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I bought a 8 person zodiac offshore life raft on sale last december.
When I ordered the overpriced cradle, it didn’t include all the parts listed in the ad and am sending it back.My question is how everyone else mounts their life raft? Do you have mounts custom made, or buy a stock cradle. How did you drill through the deck and deal with the interior liner. What about theft, and how do you lock it down?
Any advice would be appreciated.
Can’t sail right now with oil slick heading our way.
Thanks Adam
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Hi Adam,
Most container rafts come with a cradle – but that doesn’t preclude making
one on your own. Easiest would just be a simple wood cradle that matches
the cabin curve and the shape of the container. There has to be a fitting
for the strap across the top and I highly recommend a hydrostatic release.Tor placed his life raft on the starboard side forward of the traveler and
aft of the forward companionway hatch. I really like that placement.
Mine’s just aft of the hatch aft of the mast and sticks way up in the air.
It makes looking forward from the wheel somewhat problematic.Finally, you will, or should through bolt the cradle. The cabin roof isn’t
all that strong for screwing. If you put it forward of the traveler, you’ll
need to drop the shower roof and the head roof to get to the holes. No big
deal if you label the trim as you take it off.As far as the oil goes, I’m sorry you’re going to have to suffer through
that. It’s a terrible thing.(I was going to make a joke, like, hey, oil keeps the waves down, but
thought better of it)Bob
On Mon, May 3, 2010 at 8:05 PM, Adam <> wrote:
I bought a 8 person zodiac offshore life raft on sale last december.
When I ordered the overpriced cradle, it didn’t include all the parts
listed in the ad and am sending it back.My question is how everyone else mounts their life raft? Do you have
mounts custom made, or buy a stock cradle. How did you drill through the
deck and deal with the interior liner. What about theft, and how do you
lock it down?Any advice would be appreciated.
Can’t sail right now with oil slick heading our way.
Thanks Adam
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Bob Fine
s/v Pelican
Pearson 424 Hull #8
http://thesailinglife.blogspot.com
Follow me at: http://www.tinyurl.com/WhereIsBobFine
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Mine is under the boom and just to the port of the center companionway. It’s pretty much out of the way. If you mount it there, you can take some of battens down on the interior and thru bolt it without having to take the panels down. We were able to just pull the center down enough without actuallly removing the panels.
These life rafts are heavy enough, I doubt anyone but a determined thief is going to steal it.
My PO had it mounted forward of the mast and every time you’d tack the sheets would get caught underneath the canister, so I moved it.
alan
— On Tue, 5/4/10, Robert Fine <> wrote:<.. snip>
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That’s a good place for it, too. Mine’s forward center under the boom and I
was hoping it would allow me to carry the inflatable dinghy fully inflated
in the space after (I moved the main sheet forward to the mast and back from
there). But the dinghy (10.5′) is too long. No joy.The discussion is whether the raft can be worked around when it’s not needed
yet released when it is without fouling in something when it is.But either way, you need to through-bolt it.
Bob
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Bob Fine
s/v Pelican
Pearson 424 Hull #8
http://thesailinglife.blogspot.com
Follow me at: http://www.tinyurl.com/WhereIsBobFine
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Adam,
I also thru-bolted the cradle on the center line beneath the boom.
This picture shows the location:
http://www.svsarah.com/Sarah/Images/New%20Hatches%202.JPG
This cradle is for a Switlik 6-person raft. I really didn’t put that much
thought into it at the time, but for being out of the way when sailing it
has worked well enough. From the point of view of deploying the raft I don’t
think there is a perfect position, because you cannot anticipate what the
deck is going to look like when you finally decide to deploy. However you
may want to take into account deploying the raft with the boom out of
control. Tor’s raft position might be better than on the center line.
One draw back to the center line position is that it makes it difficult to
fit a center line jack line when sailing off-shore. So I hook into the
windward jack line on the side decks and cross over the cabin trunk if I
need to work on the leeward side. Then that life raft is in the way once
more. Everything is a compromise. From that perspective, once again I
think Tor found the better location.
Hal Sutphen told me he put his raft on the sea hood for the forward
companionway – another possibility. I assume he then thru-bolted the sea
hood. Chuck Ruble might be able to confirm that.I am not as height-challenged as Bob or Tor, so the raft is not a visual
impediment for myself :).On Tue, May 4, 2010 at 8:18 AM, Robert Fine <> wrote:
That’s a good place for it, too. Mine’s forward center under the boom and
I
was hoping it would allow me to carry the inflatable dinghy fully inflated
in the space after (I moved the main sheet forward to the mast and back
from
there). But the dinghy (10.5′) is too long. No joy.The discussion is whether the raft can be worked around when it’s not
needed
yet released when it is without fouling in something when it is.But either way, you need to through-bolt it.
Bob
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Bob Fine
s/v Pelican
Pearson 424 Hull #8
http://thesailinglife.blogspot.com
Follow me at: http://www.tinyurl.com/WhereIsBobFine
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Regards,
John Stevenson
http://www.svsarah.com
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Adam,
As Bob mentioned, I mounted my canister life raft’s cradle to starboard on
the coachhouse; just forward of the mainsheet traveler and aft of the salon
companionway. That spot seems to be the least obtrusive location on deck for
such a big box, and it’s close to the cockpit. Centerline mounting anywhere
on the coachhouse is likely to impede the helmsman’s view ahead, which
strikes me as dangerous.Where I mounted my raft placed it directly above the shower stall. I had
intended to take down the stall’s fiberglass overhead panel to thru-bolt the
raft’s cradle, but once I removed the trim pieces I discovered that the
panel is essentially glued to the underside of the coachhouse. Rather than
busting the piece out and because there is virtually no space between it and
the underside of the coachhouse deck, I opted to simply bolt right through
it. This worked out very well. Of course, I first over-drilled the holes
through the cored deck and re-filled them with epoxy. There were a couple of
little glitches in the process (aren’t there always?) that I’ll be happy to
clarify if anyone’s interested.My raft is a 6-man Switlik. The cradle’s mounting pads just fit between the
main companionway sea hood and the starboard grab rail. An 8-man cradle may
be too big for this space.Tor
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Silver Heels, P-424 #17
http://www.silverheels.us
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Thanks for the help!
I like Tor’s placement of the raft the best. I have a 3″ vent above the head in this area, but may fill it in to mount the raft there.
The zodiac cradle was $550 and didn’t include the rectangular bar to mount all of the corner mounts. Which would be ok on a flat surface, but nowhere is perfectly flat!
Wood cradle would be the easiet to build Bob, …but daggone it, I just got done sanding and redoing all my teak last month. I really hate the idea of adding more wood! It looks nice now.
Would custom stainless cradle be expensive? I don’t know anyone down here who does this. If anyone knows someone, I’d like their number.
How thick is the cabin top?
Thanks,
Adam -
Because no where is the cabin top flat here is what I did. The center line appeared to have the least amount of curve and it would be an even amount on each side, I put the bolts in from the bottom (inside) so that they stick up. I added 2 or 3 nuts on each bolt. When I put the cradle down on the 4 bolts (studs) it was nice and level.
alan— On Wed, 5/5/10, Adam <> wrote:
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Adam,
Attached are a couple of photos illustrating where my life raft sits. The
dorade box on my boat is over the head compartment, not the shower stall, so
it’s forward of the raft and doesn’t interfere. I’d hate to lose that great
ventilation in there. There is a slight camber to the deck, but the bedding
compound – I used rope caulk – filled the narrow gaps underneath the
mounting pads just fine. The deck is balsa cored there so it’s about 1-1/4″
(?) thick just like everywhere else. Add another 1/4″-1/2″ for bolting
through the shower stall overhead liner. Two more photos show the thru-bolts
belowdecks. I used large washers where possible, and modified the teak trim
to accommodate the bolts where necessary. Finally, I trimmed off the bolt
ends to get rid of any head-scraping projections.Tor
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Silver Heels, P-424 #17
http://www.silverheels.us
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Let me say this. Both of the pics of cradles from John and Tor look much stronger than what I was sent from zodiac.
Tor your pics and placement look great! I think it will fit in this spot, and will check this weekend.
I’m going to see if someone can fabricate a cradle to look like yours.
Thanks for the help!
Adam[/code]
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On Clairebuoyant we have a four person Viking liferaft mounted just forward of the salon companioway, in a Viking cradle. The cradle is just stainless bar stock bent to fit the cannister.
It looks to me that one could easily build a cradle from stainless bar stock, or 7/8″ stainless tubing and rail fittings.
Quent -
Adam,
Before you spring for a custom-made cradle, you might call a few life raft
repacking facilities. The manufacturer of your raft will probably have a
list of authorized re-certification shops on their web site. Those shops
often have used bits & pieces around. One of those might have a second-hand
cradle or know where you might find one. I’d also call some used boat gear
places like Sailorman in Fort Lauderdale and Sailor’s Exchange in St.
Augustine. For that matter, it wouldn’t hurt to call Zodiac to ask if
they’ve got something used and suitable laying around.Good luck,
Tor
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Silver Heels, P-424 #17
http://www.silverheels.us
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You could also make a rack out of something that’s not wood but is stable
like UHPE (ultra high density polyethlyene) about 1-1/2″ thick. It’s tough,
relatively light, fairly inexpensive, and easy to machine.Add two pad eyes so that you can attach the strap and hydrostatic release
and for less than $100 in materials you’re done – all you really need is
something to match the shape of the life raft canister to the deck.It’s less than a one day job.
Bob
On Fri, May 7, 2010 at 8:56 AM, Silver Heels <> wrote:
Quote:Adam,Before you spring for a custom-made cradle, you might call a few life raft
repacking facilities. The manufacturer of your raft will probably have a
list of authorized re-certification shops on their web site. Those shops
often have used bits & pieces around. One of those might have a second-hand
cradle or know where you might find one. I’d also call some used boat gear
places like Sailorman in Fort Lauderdale and Sailor’s Exchange in St.
Augustine. For that matter, it wouldn’t hurt to call Zodiac to ask if
they’ve got something used and suitable laying around.Good luck,
Tor
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Silver Heels, P-424 #17
http://www.silverheels.us
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Hey Bob,
No doubt many are faster than I at completing boat projects. For me, just
deciding exactly where and how to mount the raft took a lot of looking, on
and off for a week or two, measuring and head-scratching and finally
deciding. Then there was more measuring, marking and over-drilling the holes
through the deck, to be filled with epoxy, allowed to set up and re-drilled
to size. SOP. In between, I was popping the wood plugs and removing the wood
trim belowdecks, engaging in major battle with one or two reluctant screws
that seemed to feel 30 years in place gave them some kind of seniority
rights. All that and still nothing was mounted. Once the bolts are through,
if you’re working alone you then have to clamp each nut belowdecks with a
wrench or vice-grips and clamber topside to tighten each bolt individually –
up & down like that a dozen times, a regular StairMaster workout, then
discovering that a few places where the bolts poke through inside are too
tight to get the washers & nuts on as you were planning, so things have to
be notched and otherwise modified, etc, etc. And STILL it’s not finished.
Less than a day? Not on this boat.😉
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~http://www.silverheels.us
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As it turns out, I’m so tickled with my suggestion of the UHDPE that I’m
going to move my life raft from where it is (in the way) to where you put it
(not so much in the way) and then I may be able to carry my dinghy inflated
on deck. Or not, but I’ll be able to see where I’m going, sort of.While I’m about it, I’ll replace my grab rails with the same material
(simple to make, believe it or not).That should take two days. Ahahahaha!
Bob
On Sun, May 9, 2010 at 9:55 AM, Silver Heels <> wrote:
Quote:Hey Bob,No doubt many are faster than I at completing boat projects. For me, just
deciding exactly where and how to mount the raft took a lot of looking, on
and off for a week or two, measuring and head-scratching and finally
deciding. Then there was more measuring, marking and over-drilling the
holes
through the deck, to be filled with epoxy, allowed to set up and re-drilled
to size. SOP. In between, I was popping the wood plugs and removing the
wood
trim belowdecks, engaging in major battle with one or two reluctant screws
that seemed to feel 30 years in place gave them some kind of seniority
rights. All that and still nothing was mounted. Once the bolts are through,
if you’re working alone you then have to clamp each nut belowdecks with a
wrench or vice-grips and clamber topside to tighten each bolt individually
–
up & down like that a dozen times, a regular StairMaster workout, then
discovering that a few places where the bolts poke through inside are too
tight to get the washers & nuts on as you were planning, so things have to
be notched and otherwise modified, etc, etc. And STILL it’s not finished.
Less than a day? Not on this boat.😉
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~http://www.silverheels.us
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Original Message
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