Life raft storage ?

What's the best way to store a life raft: in a hard canister or in a valise?

Does anyone have any experiences or thought about this?

Our's is in a canister on the foredeck, hope I never find out.

Mine is in a canister under the step on the foredeck so it is out of the way, but can be launched single-handed in a hurry.

I reckon that a valise stored inside or in a locker will inevitably have too much junk dumped on top of it when you need it.

Of course even though my canister is in a lockable frame, it's very convenient for the thieves.

Is there any weather damage, inside or outside, when in a canister?

No, a canister is designed to be exposed, so if properly packed and certified, it will be fine.
BTW be wary of heavy crew using it for a step, after a while the seal might break.

Good points about stacking of equipment on top of the valise and the heavy crew on the canister....

Which brings up the weight of a life raft and the location: A life raft weighs 70-100 lbs so the raft should be in a location where it is easy to deploy it.

This speaks for a raft type that can be located on the railing, roof or other easy deployable location. So basically - only a canister type will do this.

Not all liferafts weigh that much...the Switlik coastal rescue platform (which is all many of us really need)...weighs in at 15 pounds. So a valise in a locker is fine...store it out in the open on longer or scary passeges.

There is no right answer...the camp of "must be on deck hydrostaticallt released" obviously has never treaded water around a boat that refused to sink until it drifted far enough away that getting to the raft would be impossible...or one that sank in the Bay where the water wasn't deep enough to release it.

The other camp of valise carriers needs to remember that a truly BIG offshore raft is almost unmanageable by one person and that accidents can happen very quickly.

Me, until I cross the pond, a coastal raft in a valise is all I would ever own and store it out on a weather deck before things got ugly.

But till then...carrying survival suits, modifying my dingy to be extra stable, unsinkable, and quickly launchable is my current survival plan.

And finally...the really absolutely true first step of survival...even BEFORE most people's step 1 "Recognition" ....The first step I always teach.....1. "don't get into the survival situation to begin with!"

I know that sounds crazy but it involes some subtle issues. Remember...Joe from suburbia might be in a life threatening survival situation when instantly stranded in the wilderness even with an SUV full of camping gear....when Bubba or a Navy Seal might be quite at home out there with just a good sharp knife.

Psneeld, I'll buy all those good arguments.

psneeld said:

Not all liferafts weigh that much...the Switlik coastal rescue platform (which is all many of us really need)...weighs in at 15 pounds. So a valise in a locker is fine...store it out in the open on longer or scary passeges.
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That's my approach!

The canister life raft on the Sea Eagle is mounted on the rail of the boat deck, just in front of the bow of the 12' tender. It is placed there so it can easily be tossed into the front of the dingy if there is time and the dingy can be launched or floated free. In that scenario, you still have the dingy and the life raft.

If the proverbial sh*t hits the fan, you can just toss the 6 man canister raft over the side.

Boydski said:

If the proverbial sh*t hits the fan, you can just toss the 6 man canister raft over the side.

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Otherwise make sure it is mounted where it can float free without risk of entanglement in things like the mast fittings or a hard top.

Boydski said:

If the proverbial sh*t hits the fan, you can just toss the 6 man canister raft over the side.

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And watch it float away?

SeaHorse II said:

And watch it float away?

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The painter is attached to the trawler with a break away link (which can also be used for activation).

Is there room for all of us?

markpierce said:

Is there room for all of us?

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That is pretty funny. But it does remind me that it is VERY difficult to get into a life raft, from the water, when you are wearing one of those big, boxy life preservers or a Gumby Suit.

markpierce said:

Is there room for all of us?

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In rafts? At least 25 percent of the flock anyway.

Boydski said:

The painter is attached to the trawler with a break away link (which can also be used for activation).

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I realize that but I was wondering how long the painter is. It appears to be a long way to the water from the boat deck on your Nordy 47.

SeaHorse II said:

I was wondering how long the painter is. It appears to be a long way to the water from the boat deck on your Nordy 47.

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The painters on a zodiac 6 man raft are 100' long. Most painters on life rafts are very long and can cause momentary heart palpitations as you keep pulling and pulling and pulling while trying to inflate the raft.

Think how far the water is from the deck of a commercial ship or ferry, which is why they have lots of line.

Boydski said:

Think how far the water is from the deck of a commercial ship or ferry, which is why they have lots of line.

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Thank you, sir! I didn't know that.

I ended up ordering a canister type - because they are always ready to deploy, whereas a valise type requires it to be pulled out from the storage, placed somewhere and then carried / thrown overboard when needed.
The keyword here is always ready. I have found out the hard way that emergencies happens in a spit second, comes out of the blue with no warning (or maybe didn't recognise the warnings) so this free up valuable time that can be used to transmit a mayday or get the crew out of the bunks faster...

Has anyone seen any figures on the number of liferafts stolen from on deck? I decided to store my in a dock box on the upper deck in order to avoid someone knowing the raft was there.

Marty

I recently bought a life raft for Tidahapah, it's in a valise.
I will stow it on top of the aft cabin.
Bought 2 nd hand 6 months old at a very good price. At its first service I will have it repacked in a container.
If I had been buying new it definitely would have been in a container.
Cheers
Benn

Good point about the lost / stolen rafts.

I guess my solution will be to take the valise out of the container when not in use - kind of defeats my "always ready to deploy argument.."

An additional item to consider is weight. I feel that I made a mistake when I was talked into a 6 person life raft (Winslow Offshore) as opposed to a 4 person. This is stored in a valise inside of a dock box. The additional weight of the 6 person raft makes it difficult/impossible for my wife to launch the raft. Assuming I am not hurt and don't get much older I can do so.

To compensate we have stripped all the supplies out of the raft and keep these in a separate ditch bag.

Marty