LIfe Raft
Dinghy
Today’s Thursday thought will be about Life Rafts and Dinghies!
Many of our customers come through our doors ready to purchase a dinghy… Never once do they mention a life raft. I have gotten to where sometimes I just ask “Do you have a life raft on the boat?” And here are two common responses I get
1. Yes but I could not tell you when we last serviced it …it came with the boat
2. No we are going to use the dinghy if we get in trouble…..
So here are my thoughts on each of these responses
1. SO you don’t know when the life raft was serviced last…How do you know it works? I guess some people are willing to take the chance that the CO2 that is in the bottle will still be there and still fill up the life raft….So this happens now…what does the equipment inside look like…is the raft going to stay together… Well having it serviced to meet the manufactures guidelines you increase the chances of everything working correctly on the life raft. You are more likely to produce a positive result and you will feel better knowing this. There are never any guarantees when you are in a survival situation but I like to think upping the odds sure feels nice.
2. Ok so you want to use the dinghy as a life raft….Life rafts are designed to deploy in less than one minute….Good to know in a survival situation because seconds can make the difference… Lets say you are in a weather related disaster and the wind is up, seas are high and your dinghy is not even inflated…Well it takes someone about 12-15 minutes to inflate the average 9-10 foot dinghy with a foot pump. This is in favorable conditions…OK so it is inflated… You have to get it into the water! No easy process here….and every boat is different. Once you get in the dinghy in the water well like I said the seas are high and the wind is blowing hard so your dinghy will likely turn over…Hopefully it will not blow away when this happens…Why won’t the life raft turn over and blow away? Well it is the ballast bags under the life raft; once you deploy the raft and get it into the water the ballast bags fill with water and help hold the raft down against the wind. The ballast bags also help the raft from flipping over…So there you have my thoughts comparing a life raft and a dinghy are like comparing an apple and an orange…They are not one in the same and they both have a purpose and should have a place on your boat!
