READ THE

REVIEWINSIDE!

TheOCEAN ISO

Liferaft

4 stars - “This raft was well made and much thought has been given todesign to make it user-friendly.

We felt we could buy this with confidence.”Sailing Today December 2011 issue

Liferaft g

uide

included in

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We spend a fortune on them and for some their lives depend onthem, but what do we actually know about our liferaft and whatcan we expect when we tentatively yank that painter to set it off?Duncan Kent and the doughty ST test team took six 4-manliferafts available on the UK market today and set them off in thesea to find out how they fared.

It seems strange to even be discussing thisquestion, but despite not being mandatoryfor small, private leisure craft in the UK,going to sea without a liferaft would surely befoolhardy to say the least. ‘No liferaft, no life’is the wry comment made by Josh Jones,who, together with his wife and children,survived the sinking of their yacht in theAtlantic by taking to their liferaft for 18 hoursuntil they were rescued.

I must say I was flabbergasted when,during our trials, some curious onlookersgathered to peer inside one of the inflated

rafts. ‘We’ve never seen one of theseinflated’ the lady said, as she pushed hertrolley full of gear down the pontoon. ‘Doyou have a liferaft yourself?’ one of our testteam asked. ‘Oh no,’ she said dismissively,‘ours is only a 30ft boat.’ Can someoneplease explain to me the logic behind thatcomment?

I treat the liferaft as a vital piece of safetyequipment – and not just as a ‘final resort’in t=he event of a disaster. I have always toldmy wife or crew that, should someone falloverboard (especially me when sailing justwith my petite wife) and you are unable to

get them safely back on board within a fewminutes, launch the liferaft. A casualty whois in full oilskins and boots can be extremelyheavy – we weighed one our guys before andafter being in the water with full oilies and hisweight increased by 1½ stone (nearly 10kg)– so in my case that’s 16½ stone (105kg)my 5ft/7-stone wife would be expected toheave back on board! Whereas, if she’slaunched the liferaft I have somewhere I canclimb into myself to keep out of the wind andwater until the rescue services arrive. What’sa repack job when the alternative ispossible hypothermia or worse!

LIFERAFT PACKCONTENTSOne of the perpetual problems for liferaftmanufacturers is the survival packs containedwithin the raft itself. These have to be prettybasic to avoid extra weight, but they mustcontain the bare essentials for survival andthe ability to signal to a passing vessel oraircraft. The contents of these packs varyconsiderably and depend on what type ofsailing you plan to do, or more importantly,how far you are likely to sail from help.

If you’re only ever going to potter alongor anchorage, then the pack contents ofyour raft can be minimalist. In fact the packsavailable for the ISO-approved liferaft wetested were all ‘Under 24-hour’, intendedfor inshore or coastal sailing – ie. when you

torch, six hand flares, 1.5ltr freshwater perperson and 10,000 kJ of food pp, althoughsome or all of these extra items may besupplied in a separate, floating grab bag.

Equipment packs must be protectedagainst water infiltration and easily accessiblewhile wearing gloves.

All rafts must also havea floating safetyknife

would be unlikely to have to spend morethan 24 hours in the liferaft before beingrescued. These contain a bailer, sponge, pairof paddles, whistle, torch, signalling mirror,seasickness pills, sick bags, 2 red parachuteflares, 3 red hand flares, repair kit and apump. 24-hour+ kits also contain twothermal blankets, a 1st Aid kit, a second

on the ocean, well away from busy shippinglanes, are most likely want to buy one of theSOLAS offshore packs, which will containextra water, flares, fishingequipment etc. Somemanufacturers will packwhatever extras you deemappropriate, within reason,and provided it doesn’tbreak any regulations orendanger the raft itself.However, most bluewatercruisers will carry one ormore ‘grab bags’ for extrakit.

with lanyard mounted on the top tube nearthe entrance.

For those making extended offshorepassages or planning to spend long periods

Picking up a slippery 35kg liferaft canisteris no easy task to start with, but getting it

to, up and over the rails is almost impossiblefor someone of a light build. So it’s worthconsidering how you plan to launch it well inadvance and devise some way that it can bedone by anyone on board, safely and easily.

The most obvious answer is to fit it intoa sturdy metal frame specifically designed

for your liferaft and mount it outboard of thestern rail so that it ‘falls’ overboard, ratherthan lifting and throwing. The downside tothis type of mounting is that, in the event of afire, you’ll want to launch it on the windwardside, whereas dropping it off the back mightallow it to drift downwind.

A more common way of stowing it on asailing yacht is by lashing it down to chocks

on the coachroof. Althoughthis might look ideal, you’ll stillneed to heave it about beforelaunching, unless you’re braveenough to wait for it to floatoff! Also, the danger of thepainter becoming entangledwith the rigging and guardrailis greater this way, and

besides, you might just

want to launch it in advance and keep ittied alongside for peace of mind while youcontinue to try to save your vessel.

It might sound blatently obvious, butplease don’t put your liferaft into the bottomof a cockpit locker. You may think no onewould be so silly, but I’ve seen it done afrightening number of times – especially withvalise-type containers. I’ve even found oneunder a huge pile of other gear includingan inflatable dinghy, outboard, spare fueljerrycans and the like – imagine trying tomove that lot when the spreaders are hittingthe waves and your kids are looking to youas their saviour. Please don’t do it!

Oh, and one last piece of advice that I’msure you already know, but is always worthrepeating – make sure the painter/trigger lineis attached to the boat at all times.

MOUNTING /STOWAGE

When you’ve finally managed to get thebeast in the water it is surprisingly hard

to set it off pulling on the painter. Firstly, it willhave a 10m-long line that has to all be pulled

out of the container before you get to thetrigger point – indicated by a red mark on theline. Then it requires a good, sharp tug to fireit off. Some panic when they see all the line

coming out and think somehow it’s becomedetached – it hasn’t and is very unlikely toeither, so persevere and do make sure theother end is attached to the boat.

LAUNCHING

STABILITY

When we started launching the rafts Iwas concerned about how long some

of them took to inflate and sometimes thecanopy didn’t rise completely for a minute orso. Initially I thought this was quite worrying,

and might even be a fault, but raising thematter later with Chris from Ocean Safety,he told me that this was intentional, as youdon’t want the canopy fully raised up until theballast bags have had a chance to at least

part fill. This makes a lot of sense – especiallyas the rafts inflate with their doors wide opento assist boarding, which creates a lot ofwindage and could easily blow the raft offdownwind or invert it.

INFLATION

Since the Fastnet Race disaster in 1979,when many of the liferafts launched

either blew away in the gale or sank, thedesign and manufacture of leisure craftliferafts has been improved enormously. Thebiggest single improvement to stability mustbe the ballast bags – large nylon (or similar)bags attached to the bottom of the raft thatstart to fill with water as soon as the raft islaunched and stop it from flipping upsidedown in the wind and steep waves.

We noted in this test that not allmanufacturers have gone down the sameroute on bag design, capacity or quantity.Some have chosen to have fewer bags buta greater capacity in each, others have morebags to spread the ballast across the raft.Either way, the two most significantelements we noted during these trials wasthe size of the water inlets and whether thebags were weighted or not. If the inlets aretoo small they take too long to fill, by which

BALLAST BAGS

time the raft might have blown a distance.Also, if they’re not properly weighted, thebags tend to float up against the bottom ofthe raft, blocking the inlets and hence takingages to fill. Some of these bags can take upto 60-litres of water – that’s 60kg/132lbweight in each bag! Clearly, how they areattached to the raft is of the utmostimportance and weak stitching, of the kindwe later discovered in some boardingarrangements, would be disastrous as theballast bags are the most important factor inthe stability of the liferaft.

Another common problem with olderdesigns of raft was the lack of a drogue

– or sea anchor as it is sometimes called.These are like miniature parachutes – usuallyconical in shape with a small hole in the apexand attached to the raft with a long length(usually 30m or so) of line or webbing. Thepurpose of the drogue is to slow the driftrate of the raft so that you’re not whiskedaway from the point at which you made yourdistress call and where the rescue servicesare likely to start searching.

Sometimes these drogues are packed onthe outside of the raft, so that they deploy onlaunch. Others are inside for the occupantsto launch manually when they deem fit. Atfirst I though the former was the obvioussolution, but then when I thought about itand the chaos that might be happening allaround in a wreck situation and decided thatit would be better to have one less long linefloating around whilst you’re still close to theabandoned boat in case it catches up withsomething and takes the raft down as well.

There is also another good reason not tolaunch the drogue immediately – if the vesselyou’re abandoning is on fire you’ll want todrift away as far and as fast as possible –especially if you’re downwind of it and atarget for burning airborne debris!

One other thing to note about drogues – inmost cases they are attached to the backof the raft on the tubes in order to keepthe entrance door pointing downwind andenabling you to look out without taking hugeamounts of spray or waves on board.

DROGUES

During the last liferaft trials I carried outseveral of them inflated upside-down.

This time none did, but we turned them overanyway (after emptying their ballast bags)to see how easily they could be righted. Allthe rafts have markings to indicate whereyou should climb onto it to right it, but if indoubt it is always the side on which the gasinflation canister is mounted. There will be aring or line attached to the bottom for youto grab and pull the raft the right way up.Unfortunately, it almost always lands on top

of you when you dothis, but we foundthem all to be easilyrighted if approachedfrom the correctside. Mind you,these were only fairlylightweight 4-manrafts – the bigger rafts do require much moreeffort, so the correct approach is important.

We discovered that long strap or line rightacross the bottom is a lot easier to grab than

a small loop of webbing somewhere and Ifail to see how you’re going to even see it inthe dark. Maybe this should be some sort ofluminous line?

UPSIDE-DOWN

Having some form of raft entry systemcertainly makes it easier to board from thewater when soaking wet and wearing a fullyinflated lifejacket. Having just a couple ofwebbing steps doesn’t really cut the mustard– especially if they’re not particularly wellweighted, when they will tend to float upunderneath the liferaft.It is also essential to have some type ofhandhold to grab and pull yourself up and

into the raft. Some we tried had a simplestrap, which isn’t the easiest to use whenyou’re loaded down with water. Others had astout webbing ladder, which was much betterfor getting in, but then rather restricted theavailable space inside until it was detached.

Those with a chute/ramp or inflatable stepfared the best and, had the person in thewater been close to exhaustion, would proveconsiderably easier for others to help them

up and into the raft without the casualty’sown assistance.

We also found it important that the painterdidn’t obstruct the boarding area and wasinstead slightly offset. One raft we launchedhad a bridle that attached either side of thedoorway, which proved almost impossibleto get around and could cause someone topanic if they got their legs entwined with thedouble line.

BOARDING

All the liferafts tested had reflective, insulatedfoam/foil floors. Most were sewn into orglued to the actual base material, otherswere attached with Velcro or similar. Wequickly discovered that the loosely attachedfloors soon became crumpled into a heapunder our feet as we scrambled to get in.

During my last trials most of thefloors were inflatable, which had certainadvantages. Firstly they keep you warm andprovide excellent insulation from the cold raftbottom. Secondly, they allow any water in

the raft to ‘disappear’ around the edges so that you weren’t sittingin a wet puddle all the time.

I believe that most of the ocean models still have this feature, butit’s not considered necessary for the lower-spec rafts.

FLOORS

Made from tough ripstop-type nylon, mostof the canopies were attached firmly onthree sides, with the fourth open to a degreefor entry. Some have wide doors that zipclosed, others are secured just by pulling anelasticated hem over the tube and held firmwith Velcro pads. While the latter seemed

okay during our trial, I’m not so sure howwell this would hold up in a gale with wavesbreaking over the door.

All the rafts had observation hatchesand rainwater collection gulleys and allwere topped with a flashing light of varyingintensity – some LED, others standard bulbs.

One was seawater powered, but most hadsealed dry-cell batteries so their life is limited.The exterior lights were dislodged on two outof the six tested, with one literally hanging offits mounting, making it virtually invisible fromone side. Each had an interior light as well,which could be turned off to save power.

CANOPIES

The specification for these is laid down in thestandard, which specifies the need for morethan one chamber and ability to support four75kg crew when flooded, without distorting.Most tubes are made from butyl rubberor a type of PVC fabric with a tough nylon

or polyurethane outer casing to withstandabrasion. Seams are welded or glued, eitherof which can be very strong.

Most had an integral tube to hold thecanopy up, but one had a separate chamberjoined to the upper tube by a plastic link.

It didn’t appear to leak, but it looked veryvulnerable and allowed the canopy tocollapse very easily when leant against.

The top-up valves were different on eachraft, but some looked little different to astandard inflatable dinghy valve.

TUBES

REGULATIONS AND APPROVALSThe regulations concerning standards forliferaft manufacture have changed a lot overthe past three decades and can appear quiteconfusing to the layman. UK leisure sailorscan actually buy what they like with regard tosafety kit and don’t necessarily have to carryapproved equipment on board. Saying that,we can’t imagine anyone would take a riskwith such an important part of the vessel’sinventory, so we chose to only test liferaftscarrying full ISO 9650 Type 1 approval.

ISO 9650ISO 9650 is the latest EU liferaft typeapproval for leisure vessels under 24mLOA carrying up to 12 persons in open seaconditions. These are not SOLAS approvedliferafts, which are mandatory equipment forcommercial vessels.

There are two types of ISO 9650 liferaft –

ISO 9650 Type 1 for open ocean navigationand adapted for the risks associated withlong voyages including high seas and heavywinds. ISO 9650 Type 2 rafts are for coastaland inshore waters and adapted for the risksassociated with more sheltered waters wheremoderate conditions may be met.

Other names/acronyms you’ll regularlyhear mentioned with regard to liferaftapprovals are ORC, RORC and ISAF. Thefirst two organisations formed the earlierstandards that they deemed the minimumwhen taking part in one of its offshore racesand are not official IMO type approvals. TheORC was absorbed by ISAF in 2004 and,together with the MCA, RYA and severalother notable authorities, were consultedheavily when ISO 9650 was being created.

ISO 9650 lays down a standard forconstruction and recommends a number of

essential features for any liferaft used on asmall leisure craft. However, this standardis self-certified and there is no apparentinspection procedure for manufacturersclaiming to build to this approval standard.

For instance, one of the points raisedin the type approval is that there shouldbe an easy boarding mechanism. Somehave interpreted this as a simple webbingladder, others incorporate a clever inflatableboarding ramp or chute. One factor thatseems to have been accepted by most ofthe manufacturers, although not specificallycovered in the standard, is not attaching thegas cylinder and firing mechanism to thefront of the raft as it could obstruct entry andmight be damaged when climbing aboard,causing a possible pressure leak. Only onemaker of rafts in our trial appeared to haveignored this rational consensus.

COMMON ACRONYMS

ISO – International Standards OrganisationISAF – International Sailing FederationORC – Ocean Racing CouncilRORC – Royal Ocean Racing ClubRYA – Royal Yachting Association

MCA – Maritime and Coastguard AgencyIMO – International Maritime Organisation– a UN agency subscribed to by 162Governments that deals primarily with thesafety of shipping.SOLAS – Safety Of Lives At Sea – This isthe International Convention for the Safety of

Lives at Sea and it provides strict standardsfor marine safety equipment includingliferafts, which, though drafted with vessels ofover 24m LOA in mind, includes very manysensible design features that are equallyapplicable to smaller craft, especially if theseare ocean-going.

LIFERAFT TRIALS

lifejacket, was trying to negotiate their wayaround the ridiculous bridle on the end of thepainter, which basically barred you fromApproaching the entrance. Our guysstruggled, pulling hard on the interior handladder, which again in n the dark. promptlyripped away from the tubes both sides! Thiswhole rigmarole would have been prettyterrifying had this happened in the dark on astormy night with maybe young kids and anon-swimmer or two thrown in. A redesign isa must, I feel, or this could end in a disaster.

Apart from the boarding problem the restof the construction looks a little on the weakside, with knots of varying types holding thelifelines to the tubes. Unlike the other rafts,the drogue is attached to the front of the raft,which means the doorway is held towardsthe wind/weather once it is deployed.

SEAGO – ISO

This is the cheapest of the rafts we tested and is probably the most purchasedliferaft in the UK at the moment. Certainly thethree chandlers with whom I enquired all saidthey sell more Seagos than any other brand.Worryingly, this is probably more to do withprice than anything else.The test started well with the raft openingand its bright orange canopy and black tubesfilling fairly slowly. It has a full-width door,which is secured well by zips and Velcropatches when closed, and an inflatable step.It all started going wrong when our team inthe water tried to climb aboard. The inflatablestep is not so easy to get your knees onto asa chute-style step and especially when thereis no ladder to get up onto it. But what gaveour boarders so much trouble, bearing inmind they were kitted out with a fully-inflated

The three smallLEDs in theexterior light alsolooked fairly dim,although wedidn’t check it. On the plus side the foil floorwas fixed down, the rainwater collector pipehad a bag supplied and the paddles werelong enough to be useful.

Verdic t

None of our testers said would be happyif they’d purchased one of these and mostfeared the weaknesses in the hand ladderand step webbing attachments might berepeated elsewhere in the raft.

Contact: Seago Yachting 01825 873567www.seagoyachting.co.uk

One of the lower cost rafts, the Plastimois bright orange with two huge retro-

reflective patches on the top. It has a verywide entrance, which, although it helps whenboarding, is more likely to be breached by alarge wave when first launched. The inflationcanister is mounted below the door, whichmakes it vulnerable to damage when peoplescramble aboard using it as a step andfurthermore this heavy steel bottlemight also prove a riskto the personin thewater.

Four large, weighted ballast bags hold itsteady in the water and she is easy enoughto right when upside down using the grabline provided. Boarding was not particularlyeasy thanks to the lack of a long ladder orline inside. So, though it does have weightedwebbing steps on the outside and a singlegrab strop on the inside of the tube at thefront, you have to stretch for the webbinglines around the inside of the tubes to pull

yourself in. Once inside the large canopyis closed by hooking the elasticated

hem around the upper tube andaligning the three Velcro patches. The

observation hatchis zipped, which isuseful and there isa good light fittinginside that comeson automatically,but can be manuallyswitched off to savethe battery.

The Plastimo’s

tubes are unusual in that they’re double-skinned. The inner, inflated tube is made frompolyurethane and it has an outer casing of1100 Decitex PVC zipped up onto it, which issaid to offer extreme resistance to abrasion.It probably works well in practice, but I wouldworry about the zip coming apart and sharpstuff touching the more fragile inner tube.

The canopy tube is separate to the maintubes and is attached by what looks to bea rather susceptible plastic connector, butworse – we discovered a small air leak whenwe unscrewed the cap of the top-up valve inthe upper tube. Although the cap itself has aninner seal that was preventing the tube fromdeflating, it was quite worrying nevertheless.

Verdict

This raft looked and felt like a budget modeland we weren’t too keen on the canopysupport arrangement – or the leaking valve!

contact: Navimo Ltd www.navimo.com

PLASTIMO – TRANS

CREWSAVER – OCEAN ISO

This is a brand new liferaft just launchedby Survitec – an organisation formed by

combining a number of different companies(Crewsaver, RFD, Beaufort & Cosalt toname a few) that have all been renownedfor providing top-quality safety equipmentin the past. Being so new it had no brandname (announced as Crewsaver Ocean ISOjust before going to print) and it came in amakeshift, though fully operational, canister.

We were expecting something a littledifferent with this raft, but surprisingly it hadthe looks of an older style model and wasn’thighly visible in its plain red colour for bothtubes and canopy. It did look quite tough,though, and we liked the way the canopywas firmly attached to the tubes.

The entrance is quite a small door, whichwe thought was actually a benefit and wouldkeep the waves and spray out. It also hasa double zip fastener, which is helpfullyuncomplicated. Our guys in the water hadno real trouble boarding, despite the ladderbeing attached with Velcro and it not beingimmediately obvious how to release it. Thewebbing steps are not weighted, surprisingly,

but there isa wide upperstep and agrab strapattached toa rather thinline inside. Aladder wouldbe better.

Underneathare just twoballast bagsmade fromtough, heavyPVC, which ismaybe why they’re not weighted, and there’sa webbing ladder across the bottom to aidrighting it from the upside-down position.

The hole in the rain gutter was quite highup and the canvas reservoir tended to closeit off anyway – not that you’re likely to need itin a sub-24-hour raft! The paddles appearedto be unattached and very short, and the foilfloor was loose, which rucked up into a messthe moment our two guys climbed on board.

This was the only raft in the test with a

self-deploying drogue.

Verdic t

There were a lot of good points we likedabout this raft, namely the tough constructionand effective boarding system, but severalfurther improvements could be made.

contact: Survitecwww.survitecgroup.com

SERVICINGAt one time, before all the liferafts were vacuum packed, theyused to have to be serviced every year, which was expensive andtedious. Nowadays most have extended the service interval totwo years. In fact, the packing is so good these days that the onlyreason it requires a service at two years is to replace out of dateflares. I have taken a vacuum sealed liferaft to be serviced after itwas left on deck for eight years – and the raft itself was immaculate.

Although servicing can be expensive, I assure you it will seemcheap the day you need it in anger! There was some suggestionmade in a web forum once that you might attempt to serviceyour liferaft yourself. Apart from it being unlikely that you’d havea suitable machine and without it you’d find it impossible to getit back into the container. What’s more your insurance would be

invalidated, along with any outstanding warranty on the raft.If you get the chance to watch your liferaft being serviced, do

grab the opportunity to familiarise yourself with it while you can.Alternatively, some manufacturers produce DVDs to show you

what to expect should you have the misfortune to need it.

CONCLUSIONIt is a big worry that we discovered such a difference between thebest and worst of the half-dozen liferafts we tested and the only realconclusion we could come to was that you get what you pay for! Iwould venture to suggest that, if you can’t take a look at one of thecheaper rafts you might be considering actually inflated, then don’tbuy it. The manufacturers that have nothing to hide will usually bepleased to let you inspect one of its products during services.

CREWSAVER SEAGO OCEAN SAFETY PLASTIMOMODEL OCEAN ISO ISO OCEAN ISO TRANSOCEAN 4PRICE (VALISE/CANNISTER)VALISE SIZE 78 x 28 39cm 73 x 47 x 35cm 67 x 42 x 24cm 74 x 46 x 27cmVALISE WEIGHT 24kg 34kg 28kg 30kgCANISTER SIZE 74 x 54 x 26cm 79 x 53 x 35cm 71 x 49 x 23cm 74 x 47.5 x 26.5cmCANISTER WEIGHT 30kg 45kg 34kg 33.5kgTUBE FABRIC PU/nylon Butyl rubber PU/nylon PU/nylonSEAMS Glued Glued Welded WeldedDOOR F ASTENING Zip Zip/Velcro Zip/Velcro elastic/VelcroBALLAST BAGS 2 x 84ltr 4 x 55ltr 4 x 75ltr 4 x 55ltrENTRY SYSTEM Chute/ladder step/ladder Chute/step ladderFLOOR loose fixed foam/foil fixed foam/foil fixed foam/foilREFLECTIVE TAPES 4 strips 6 strips 8 strips 3 strips + 2 patchesLIGHT POWER li-ion cell li-ion cell li-ion cell li-ion cellRAIN CATCHER Y Y Y YSERVICE INTERVAL 2yrs 2yrs 2yrs 2yrsWARRANTY 12yrs 12yrs 12yrs 12yrs

SPECIFICATIONS

substantially attachedwith reinforcing patchesand the thermo-reflectivefloor is bonded down.

Verdict

This raft was well madeand much thought hadbeen given to the designto make it user-friendly.We felt we could buythis with confidence.

contact:Marinesafe Australia07 3808 1988www.marinesafe.com.au

LIFERAFT TRIALS

OCEAN SAFETY – OCEAN ISOO cean Safety supplies and servicesmarine safety equipment throughout the UK,both for the leisure and commercial marketso, as you would expect, its Ocean ISOliferaft is substantially constructed. It hasfour substantial 75ltr, weighted ballast bagsthat filled rapidly and its hi-vis orangecanopy and bright yellow PU/nylon laminatetubes make it stand out well on the water.It was one of the easiest to board from thewater, thanks to a simple chute-style entry,weighted step and full-length internal grabladder. The door covers three-quarters ofthe front and has a single central zip with aVelcro seal strip at the bottom.The drogue has to be manually launchedfrom inside and is attached to the rear of theraft to ensure the door is left facingdownwind. All the grab lines and ladders are