Life raft recertification

Liferaft hire

In the uk one can hire life-rafts. Mine is a 10 man MCA cat 2 and it's about £300 a year ..at the ned of the 3rd year you return it and they send you another fully serviced one...I keep the date-expired one I bought 5 years ago as a spare

That sounds like a pretty good deal.

Really? That surprises me, and that really really sucks. Crapshoot is one of the last words I want associated with my survival prospects! What then does the re certification entail? Is it all a scam? I mean, when I think of something as certified, or recertified, I'm thinking that it means this 'something' is more likely than not to work as advertised.

Why would anyone pay a dime to have something recertified if there is no assurance it would work? How do these "re-packers" stay in business?

Sounds like one is better off getting a new one or don't have one at all. At least there would be no false expectations.

Marmot

Is your assessment based on anecdotal evidence or is there published data of any sort to support your assertion? I am very interested in any amplifying information regarding the reliability of repacked life rafts as it could absolutely alter my current course.

Thanks,

John

Hi,

I would also be interested in knowing more about this.

Not many liferafts ever actually get deployed compared to the number that get serviced. One that fails to operate when serviced probably gets a line in the service record, one that fails to operate in the ocean probably causes a line in an obituary column.