Do you have a life raft on your sailboat? If you don't, why not?
- Thread starter dserrell
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i have a 41 ft ketch with 4 dinks--i need another little boat on my deck???? i think my inflatable and a tarp is a decent substitute, as i donot plan plan leaving the boat----must step UP to the life raft......
wetsuits are not a bad ideal for cold water sailers. Survival suits are better. But we scuba dive and already have wetsuits. Even in a life raft hypothermia could be deadly.
Second the wet suit idea!
I did not mean to suggest that a dual purpose dingy/LR would be a an inflatable with a few things glued on; it would have to be re-engineered from the ground, but it seems like a smart starting place, particularly for the typical coastal cruiser that might go to the Bahamas or a bit further, but not Hawaii.
I always keep mine on-board, but never really thought about guests. I think that is an excellent point in cooler water, right up there with the raft, at least.
I did not mean to suggest that a dual purpose dingy/LR would be a an inflatable with a few things glued on; it would have to be re-engineered from the ground, but it seems like a smart starting place, particularly for the typical coastal cruiser that might go to the Bahamas or a bit further, but not Hawaii.
http://www.portlandpudgy.com/frequently_asked_questions.htm
Everything we do has risks. Safety equipment lowers the risk to acceptable levels. But the most dangerous thing I do is driving back and forth to work on the interstate highway in heavy traffic. No way is sailing that dangerous.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dougal_Robertson robertson's life raft sand after 16 days!!! A good read.
Everything we do has risks. Safety equipment lowers the risk to acceptable levels. But the most dangerous thing I do is driving back and forth to work on the interstate highway in heavy traffic. No way is sailing that dangerous.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dougal_Robertson robertson's life raft sand after 16 days!!! A good read.
Yes
here's mine. (picture)
If I'm holed so bad (whale? boat collision? how?) that I don't have 4-6 minutes to pump up the dink, well then I should have had a life raft. Weather not an issue here, coastal cruising in So Cal conditions (we don't have the sneaky squalls\thunderstorms), which are checked prior to sailing. Never more than 3 or so hours away from a port.
I think life raft is for offshore cruising, where dinks, VHF radios, flares, etc are not enough.
here's mine. (picture)
If I'm holed so bad (whale? boat collision? how?) that I don't have 4-6 minutes to pump up the dink, well then I should have had a life raft. Weather not an issue here, coastal cruising in So Cal conditions (we don't have the sneaky squalls\thunderstorms), which are checked prior to sailing. Never more than 3 or so hours away from a port.
I think life raft is for offshore cruising, where dinks, VHF radios, flares, etc are not enough.
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- Dec 29, 2008
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Sure! But, can you imagine spending 72 days in the open sea in that!
(read "Adrift", by Steven Callahan.)We have an 8-man bolted to the deck, but that is for offshore. Heck, I can see needing it on Lake Erie just as much as on the Atlantic (rough enough, cold enough, and plenty deep...). I do agree though that there is considerable overhead to keeping one current. We also have an 11 foot RIB, but I wouldn't want to spend too much time in rough seas in that alone. Ideally, we would launch the raft AND the dink, and tether them together...
Moon, I like the wetsuit idea! Never occurred to me. We have scuba tanks too, but I will now include the wetsuits in the ditch plan.
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