How to Use a Life Raft

For an off shore boater, a life raft is the ultimate insurance policy. Before you leave the shore, make sure you have one. It may not be legally required for all boats; but you should have one. Read on to learn how to use it.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

1. Begin by making an objective assessment of your needs. Where do you plan to go boating, near shipping lanes and fishing grounds or are you preparing to cruise to some of the world’s more isolated areas? Life rafts are broken into three types, coastal, offshore and ocean going. Coastal rafts will get you through a day, offshore rafts to about a week, and ocean going for about a month. They have different capabilities and costs.

2. Decide on your buoyancy needs. Buoyancy tubes for coastal rafts have one tube with two chambers to prevent deflating, while ocean going rafts have increased freeboard to prevent swamping and double tubes. In ocean going rafts the second tube should be able to support 2/3 of the raft's rated capacity in case of a puncture.

3. Ballast is important. Most rafts use water filled ballast pockets (see photo) and a cone shaped sea anchor on a rode to prevent capsizing. The sea anchor also serves to turn the raft away from oncoming waves.

4. You’ll need a means of manual inflation. Temperature changes will cause the gas to expand and contract, so you’ll have to top off periodically. Oral inflation tubes are difficult to use unless you have Louis Armstrong’s lungs. Foot pumps are hard to compress properly on a rubber floor, so choose a hand held accordion style pump instead

5. Canopies protect survivors from the elements, but they can contribute to claustrophobia and sea sickness. The better canopies have large entrance ways and portals to allow the rubber smell to escape and give a reference line for the horizon to help calm "mal de mer." Although the exterior will be bright orange, a blue interior will be easier on the eyes. Double layer floors will prevent body heat loss to the ocean.

6. Life rafts will store in a case with a handle. Secure one in a handy spot below deck until needed. It should be next to your abandon ship bags ready to go with essentials. Be sure that the bags actually do float as advertised.

7. Before inflating your raft in an emergency be sure to affix one end of your painter to your boat so the raft doesn’t drift away. You’ll have to pull a lot of line to inflate it.

8. Get a life raft that is big enough for you entire contingent of crew and passengers. Capacity estimates are based on providing only four square feet of space per person, hardly enough for long term comfort.

9. Your raft should meet International Convention for the Safety of Life At Sea standards (SOLAS).

10. Make sure that your raft is equipped with an Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon (EPIRB) so that you can be found. It's also good to a water maker, GPS and extra fishing gear.

Tips & Warnings

• Rafts should be inspected and serviced annually by certified technicians. Don’t simply pull the inflation cord to see if it works. The cold nitrogen or CO2 used to inflate a raft is hard on raft material and will shorten its useful life. Have it blown up with compressed air and checked that way. Expect to spend more on maintenance as the raft ages. At its fifth year, the raft should be inflated with the canister and the flares and water replaced. If you buy a used life raft, have it re-certified before relying on it.