Liferaft

Finally ordered a new liferaft yesterday. The one that came with Maggie is of indeterminate age, but looks about 20 years old.... its in a Valise, and the cylinder looks old and rusty.... I certainly wouldn't expect it to inflate, and its been on the list for replacement for some time.... After much contemplation, we've ordered the Arimar 4 person one in a cannister from Compass.... at £469 its a good buy. We considered buying a better one, but decided that as we really only do coastal and the odd hop across to the continent, then its not worth it.... we'll leave that purchase until we dissapear off over the horizon in a few years time..... I've also ordered a deck mounting kit.... we'll put it below the kicker on the deck. Ideally I would have liked to put it on the pushpit rail for easy deployment, but we simply don't have the space to do that.... It has also prompted us to sort out a proper grab bag.... Thought now needs applying to what to put in the grab bag.... need handheld VHF and GPS in there, plus CD for reflections, more water, seasickness pills, and no doubt loads of other stuff.... Other gain, is that the current liferaft is on a shelf below the chart table, so we win all that space back..... not yet 100% sure what we are going to do with the space, but may well box it in, and use it for storage.... perhaps half and half, with half as drawers for more galley stowage, and the other half for infrequently used neccessities such as spare ropes, winch handles etc....