Hi From New Member And A Couple Of Q's

[jacquiee]

Hi, I'm a new member and wanted to say hi to all. We are based in Brisbane and live aboard a 53 ft Samson C Breeze. We are doing her up at the moment. That leads me to my question, we have come across a lift raft for a good price. It is a Givens bouy Type 8AY-OS. It was last serviced in December 2005. Does anyone have any experience with this brand or can offer advice on what to look for if buying 2nd hand...questions to ask the owner?

Thanks

Jacquie

[wiskun]

Hi to you too. Wow, very seldom we see the same boat as us. We also have a Samson c-breeze. We sailed out of Vancouver BC in 2002 and we are now in Samal, Southern Philippines. We don't have the lift raft you are asking about, Givens bouy Type 8AY-OS, sorry. But we had ours, purchased brand new in 2002, serviced in 2006 in NZ. At that time, it was not very expensive as yet, but we were told that the next service (2007) it would cost us over NZ$1000 because the battery for the emergency lights have to be changed and they are very expensive. I can't recall what else he told me. Anyway, this is all I know. Good luck.

[MMNETSEA]

Hello Jacqui,

Welcome to cruiser log - I guess you mean LIFE raft - at the present selling price for an 8 man life raft not a bad buy.

Questions that you will need to ask :-

#1. Where has it been/stored for the last 2years 10 months.

#2. Who serviced it in December 2005? Is the certificate of service available?

#3. What was done at that last service?

#4. Is the service company still in business?

#5. If the Company is not around anymore, who else can service and certify this life raft.

#6. What are the dimensions of the container? (will it fit on your boat)

What you will need to know :- will it inflate ? What are the seams like ? what else is in the container?

You need to ask yourself : How many people will I need a life raft for ?

IF you buy it from somewhere in Queensland you will need to get it to an authorised life raft service centre and have them survey it and service it, replacing all those items that should be replaced.

Richard

[alan]

Regarding second hand liferafts. The only real way to KNOW that it is in serviceable condition is to have it tested. My recently purchased yacht had an out of date liferaft, infact it hadn't been tested at all since new in 1988! The only way I could be sure it was worth having it onboard was to get it tested at a service centre, it would be foolish of me to rely on something like a liferaft, in such an event when you needed one, without Knowing it would do its job!

The deal is they test the liferaft, if it fails the inflation testing it is scrapped and you are charged nothing! If it passes, they issue a certificate, renew out of date flares, food & water sachets etc, and repack the raft and charge you accordingly.

I was charged $787.89 6 months ago by the Bulbecks in Newcastle.

Cheers, Alan

[seaescape]

Hi, I wish I had this wealth of knowledge when I bought my boat in Sydney. It had a 10 man raft that I thought was great, in that I didn't need to buy one.(save me thousands) It still needed to be tested but big deal it's all packed and I thought waterproof. So off to the test centre in Newcastle some three months later and it was found that the batteries had leaked through the whole thing and it was wrecked. So I guess what I'm saying is, get it test before you buy.

Happy Renno

Kevin

[jacquiee]

Thanks for all the great replies, its really helpful to have all these experienced people on hand. Richard, thanks for the list of questions. I wasnt aware how much they cost to service .

Wiskum, another C Breeze, we've never seen another one either. Are you ferro as well?

You seem to have done some miles... hope we can do the same. We plan to leave in 3 years heading up through indonesia.

Cheers,

Jacquie

[wiskun]

Originally Posted by jacquiee

Wiskum, another C Breeze, we've never seen another one either. Are you ferro as well?

You seem to have done some miles... hope we can do the same. We plan to leave in 3 years heading up through indonesia.

Yes - ferrocement. Have fun and do let us know how you're coming along in your preparations. We are just getting ready to haul-out - hopefully by end of next week.