New life raft 30% lighter - easier for short-handed cruising sailors

This example is the 10 man version SW

Neat and light to launch © SW

Racing sailors may want their life rafts to be light to go faster, but the typical two-handed cruising crew or the solo sailor has a much better reason for wanting the life raft to be light - to make it easier to get it off the deck into the water in a minimum of time.

So the new Ultralite life raft, the new addition to the Ocean Safety range of rafts, may end up being of great interest to the cruising sailor.

Using the latest composite technology, the Ultralite life raft is designed to save up to one third in terms of weight, with its carbon container and carbon fibre wrapped aluminium cylinder.

The Ultralite was designed, of course, for the racing sailor or the naval architect designing a vessel to a very specific target weight for increased performance. However, that shouldn't deter the cruising sailor if the item is within one's budget.

To give you an idea, with a survival pack for up to 24 hours, a 10 person canister Ultralite raft, is the equivalent weight of a conventional 4 person valise liferaft. A six person Ultralite life raft weighs just 28kg, not much more than a heavy suitcase, as opposed to 40kg for a normal Ocean life raft.

(Having said that, my own experience with adrenaline-charging incidents at sea is that one suddenly becomes very very strong in times of emergency)

If budget is an issue,as it almost inevitably is with the cruising sailor, then you could consider using a grp canister instead of the carbon container, which makes the unit weigh 2.5 kg more, but provides a cost saving. As time goes by items constructed of new materials typically become cheaper anyway.

This new Ocean Safety Ultralite liferaft range already carries the Royal Yachting Association (RYA) Tick Mark, which denotes high standards of compliance with the ISO International Standards 9650 parts 1 and 3 and illustrates that an RYA Certificate of Type Examination has been issued following third party assessment.

You can inquire further about availability and prices by contacting:

Holly Callus - Ocean Safety
marketing@oceansafety.com
+44 (0) 2380 720800