June 2, 2018
One of our tasks this season in New Zealand was to replace our 24-year-old liferaft with a new one. They’re supposed to be repacked and re-certified every one to three years, depending on their age, but ours hadn’t been done since we left Los Angeles six years ago. Ours was too old to re-certify.
When we removed our old liferaft, I had Cyndi try to deploy it as if we were in an emergency and she was the only person left to launch the raft. She did it, but it was really hard, and we were tied up in a calm berth. These rafts are very, very heavy. I think I falsely assumed that adrenaline would kick in if it were a real emergency, but can that be counted on? What if the boat was pitching and rolling in ten meter seas? Could Cyndi launch the very heavy raft? Could I? Maybe not.
With this in mind, we made some modifications when we remounted the new raft. We cut the stainless steel frame and pined it together with ‘R’ clips. See the picture below.
By removing the clips, the frame comes apart and the raft doesn’t need to be lifted over the frame – only slid out.
We also added pelican hooks in the bottom lifelines on both sides of the boat so that the raft doesn’t need to be lifted over the lifelines. See the below picture.
All pins that must be pulled to deploy the raft are tagged with bright red tape to make it easier to find in a flat-out emergency situation. I feel good about the changes we made and a little foolish thinking that adrenaline alone would overcome rough conditions and the weight of the raft.
After we replaced our raft, we deployed our old one in a nearby grassy area. Here’s a post about how that went. Hint: not all that well! -Rich
