Used Life Rafts?

[Icarus]

Originally Posted by SomeGuyInaShirt

After watching a bunch of youtube videos of people inflating 40+ year old life rafts I am considering buying a slightly used one to save money. I looked into budget rafts and it looks like $2200 CAD is the cheapest new raft I can get and tgat raft had bad reviews so maybe I can get a better one for cheaper. Lots of rhetoric floating around about how you should spend your money because it can save your life and all that but I'm on a low budget and these are the choices I have to make. Odds are my boat won't sink and I'd rather have a good light air sail and more cruising money. What do you think?

Most rafts are mounted on deck and are slowly cooked in their containers....
Maybe getting a raft in a soft pack, which has been kept out of the heat is preferable?
Anyway, if you buy an unused used raft it needs to be serviced/inspected.

[merrydolphin]

Another option is to inspect and re supply yourself. I’ve done it a few times now. The there are lots of used for sale but often are expired. Cost of recert.can Be be nearly as much as a new one.

[davil]

[QUOTE=CarinaPDX;3744933]


So buy an EPIRB,

remember they transmit for up to 48 HS (the big unit) and shelf life is up to 7 years

and up to 12 HS, the Personal Beacon with a shell life up to 5 years
I carry both in the ditch bag



Consider buying a good waterproof handheld VHF with GPS and DSC. This will be very helpful in an emergency.

I learned how useful and potentially life-saving, years ago monitoring on my VHF a rescue in progress in the Chanel Islands Ca. a boat sank, they did not waste anytime trying to call for assistance.
Launched the liferaft and AFTER everybody was inside and safe they used the handheld radio to direct the rescue.
Amazing, no more than 1 hour and on shore!!!made a convert out of me.



Repacking These days it can be 3 years

My Viking was about $3000 new, comes to be about $1000 a year.after I purchased it.

Just repacked $1500 for 3 years comes to be $500 a year.

Next round may consider a valise, about 60 lbs?

Only needs to be in the cockpit while under way, then stored below out of the elements and much less expensive.

This post does not address the issue of having a liferaft or not, that is a personal decision extensively discussed.

[toddster8]

FWIW, I decided I couldn't trust my used 50 year-old Avon valise raft any more and set it off before hauling to the dump. It worked perfectly. Held air for a week in the yard without topping off. So in the end it was a good value for coastal peace of mind.

Long version: After I found that it couldn't be serviced any more, I did it myself. I had dry scuba air to inflate and an oilless vacuum pump to deflate it completely. Upon opening it, discovered that my "15 or 20 year old" used raft was actually 50 years old. Of course the expendable supplies were dust. (I planned on that and put everything I needed in the ditch bag.) I wasn't quite sure about one of the inlet check valves (but I was inflating it with the intermediate pressure of a scuba tank, far less than the automatic inflator). It was a single-floor whereas my use really requires a double-floor. Fifty Years Old. Becoming a full-time liveaboard on a 30-foot boat with a big dog - I sure could use the space it took up.

Now that I'm setting off into the Pacific, (upgraded to 42-foot boat, re-homed the dog) I've been considering a new raft. New boat has a dedicated liferaft locker in the cockpit (though it's currently filled with the scuba compressor.) Size is an issue. Should it be sized for the usual crew or the hypothetical crew that the boat could accommodate? Always compromises.

[davil]

size?
read somewhere not too oversize, in life raft my tendency was to go for next size up to increase the relative definition of "comfort" for the people inside, but actually works against because with less weight inside tends to be more buoyant and may increase the risk of flipping over?

This time I sized for how many people I anticipate, in my case the smallest 4 people.

Just a thought.

[toddster8]

In the Safety At Sea exercise, we packed in the specified number of crew, wet foulies and all. When properly ballasted, you are stuffed in like a pack of sausages in shrink wrap. I think the engineering assumption is that you will just lay there until a timely rescue occurs in a few hours.