Life Raft for trailer boat

[inveratta]

The following ...in yachting terms...it is thought prudent for offshore yachts to mount their liferaft so that it will auto deploy in the event that the boat is sinking...ie often permanently mounted on the stern rails or near.It is recommended that you have permanently positioned grab bags with ancillary gear and food mounted in such a way that you can get off a boat in 30 secs...I can only imagine those 30 secs would pass really quickly! Think cooking gas or fuel explosion at sea maybe collision.
I reckon a power boat by its nature will be more than less likely than a yacht to have a sudden problem....again fuel explosion or flipped...swamping etc....I cant see having to manually blow up the liferaft as a bonus....and a poor liferaft promotes a false sense of security.

you can get superior life jackets that have wave protection and fit epirbs to each one....so you will get found.....and in a crisis ....youre far more likely to get off the boat with that...just a thought....

[gazza2006au]

Inver today theres a good risk of being eatin alive bobbing in the ocean i know i would rather be on araft than holding on to a life saving floatation device but than im shit scared of sharks, old bruce comes up and sees u floating hes not ganna pass up a live meal especially if its a great white

[inveratta]

yes..Gazza thanks ...thats in a way my point...the "liferaft" shown is totally inadequate unless its in a mill pond....you will end up in the sea anyway unless its a fully rated bit of gear...thats why they produce standards for this stuff..for me the best solution if going wide in a power boat is to buddy up with another boat...but nowadays too many porcupines I guess...

[scottar]

Even an "auto inflate" raft only inflates because the ripcord is pulled. Auto deploy is via a hydrostatic release - Hammar H20 Hydrostatic Release showing how a life raft floats free from a sinking ship - Bing video and then the raft will inflate once the vessel sinks far enough or there is enough wave action to pull on the painter - which is still attached to the vessel by a "weak link" which will break as the vessel sinks further preventing the raft from going with it. Potential problem for a trailer boat - if it rolls over but doesn't sink, the hydrostatic release may not reach a depth that will trigger deployment - there may be different releases but you do not want it going off too easily either. I am aware of at least one case where a raft was washed off a vessel and subsequently deployed through the vessels forward motion in the middle of South passage bar. The vessel that lost the raft was ok but the guy behind him that had to take evasive action was rolled as he turned side on. Very unlucky.

Any raft will be better than no raft but no raft is a nice place to spend time. Even just doing the AMSA pool training you get a feel for the sort of horrible claustrophobic things they are. If you are happy to spend the money getting them serviced, they are a good safety measure - just make yourself very familiar with righting techniques and entry techniques - not necessarily easy. As a reasonably fit 30 something, I was unable to enter a commercial raft without first removing my lifejacket. Anyone carrying some excess weight or without sufficient strength potentially may struggle.

[gazza2006au]

I would have never even thought of removing a life jacket before jumping in Scott good pointer there, as for the clostraphobia can u leave the side hatch thingy open or is it suggested to fully seal it up? How do u breeth if thats the case

Also in case of a raft rescue if your winched to safety who recovers the raft or is it just left to float away?

[scottar]

as for the clostraphobia can u leave the side hatch thingy open or is it suggested to fully seal it up? How do u breeth if thats the case

Also in case of a raft rescue if your winched to safety who recovers the raft or is it just left to float away?

They aren't air tight Gazza. Ideally you want to keep the roof in place apart from a lookout if conditions allow to avoid exposure issues and to try and keep the inside of the raft dry. Recovery of the raft - case by case I guess. In a lot of rescue situations there would be no way to recover the raft due to weather or rescue method.

[Noelm]

Life rafts are kind of interesting, years ago when I did my Coxwains "practical" we had to put on overalls, shoes, a "proper" life jacket (not inflatable) and 6 of us had to deploy the raft, then jump in the water, try to get into the raft and drag an unconscious person (that was me) into the raft, all this was done in a harbour, in good conditions, I near drowned while my mates tried to get me into the raft, and that was in good conditions, if it was windy, raining and rough seas, it would have been a disaster....what I am getting at is, take safety seriously, usually things go belly up at the worst possible time, some kind of dinky blow up toy might be better than nothing, but not by much!

[Noelm]

OH, just to add, saving the raft is the last thing anyone does, saving lives is the main thing, any gear left behind is irrelevant, some might retrieve it if it's OK weather and it's a smallish rescue boat, but, no one is going to try and pull a raft up the side of a ship, or winch it up into a helicopter.

[NAGG]

Just a thought here ..... buy a boat that probably cant sink ( level flotation etc) - then stay with the boat .

I would feel much safer clinging to my boat than drifting around in some small floaty thing .

Chris

[Noelm]

Yep, that's true, but, sometimes even the most unsinkable boat sinks, I guess its a comfort factor, being in the water with nothing, compared to having a life jacket on, compared to being in a "floaty thing" compared to a full on proper life raft, compared to a boat still afloat, it's all relative.

[Noelm]

Inver today theres a good risk of being eatin alive bobbing in the ocean i know i would rather be on araft than holding on to a life saving floatation device but than im shit scared of sharks, old bruce comes up and sees u floating hes not ganna pass up a live meal especially if its a great white

Not exactly correct, everyone has this preconceived idea that every shark is going to eat you the second it comes near, I have seen dozens of sharks diving, most just swim by doing what ever they want, seen a couple surfing, same thing, they just keep doing shark things, even fishing for them, at times it's near impossible to get them to bite, it's not always the case, but, they don't just everything they come across.

[scottar]

[QUOTE=NAGG;1690307]Just a thought here ..... buy a boat that probably cant sink ( level flotation etc) - then stay with the boat .

I would feel much safer clinging to my boat than drifting around in some small floaty thing .

Chris[/QUOTE
Won't help if it's on fire.

[Ducksnutz]

Ha,Ha……I’ve literally changed my mind on buying one three time from the advice given on this thread by people I truly respect for their opinions!

Bugger it I’m buying one. Now which one…………

[NAGG]

Yep, that's true, but, sometimes even the most unsinkable boat sinks, I guess its a comfort factor, being in the water with nothing, compared to having a life jacket on, compared to being in a "floaty thing" compared to a full on proper life raft, compared to a boat still afloat, it's all relative.

If you have a boat with positive buoyancy - can it sink ? ..... I'm not talking an air filled thing like my Barcrusher either . That said with high density foam under the gunnels it probably would never sink .

Yes everything is relative ...... but how many boaties could actually carry a life raft on a trailer boat ? - one for 4 or 5 people (crew dependent) ?

Chris

[NAGG]

[QUOTE=scottar;1690310]

Just a thought here ..... buy a boat that probably cant sink ( level flotation etc) - then stay with the boat .

I would feel much safer clinging to my boat than drifting around in some small floaty thing .

Chris[/QUOTE
Won't help if it's on fire.

A trailer boat on fire ........ How quickly could you deploy the life raft ? I reckon you'd have 2 choices to make on a trailer boat - fire extinguisher or dive overboard .

Chris