Liferaft deployment & recertification

[Ed]

As some of you know, I bought a 1986 27 Seacraft Tournament back in September. It came with an Elliot 4 man liferaft that looked like it had seen better days.

Yesterday afternoon, I took the raft to Survival at Sea ( a division of Navtronics) near my house in York, Maine to see if the raft was worth saving. Since the release bands were already missing from the fiberglass cover, we removed the raft from the cover and found 6 acorns underneath. I guess my squirrel and mice friends were leaving me some extra rations in case I ever needed them.

Unsure what I was going to do with the raft (save it or throw in the towel), I asked if there was any downside to pulling the painter and deploying the raft. They said no, let her rip. So I did. The 27 year old raft that was last repacked in 2002, worked flawlessly and held air overnight.

For anyone that has never deployed a raft, I would suggest that you do it if given the chance. Knowing what to expect now makes me feel a lot more comfortable if I were ever in an emergency situation.

I am currently waiting on an estimate to recertify the raft.