholds spaced around the hull that literally allowed a person to "climb" the dinghy upright. I thought it was ingenious.)

[team karst]

Originally Posted by Breaking Waves

That is a very reasonable approach.

I will comment (and it's just a sample of one, so just for conversation rather than any real point) that the only 'fire' we ever had at sea (halfway across the Atlantic was in our cockpit locker - wires to the solar panel shorted and fried alone the back of the cockpit locker - yard did not fuse them (I later asked why not and they said to avoid voltage drop - this was early in our time cruising...

One of the electrical tests of solar panels is a short circuit Amps test. If those wires find themselves shorted, an overload should not happen. OTOH, if it was an unfused conductor at the OUTPUT of the controller, headed for the batteries, a serious situation will result.

[gonesail]

seems like a deflated and stored inflatable is the way to go .. on boats smaller than 30 feet. but it would not be quickly deployable.

[johnjuliano]

Originally Posted by Pete7

Sadly there is no way to carry 60kgs of PP on our 31ft yacht, the baby stay means the foredeck is limited and we need access to the anchor locker. It won't fit under the boom and the stern isn't the place for another 60 kgs. Our solution is a light weight 2.5m inflatable deflated just forward of the mast and a life raft if it goes pear shaped.

Pete

Pete, we sail on a Maxi 95, 31' sloop. We re-rigged, removing the baby stay and going with two forestays. We mount a Portland Pudgy on our deck fully rigged with the self inflating canopy in place when we go offshore.



We had already derigged the canopy when this shot was taken after sailing from Kuaui to Homer.

URL for a picture: http://carobabbo.com/wp-content/uplo...d-1024x383.jpg

[goboatingnow]

Originally Posted by thomm225

Actually he had an EPIRB but of the old school type. He never got a response.....

Yes the type monitored by aircraft.

As I said before EPIRBS AND GMDSS

[thomm225]

Originally Posted by goboatingnow

Yes the type monitored by aircraft.

As I said before EPIRBS AND GMDSS

As I said, he had an EPIRB. (It was 1981. What did you expect?)

[Mara Mae]

Originally Posted by sepharad

How large is your boat? I love the idea too, but cant picture is on a small bluewater boat (not sure what qualifies as small).

Cape Dory 30

[Networker]

Just finished a John Kretschmer class on safety at sea and it definitely is something you’d want to have. While not easy to get into, it certainly is better than not having one. In a fire, you don’t have any choice, you’d need a life raft else you’re going to burn up in the boat. Another thing to consider would be an immersion suit, but in either scenario on getting off the boat, you’d need an EIPRB.

[Caleb_Grey]

Originally Posted by Cheechako

Life raft in a valise is not a big problem on a small boat. That was my final decision. I dont see using a dink of any kind in a storm bad enough to abandon ship. To survive you are going to have to be in a contained enclosure and live through being rolled around like a ball. But any hard dink is not survivable. Swamped it provides you nothing really.
Certainly using a RIB or Inflatable is an option for cruising the islands of say the E. Carribean etc. or if your boat just sinks in calm weather.
There's a reason commercial lifeboats look like this:

So if a commercial lifeboat looks like that why are you recommending a flimsy raft?
A pudgy is coast guard certified lifeboat.
Boat not raft.
You dont want to be in a raft in weather

[Bulawayo]

I have not carried a conventional ever. My present escape pod is an Australian RIB (100% aluminium) that is Australian certified as a lifeboat. This dinghy hangs high on my goal post arrangement and is semi protected by the solar panels. Several items are kept secured within the dinghy when we put to sea, including a VHF, oars, survival canopy, drogue etc. This dinghy is the main means of ‘local’ transport and the whole family are familiar with it and it’s handling as well as how to erect the survival canopy, deploying the drogue etc.
Personally, I’ve no confidence in life rafts.