Has anyone here had experience worth noting (i.e., deployment, use, re-certification) with this French-made brand of liferaft as sold by WM? Package weighs about 70 lbs.
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Plastimo ORC+ Cruiser (4-person) Liferaft in Canister
- Thread starter Kings Gambit
- Start date
You aren't getting any responses, so perhaps, like me, others didn't know Plastimo sold a life raft!
Since these things require variably pricy re-packs by a qualified service center I would suggest that you find out who services and repacks life rafts in your area and solicit their advice. You don't want to buy on sale price and find out that you have to ship the thing long distance to an expensive service center every 3 years. Be very, very cautious about who you allow to service your life raft.
Since these things require variably pricy re-packs by a qualified service center I would suggest that you find out who services and repacks life rafts in your area and solicit their advice. You don't want to buy on sale price and find out that you have to ship the thing long distance to an expensive service center every 3 years. Be very, very cautious about who you allow to service your life raft.
Good advice, thanks. The closest service center to me is about 15 mi from home here in LB; so, I think I will give 'em a call. They service other rafts [other manufacturers] as well. I didn't know much about Plastimo's products either until investigating this particular raft. I imagine you visited their website. They have a complete line of rafts and other marine products. Since yesterday I've seen a couple of YouTubes on the deployment/inflation of this canister type. I can say only, that I truly hope I'll never have to deploy one, and get into it, in the kinds of conditions that would normally force someone to do so!! Once the painter springs the inflation cylinder, the thing can inflate up or down; while blowing to the end of the painter trailing the yacht. You then have to pull it back to the stern to get in while going over the transom--otherwise, jump in and swim to it
!! Then the real fun starts--climbing in!
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I spent a couple of hours last fall with the raft vendors at the Annapolis Boat Show, Viking, Winslow, CrewSaver, etc and got a good look at features and price. There is an enormous range, including an array of swimmer boarding methods. From my experience with inflatables, boarding can be a real chore for some people. More so when they're wearing gear and in the kimchi.
I was reading the report of the loss of Uncontrollable Urge in the Islands Race of 2013. The 3,850-lb carbon-fiber yacht of 32' LOA was reaching along the weather side of San Clemente Island in 25-30 kt under double-reefed main and a #1 genoa. The carbon rudder post snapped off at the hull leaving the boat w/o steering, and making leeway toward the rocky shores of the island just over 2 n. mi. distant. The skipper declined assistance thinking that they would get the boat under control with makeshift steering but the crew could not. Fairly late when it was evident that the boat was going ashore they decided to deploy the raft which was a canister type (Winslow Ultralight Offshore 6-man life raft). They threw it over and it inflated but the crew could not pull it back to the boat to board it. The boat then rolled hard (losing part of her rig) where the shock force caused the painter to snap at the "weak link", so they lost the raft. Apparently, these painters are designed to part near the attachment point on the raft if reaching a certain force. I suppose it's so the raft does not go down with the yacht if it is still hitched to it when it sinks. So, if it cannot be boarded soon after inflating, it could be lost!!
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God bless you west coast sailors and your rocky shores. I don't know how much good a raft would do you when your are blowing up on a sharp lee shore. Here is my plan courtesy of Capt. Mike Keyworth :
Thanks for the video; quite informative on the use of the drogue for steering. If my quadrant cables failed I'd switch on the autopilot (hydraulic arm to rudder post below decks) and break out the emergency tiller as a back-up to that. In fact, that's how I've instructed me mate and crew in such eventuality. If the rudder itself falls, or is knocked, off, I admit to not having anything aboard for steering except some buckets that I might be able to jury rig to mimic the effect of a drogue. I imagine that would work only in mild conditions. Also, it's not all rocks around here. We have some very nice sand beaches spanning most of the coastline from Dana Pt to Imperial Beach in Southern California. But they do get hammered by surf; the boats would still be totally lost although the crews could probably get ashore.
We had to deploy the emergency tiller on a 37' Hunter a number of years ago after the wheel chain separated from the cables. Even with the sails down, and under power it took my sailing partner (another 200lb dude) and me with our feet on either side of the ET to steer the boat, and not easily. Eventually I rigged docklines running to the primaries and used a winch handle to steer the boat. Very enlightening. Those emergency tillers have a very low leverage moment arm. Reminds me, I need to practice on my current boat.