How many people that go offshore have a liferaft?
 

Just curious, charters are REQUIRED to have a liferaft.

But this is for anyone who actually goes out, way out, for tuna, shark, etc.

If NO... why not?

Lik,
Re:"charters are REQUIRED to have a liferaft" Where? The C.G. reg for OPUV don't require it. I don't think RI requires it. I know NY dosn't require it?
One piece of equipment which IMHO is even more important (at least for most of the boating season) is an EPIRB There are lot of thing besides rafts that can keep you afloat, but an EPIRB will get you saved!

First cup of coffee, commercial requires a liferaft.

Honestly, I think its more of gear that go hand in hand.
The GlobalFix 406 Cat II's being pretty much #1 right now.

Also PAINS WESSEX FLARES!
They're way more expensive than Orion etc.
But in comparison to the Orion CRAP they're amazing and well worth the extra money.

Safety is one thing you NEVER cheap out on.
Having been on a boat that has sunk 800 miles offshore, I'd never cop out on cheap safety gear.

I don't go 800 miles offshore but I do carry an EPIRB, survival suits, flares. I figure this should keep me outta too much trouble if god forbid something should happen.

Distance really dosen't matter, you can drown 100 yards off the beach.

Safety shouldn't be thrown to the wayside.

I'd hope that the number of boating accidents and fatalities directly related to ignorance/lack of preparedness over the past couple of years would make people go out and buy the proper safety gear.

But hey, Darwin does as Darwin wants.

If you go offshore on a regular basis, you probably should have one. It is hard to justify for a small boat and for they guy who makes a few trips per season on prime weather days.

where i go
 

I have the VHF, land is allways in site, and I allways got clammers cell phone.:D

I spent $100 on a 5 man, manual inflatable raft. I know it would take a while to inflate but I figure it is better than nothing. There are circumstances where you would have time to inflate it. also, it could be inflated and towed if bad weather came up and the thougth that it might be needed was there.

It may be better than nothing, but remember, it'll never replace a real life raft.

Not to start an argument, beacuse I think both are important, but I know a couple of guys who survived in the 162 Qt igloos but got rescured because of the EPIRB. I think I recall rading that the average time betwen when the crew realizes something is wrong and the time the boat goes down is somethiing like between 5 and 10 minutes. Not a lot of time to blow up a raft.

Likwid, I'd be interested in hearing the story of what happened.

Please tell us more

I have an offshore raft,
also have survival suits, epirb,flairs,ditch bag,
commercial fishing requires you to have a raft and epirb according to the size of you're boat (I beleive 24 ft &up)
charter boats are required by coast guard to have all and I bilieve inspections are annual.
Ron

6 pack charther boats OPUV do not need a liferaft. Even when fishing 8-10 miles east of the bank. Would be a nice idea but not required. Do have to have adequate number of type 1 PFD's.

If the boat is big enough and classed as an Inspected vessel and inspected annually for a COI then it is required, and carries x number of passengers.

Comm Tuna fishing. I believe if you are Commercial Tuna fishing offshore you are required to have one.