Life rafts on small bluewater boats

[SV__Grace]

Originally Posted by BillKny

I am a big fan of the Portland Pudgy, and was actually one of their first customers on the west coast, many years ago. As a compact dinghy, I really liked it.

A couple considerations on using them as the vessel's primary liferaft: It has to be quicly and easily deployable. You have to rig the liftraft canopy for every offshore trip, and be sure it is ready to go. Having it rigged and ready to go isn't a trivial matter, and needs careful thought, and practice to be sure it works for you, your crew, and your boat.

I have always thought that the most likely reason for needing a liferaft is not bad weather. It is VERY unlikely that a liferaft will save your bacon in a storm so severe it has terminally damaged the mothership.

Fire or collision are the much more likely situations for needing rescue. In the case of fire, especially, the ability to quickly launch a fully ready life raft could spell the difference between survival and death.

With the advent of EPIRB's and other long range emergency beacons and communication tools the need to plan for weeks of survival in a life raft have significantly decreased, as has the benefit to being able to actually navigate your life raft. I am not saying it is IMPOSSIBLE it might be needed, but it has become very unlikely, assuming the boat and liferaft were well equipped and prepared.

Is a fully equipped Portland Pudgy a useful tool as a primary life saving boat? Yes. Is it the best possible option for everybody, certainly not. Is one rigged with canopy and full lifesaving kit better than an open inflatable? Most certainly. Can you launch it quickly? I don't know...

+1 on this. We like our Portland Pudgy and do have the life boat kit, but to use it in place of a life raft it would need to be fully rigged and ready for deployment when needed, which means two things are required-

1. Secure storage upright on the deck or davits if they are high and strong enough for offshore. Using their cover is fine and protects the emergency stuff inside while on deck. If not on davits you need to plan a deployment system as you can't just pick it up and throw it overboard like a life raft.

2. Two people max. If you have three or more you need something bigger. When we received our life boat kit we rigged it up and got inside and it is a small, tight space. You remove the center seat and lay or sit inside on the bottom. When you secure and close the canopy it is a cozy and very small space.

Personally, I see the Portland Pudgy life boat as a coastal cruising option where you can anticipate rescue within a reasonable time frame. I would not recommend it for offshore passages.

[Adelie]

Originally Posted by SV__Grace

……

Personally, I see the Portland Pudgy life boat as a coastal cruising option where you can anticipate rescue within a reasonable time frame. I would not recommend it for offshore passages.

What would you recommend for 2 people if rescue was not anticipated in a reasonable time? How about 2 people offshore?

[johnjuliano]

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:

I do worry about this as well, but this is what our pudgy looks like with the canopy up. There are two auto-inflate cylinders and, of course, a sea anchor. As other writers have written, the dinghy must be rigged before going offshore, which we routinely do.

This sits on the deck of our Maxi 95.

[SV__Grace]

Originally Posted by Adelie

What would you recommend for 2 people if rescue was not anticipated in a reasonable time? How about 2 people offshore?

I can't think of a better option than a life raft, can you?

Any cruiser who wants to safely travel thousands of miles from the nearest source of help needs to carry everything needed to help themselves, simple as that. Those who worry about money or space need to suck it up and make it work or take their chances.

[Pete7]

Originally Posted by IolantheSF

Consider how durable your life raft is. The lightweight ones are designed to be, well, lightweight. They were originally designed for aircraft, etc. You can literally tear them apart with your bare hands.

No you can't. More to the point you are about 4 decades out of touch with the design of modern liferafts.

I suggest you do a sea survival course which I suspect you will both enjoy and find it enlightening

[Pete7]

Originally Posted by Mike OReilly

Thanks Pete, I haven't heard of this one. At first blush it look very good, at a price that is much more reasonable. Can it be sourced in Canada?

Good question. You could probably import one with sea freight and offset the cost with the VAT saving. The only snag will be testing. Are local test centres to you willing to test a different make they haven't seen before? There was an occasional problem in the UK in that some manufactures won't certification by anyone other than their own franchised test centres. Of course this sharp and protective business practise means higher costs Thankfully it seems to be dying out and I have never had a problem having a raft tested.

You might ask Ocean Safety who supply a lot of worldwide charter boat fleets. They can probably ship to Canada.

https://www.oceansafety.com/product-range/liferafts

[Franziska]

Originally Posted by Ekeno

Interesting and important thread ... I hope to sail soon in blue waters, after a great coastal experience, but in complex seas.

Although we will sail 3 crew members in very long stretches and on a 47 feet, I decided that the Life Raft that has the sailboat for 8 people, would be enabled as PACK A, the life jackets, the EPIRB, the SART and the portable VHF being instantly available

We have all seen that in the oceans there are all kinds of semi-submerged elements, so the option of having a crash without warning is present and it is not enough that "the world knows where I am"

Good idea to get a raft. I do suggest to get a 6 instead of 8 person raft though if you sail mostly with 2-3crew.
In the event if a capsize of the raft in a storm its easier to put it back up the right way with two people on board the raft. Easier handling on deck too.
I write this under the assumption that you are unlikely to cruise far offshore with 8 people...

[boat driver]

Originally Posted by Mara Mae

The Portland Pudgy has challenged the practice of carrying a single purpose auto-inflating life raft on offshore passages. For small bluewater boats the appeal to have one auxiliary craft that serves both as a dink and a life raft is compelling for offshore sailors with limited deck space and displacement. I have also listened to cruisers who have prepared their dinks with ditch bags and auto inflators so as not to have to carry a dedicated life raft. I think a pro con discussion based on experience from cruisers who were either shipwrecked or forced to abandon ship is timely. My question "How many offshore cruisers are NOT carrying an auto inflating life raft? Perhaps the case of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dougal_Robertson can provide useful context for the discussion.

How many people onboard? Consider looking at survival suits l8r the artic and a 406 ply or epitrb attached

[Adelie]

Originally Posted by SV__Grace

I can't think of a better option than a life raft, can you?

Any cruiser who wants to safely travel thousands of miles from the nearest source of help needs to carry everything needed to help themselves, simple as that. Those who worry about money or space need to suck it up and make it work or take their chances.

I think a leftraft is a simplistic solution to a complex problem.
In the worst sea conditions a liferaft is significantly more stable unless it is under-occupied for its size in which case it would only be somewhat more stable.

For speed of egress it probably has an advantage depending on how it is stored and how a dinghy is stored.

Durability probably doesn’t matter as long as you will be rescued within 2wk. Passed about 4wk any dinghy including inflatables will be doing better than an inflatable liferaft.

If there are rocky shores or cliff to leeward I’m thinking a dinghy would be better, even if I couldn’t avoid going ashore I could probably influence my position to land in a less bad spot.

[Mara Mae]

Originally Posted by boat driver

How many people onboard? Consider looking at survival suits l8r the artic and a 406 ply or epitrb attached

What is a 406 ply?

[Adelie]

Auto correct PLB to ply.
PLB is a personal locator beacon.
406MHz

[greenlantern]

I believe the Portland Pudgy is not a SOLAS approved liferaft... Correct me if I'm wrong; and... why not?

[Adelie]

It’s not a SOLAS approved liferaft because it is not a liferaft.
It is a dinghy and could be considered a lifeboat.
Functional and legal distinction.
Whether it could be considered a SOLAS approved lifeboat is a separate question.

[barryglewis]

We carry a Great Circle 6 man life-raft. Its vacuum packed in a glassware container. The last 6 years its mounted in a (bracket from the manufacturer ) on the outside of the pushpit, as it was too heavy for my wife and I to lift out of the cockpit, it's original stowed position.
It has 3 years between service. The 2017 service saw us have an epirb included in its kit.
This (full) epirb is registered as were the 2 in the cabin.
We do NOT have hydro static release! In fact the raft has extra lashings (and a sharp knife) , as rafts have been known to get washed off yachts in heavy weather.
We were due for a service during our circumnavigation, which was proving difficult to arrange, (think covid), but deferred it after contacting Great Circle, who advised the raft should be OK until we got back to Aus but the flares would be expired so carry replacements in the going away bag.

In the past we have gone the dinghy as life-raft route, but I believe the modern 406 epirb with gps is a major game changer.

[barryglewis]

For glassware read glassfibre !