Canvas Cover for Life Raft Canister

have you checked when the life raft was manufactured and when it was serviced last? That would be a priority for me over the enclosure.

Hi,

Very sound advice, the colour of the cannister should be an indication of the rafts age.

Rafts require regular inspection and servicing and do have a life cycle.

I understand that in the US while you might not be required to have one in some instances that of you do have one it must be in test.

If these auto-deploy, could such a canvas cover prevent it from deploying?

Hi,

Only if it is tied to the cradle or other part of the vessel.

Everything to do with the liferaft and it's ability to float free following hydrostatic release must under rules and should if it is your own private boat be able to be freed by release of the Hydrostatic release unit.

BTW, I ask because I've never worked a boat with one. So I'm learning here. It wouldn't surprise me to see it tied to the frame so the cover doesn't blow off. I've seen dumber moves where safety took a back seat to appearance. I also wonder though if, even if it didn't hinder release, could a cover keep it from opening? Again I'd have to imagine many would secure the cover so it won't blow off. Many people today seem to get all sorts of fancy equipement, I think so they can brag that they have it, without giving a thought to maintaining it or even learning about how it works.

Hi,

It would in my opinion need to be some pretty substantial cover to hinder the cannister opening.

The Painter ( cord hanging out of the case) should be secured to a strong point on the vessel with a weak link to allow it to release fully if it isn't cut by someone. The straps that hold the cannister down should be secured through one end of a Hydrostatic release, the other end is secured to the vessel.

The cover if secured by cord should be attached to the securing straps in such a way that once released the whole lot can get away.

The cannister floats towards the surface pulling out the painter as it goes, when it reaches it's end it pulls the CO2 Release mechanism on the bottle in the cannister, this releases the gas and the raft inflates blowing the cannister open in the process.

Thanks for that education K1W1. I'm sure many will benefit from it. Think I'd want to make sure that any cover I put on it was equipped with a weak point. Probably better still just paint it.

And chances are if you bought it on EBay it's annual inspection has expired. Take the raft to an authorized service facility for inspection and service. While they have the raft out of the container have the container painted nice and shiny new.
Return nice shiny container to the service facility and they will repackage the life raft if it was in good enough condition to pass inspection.

The cover on ours is like a white vinyl material and it just covers the shell and has a little shock cord around the base. This easily comes off under any circumstance I could come up with and keeps the bird crap and uv off it. Don't ask me where I got it.....can't remember. The raft is actually getting repacked now at about 1K every 3 years or so.

My boat has a 8 person Avon on it; big heavy sucker. It has a Stamoid cover on it which I used to take off when heading into open water. Ask the life raft servicer what they think.

If a life raft is installed on a boat that does not require one. Under USCG law it has to be certified when it's required to be.

I would not cover it with a canvas cover, it can trap humidity underneath the cover and cause the raft to rot. You can paint the fiberglass/plastic shell the raft is in, if so desired.....prep it right and use that spray paint designed for plastic.

Cheaping out on a piece of life safety equipment ... Always a smart move.

Cheaping out on what? If the liferaft manufacturer thought that a stamoid or vinyl cover was such a good idea, don't you think that they'd sell them for their liferafts?

I would recommend service and repacking as necessary to keep it up to date.

I would not cover a self deploying life raft with anything.

I would not want to be treading water waiting and waiting for the life raft to deploy if it got hung up on a canvass cover.

Any canvas shop would be easily able to make you one. The way I have seen them done was with Velcro on the corners that would hold it in a box shape.

I was referencing the part of your post in which you said that if the coast guard did not require there to be a life raft aboard, then there is no requirement for it to be certified.

Back to the original poster: you bought this thing on EBay. If it does not have a recent inspection it would behoove you to take it to an authorized service center to be inspected and serviced. What you have right now is a fiberglass box with no real way of knowing what you have on the inside.
I also highly recommend that when having rafts serviced you go to the service center and have a look at the features and design of your raft while it is inflated.

No. My post reads that if you have a liferaft then it must be certified even if there is NO USCG requirement that you have one.

Ahh, thanks for the clarification, I must have somehow misread your earlier posting.

CaptPKilbride makes an excellent point about attending the repack and learning what is involved in deploying a liferaft. Until I did that, I thought that the stainless pigtail that stuck out of the canister was just a trigger and if pulled just a bit that the thing would pop open, but as K1W1 illustrates, it is actually a painter that can be 50' long or more. Until you get to the end, nothing happens. It makes you wonder about all the stories you hear about the liferafts being deployed below decks at sea and at boat shows. Who is pulling out 50' of painter?
Out here on the West Coast, most boats that travel significantly have liferafts. Besides there being a good long wait for rescue if in Mexican waters or further South/West, hypothermia is a real danger when traveling North. Only one of the recreational boats I've run had Gumby suits. Incidentally, when buying a liferaft, it is a good idea to buy an "Offshore" model, as they have an inflatable floor to prevent body heat loss through the one layer of material between you and the sea that "Coastal" rafts have.
As well as learning how to deploy the raft, you'll be surprised at what else you find out, like that they often aren't right side up when deployed, how to right them, that they have sea anchors to help keep them upright when you're in them as well as reduce drift, where the emergency painter cutter knife is, how the food and water is packed, and what kind of signaling gear is aboard. Also at that time, you can arrange to have extra food and water stowed if there's room, or a GPS or an EPIRB. Besides, you can take the replaced flashlight batteries home and use them! That would also be the time to arrange to take the fiberglass covers away to have them painted, although the ID plates and current certification sticker will spoil the looks afterwards. You might also find out that the cover had no drain hole from the factory and that water had entered and rotted the raft. You'd find that out if you weren't there during repack, or that your raft had been recalled. They'd tell you.
One should hope that the repack would be done just as diligently if the technician didn't expect to see you at the next inflation test.
Back to the original point about a cover. I have seen them nicely camouflaged as deck boxes that no one could get them out of, covered in canvas, painted with logos and the boats colors, and inside compartments. I think that canvas covers with bungee waist cords or the velcro solutions are very good, since they wouldn't be likely to tangle with the painter or covers like a tied on type could. As for the covers opening with a canvas cover, there's not much to worry about. All of the liferaft canisters that I've had on the boats that I've run were actually held closed by stainless steel straps that break when the raft inflates, albeit at a weak point. There is a hole in the strap that leaves two areas of about one eighth inch width of stainless strap on each of the them that breaks. When repacked, the straps are cut off and replaced.
All of this brings to mind that your dingies should be tied down with a quick release or webbing with a knife nearby. Un-screwing three turnbuckles on stainless cable dingy tie downs is hard to do fast while the boat is sinking. I've seen that tie down method too many times. Besides using the dingy for life support, the more stuff in the debris field helps being found.