Liferaft System....?

Hi.

SOLAS can answer all these questions with the simple words "Float Free"

I am using a emergency PC ( my normal lappie got stage fright the day before I got going) and am on the road so I can't give you the exact extract at the moment.

There are several ways to do it that are both effective and elegant. Like K1W1 wrote, "float free" is the operative term.

Look at the picture of this boat and guess where the rafts are ...

http://www.yachtforums.com/features/t-recent-launch-7575m-feadship-ocean-victory-10389.html

This was also just recently discussed (w/photos) with Derecktor's Cakewalk...

http://www.yachtforums.com/forums/general-yachting-discussion/14134-derecktor-cakewalk-launched.html

Float free and peace of mind

Nothing better when you are the Master and you know, your liferafts will float free, no bs ..no fancy clips, catches .or backups...just shove them over or static release.. and there they are, doing what you wanted them to do...maybe the one who suggested those things are ugly, hide them...will be first one in...and full of praise because they actually floated free...SAFETY FIRST...

I agree totally. I would want my liferafts to float free with nothing in the way. What about mounting them on the middle of the hardtop where they wouldn't be seen from the dock below but still open with nothing in their way?

Hi,

The OP is asking about this for a 76 Metre yacht not 76 Ft. There isn't normally much of what you would normally call a hardtop on one of these that isn't already occupied by antennas and Sat Domes.

A Yacht that size will probably need to carry at least 2 x 25 man rafts each side plus maybe a spare that could be deployed to either side somewhere else.

I am aware of the size. It depends on the design of the yacht, some 76 meter yachts do have a large hardtop, some not. There are plenty of ways to mount 25 men liferafts on a 76 meter yacht without it detracting from looks. I have seen cutouts into the superstructure that conceals the sides of the liferaft, yet it can float freely. If you are involved in the build process, they can pretty much do whatever you want in that aspect for provisions for liferafts.

Life raft locker.

This picture by Ron Raffety should answer many questions:

www.flickr.com/photos/ronraffety/5152831005/sizes/l/in/photostream/

Seems that the door behind the name is the locker for the life rafts. I see no clues as to how the door activates, but it is quite obvious what is behind "Door Number 1".

Rafts are heavy and have to be secured in a way that allows a single person to launch them. A "snug" cutout might make it impossible to remove, much less carry to the rail. They do have to go over the side after all.

Another consideration for bow mounted rafts is that they have a painter line attached to the yacht structure that both opens the raft and holds it alongside for boarding. There are few enough places to board a raft from a yacht as is and given the freeboard of large yachts in the bow area, tending a painter and providing access for children, injured or "less enabled" passengers or crew is problematic already. I believe this is an issue that neither flag or class, and certainly not stylists, really like to talk about.

There is more to those rafts than a requirement to carry them or a desire to hide them.

Hi,

I would like to see on Cakewalk how the rafts are actually got out of that space, I do not think it would be very easy to get them out on the Portside if she were listing 25 degs to Stbd and it was deadship in the middle of the night with heavy rain and spray.

I am being a prophet of doom here because simple put most people don't abandon ship in calm weather in daylight.

Hear hear ... the same applies to rescue boats on the bow. This is a gallows waiting to be populated.

Liferaft's

Has anyone here ever had to abandon ship for real?

Hi,

I think you will find that not a lot of the current crop here have, myself included, in the real world a lot have but sadly not all have lived to talk about it.

Here are a few examples.

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/SGE67G0KJ.htm

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-11507261

http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/titanic.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MS_Sea_Diamond

There are a lot more to be found on www.google.com

Unless Carl is using a Chicago voter's registration style of membership database, not many of the dead ones have an active account.

Hi,

I must have misread the original question, I have since modified my reply.