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An open idea on Liferafts |  | | |
This weekend we decided that our liferaft must be checked before the season starts. After taking it off the boat we had the bright idea of finding out what actually happens when you pull the painter line that starts the inflation process. Bearing in mind that most of us have never had the urgent need to deploy a liferaft in a life or death situation, the notion of actually seeing what happens would probably help us if ever we found ourselves taking part in the real thing. It was going to be unpacked anyway so why not?
Please be advised however that to carry out a gas inflation such as this will possibly incur additional cost, ie the CO2 cylinder testing and refill plus replacement of the vacuum bag.
Most liferaft service stations will be more than happy to inflate the liferaft in your presence, which will enable you to check all is well, plus familiarise yourself with correct procedure should you have to man the liferaft in an emergency.
The attached photographs show the sequence of events:
- The canister taken off the boat. The straps are intact. The release rope can be seen with its tag.
- We pulled the release rope, the canister starts to open. See the crack where the red tape has burst.
- The internal membrane breaks and the raft is inflating fast. At this point my young grandson shot off screaming, he was not impressed with this monster exploding before his eyes.
- The raft breaks free, from the canister and a shape begins to form.
- Almost complete but the top ring looks very under inflated. The canopy needs inflation.
- Perhaps this pump will help?
- Yes, but you have to do it by hand. The floor is too soft to provide resistance. And the pump only inflates the canopy.
- The contents are revealed. There is a very sharp knife slid under the top notice and tied on with string. Our raft did not include drinking water which could be a real problem. Ask your agent about this!
- What else is there? Now that the canopy is up the top ring is harder.
- The finished job. Note the gas canister and reflecting strips.
This was certainly a valuable experience for the purposes of this article. However it is essential that the servicing of liferafts SHOULD BE LEFT TO THE EXPERTS. Liferafts need to be inflation tested to within varying specified times and are only allowed a small percentage in pressure drop over that time.
All pressures will be documented on a service schedule which should be provided to you together with your liferaft. In it you should also find the check list that the service station work to, plus an inventory of all equipment present in the emergency pack at time of packing including all relevant dates of expiry. All work is carried out with the approval of the liferaft manufacturers to ensure all liferafts leave the service station in a proper condition.
Thanks to: Messenger Marine for help with this article.
www.messengermarine.co.uk
Liferafts@Messengermarine.co.uk
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| | Discuss this article, 1 of 1 messages, read more: |  Matthew Jacobs | |
| Posted: 01/02/06 15:02:45 45 | | Good pictures. I have never open my life raft and probably never will (As long as I don’t have any accidents). Is there anywhere that allows you to practice this sort of thing as I don’t want to risk damaging my own but think it would be good to be well practiced in the art of liferaft setup. |
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