What Is a Liferaft?
The inflatable refuge in a boat-abandonment moment - carried for years without ever being opened, but effectively useless once the service date has passed.
A liferaft is a closed survival raft with a canopy, which inflates from a CO2 cylinder when the painter is pulled in an emergency. It is a one-job piece of kit: on the worst day, it must work perfectly, once. The price of that is servicing.
The raft’s fabric, cylinder and contents are opened up and tested at an authorised station at regular intervals, typically every 1-3 years. Carrying a liferaft whose service is overdue is the same as carrying an empty fire extinguisher: it takes up space, gives reassurance, but won’t do the job.
Stowage and checks
Access: the raft must be reachable within 10 seconds, stowed where one person can lift and launch it, with the painter always secured to the boat.
Service date: this is one of the first labels checked during a purchase survey; if it has expired, a plan should be made straight away.
Capacity: taking 8 people aboard a 4-person liferaft is a physics problem before it is a paperwork problem.
Add one line to the crew briefing: 'The liferaft is here; it inflates when the painter is pulled, and it is not boarded unless we leave the boat.' The golden rule is clear enough: you do not go down into the liferaft; you get into it. Until the boat sinks, the best liferaft is still the boat.