SOLAS…
Safety of Life at Sea…
I have a sneaking suspicion that although a lot of us talk about the worst case scenarios, few of us actually prepare and maintain a state of readiness to that effect.
Take the life raft that was on Akupara when we purchased her. The hard case was so weather beaten that it was impossible to make out a manufacturer, a last date of inspection or any other relevant information. The rubber seal that is in between the two halves of the case was hanging partially out and to top it off, the entire thing was tied with an old piece of rope to 2 wooden chocks that did not actually fit the life raft canister and had rusted screws to boot. One good wave and the entire thing would have been washed overboard.
The emergency watermaker was found way down in the bowels of the boat and there was no clear evidence of a proper ditch kit.
This is not how we run a ship and there was no way I was going to trust the lives of my family to an outdated, unknown liferaft, so I set it in the backyard and pulled the cord.
Now this isn’t the first time I have done this.
I purchased an old used life raft several years ago at the same time we purchased the brand new life raft for Mara II, our Alberg 30. I purchased the old one to give the family a chance to actually see and play with a liferaft in order to give them a bit of familiarity with it and with what it actually contained.
That life raft was actually stocked fairly well and had semi useable equipment inside of it. Akupara’s liferaft on the other hand had very little useable stuff inside, and what was there, was either soggy, rusted or covered in battery acid from the leaking D cells for the flashlight.
One thing that does amaze me, is that both of these old life rafts actually inflated on the first pull.
Inside the canister is a date from 1993 so I assume this was the last time it had been repacked, which means it would have expired in 1998. Then again that could also be the expiry date itself. So the long tall and short of it, is yes the raft inflated, no I would not trust my life to it after seeing it’s condition. I will put it up for donation on craigslist.org, maybe someone has a use for it OTHER than as a liferaft!