2007-01-19 19:11:34 · 5 answers · asked by vl k 1 in Cars & Transportation ➔ Boats & Boating
All 'canister' liferafts will come with a CO2/Nitrogen mix bottle that inflates the raft.
That bottle is attached to a line(rope) called the painter... you pull the painter out of the canister, get to the end and give it a sharp tug to activate the bottle.
If the bottle fails its going to be a pain opening and unfolding the deflated raft but inside there will be a manual foot pump to inflate the raft.
Hopefully you wont be needing the raft anytime soon if you have to use the foot pump - it will probably take over an hour to get it halfway inflated
2007-01-19 22:31:50 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋
Liferafts will have a self-inflating mechanism to release bottled CO2 into the raft for inflation. You CAN use the supplied hand/foot pumps to inflate the raft, but it will take a LOOONG time. The manual pump is mainly to replenish air 'lost' through inevitable minor air leaks from the raft's chambers. or in case of a puncture repaired with the supplied patches.
2007-01-21 21:26:39 · answer #2 · answered by Bob G 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Most have automatic inflation... a gas bottle in a pocket under the floor of the raft, which later acts as ballast.
Most such bottles are operated by a sharp tug on the raft's mooring line - so you toss it over the side, hopefully having tied the mooring line onto something first... then give a smart yank on the line, and wait to see if the raft inflates right-way up.
(A large part of deep-water survival training focuses on what to do when it doesn't :-)
Some rafts are designed to release and inflate if they go more than a few feet underwater - the idea being that, if your boat sinks, the raft will release from its deck-mount and pop to the surface, ready-pumped.(The down-side being, if your boat simply breaks up, or fills with water and just lies flush with the surface, your life-raft won't release)
Do not, under any circumstances, be tempted to use one of those hand/foot inflator pumps that come with an inflatable boat.
Some sailing buddies and I decided we should check out various ways of escaping a sinking vessel, so we tried this, one warm afternoon, in a spirit of earnest scientific experiment - OK, we were drunk! - tossing the deflated inflatable over the side, then jumping in with the pump and trying to inflate it while in the water.
You would be amazed how easy it is to pump several hundred gallons of seawater into an inflatable, and very hard it is to drain it all out!! You also look very silly trying to row it to the beach...
2007-01-20 13:47:20 · answer #3 · answered by IanP 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
blow it up? I think most liferafts are self-inflating
2007-01-19 19:14:26 · answer #4 · answered by dana5169 7 · 0⤊ 1⤋
1 breath at a time, no, if you have a shop vac, reverse the suction by moving the tube to the blow side and wala..
2007-01-20 03:33:03 · answer #5 · answered by boostnutt 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋