In truth, we have inflated rafts that are 30 years old and sometimes they have inflated fine and held air. Meanwhile we have also seen much younger rafts, only recently out of their service interval fail.
A liferaft is an essential piece of life saving equipment on board many boats and it requires regular servicing in line with the manufacturer’s recommendations.
On board small leisure boats, only you the owner can decide when to service or replace a raft. There are lots of leisure rafts with a serviceable life of 15 years and sometimes even longer. On commercial vessels and those required to carry a raft for racing or other rules there are national and global servicing requirements.
The following notes are provided as helpful guidance, you should seek independent advice before relying on this information.
ORC LIFERAFTS
ORC rafts are now obsolete, they cannot be used on commercial vessels or race yachts. There are now much better rafts on the market. While an ORC raft can in theory still be used on a voluntary fit leisure craft, many service stations will simply refuse to service these rafts any longer.
ISO LIFERAFTS
The ISO standard (better known as ISO 9650) was officially introduced in March 2005, however some ISO rafts were built before that date. Since 2005 most small craft life rafts that have been sold new are ISO.
An ISO raft (packed in a cannister) must be serviced at least every three years. After 9 years the service interval becomes annual. The size and cost of the service varies throughout the raft’s life. The service/test at the end of year 6, has more requirements than the end of year 3 test/service and Cylinder Refurbishment occurs at the end of year 10. In our opinion an ISO raft in a cannister will often become uneconomical to service after 9 years. However you should discuss the likely costs with your preferred service centre. Many manufacturers provide 12 years warranty and assuming the service centre do not condemn it, some rafts will still pass inspection well beyond the 12 year window.
ISO rafts packed in a valise are subject to a stricter service interval and require annual servicing. In our opinion this option is much more expensive for the owner and becomes uneconomical at around 10-12 years.
There are a number of manufacturers who state that if your raft has missed its service interval then a late service will not put it back in warranty and for some brands it is impossible to obtain a service certificate for a raft that has passed a certain period without service.
For more detail on ISO service intervals see Appendix 3 of MSN553 and the relevant manufactures guidelines.
ISAF RAFTS
The ISAF standard rafts were built from 2002 and become mandatory for offshore racers buying a new life raft from January 2003. In reality, the ISAF standard was very similar to the ISO standard so after a few years ISAF adopted the ISO standard and the ISAF standard ceased to exist. Some manufacturers still refer to the ISAF standard in their marketing materials but it is likely that they are selling an ISO raft. Some manufactures refer to the World Sailing Standard. This is simply the new name for ISAF. If you own an ISAF raft is it likely that it will follow the same servicing regime as described above for ISO rafts.
SOLAS RAFTS
SOLAS (not to be consfused with SOLAS B packs) are the standard on board;
- All IMO SOLAS Ships (i.e. vessels over 24m)
- Commercial craft under 24m operating in Cat 0 coding (i.e. more than 150 miles from a safe haven)
- Round the World racing yachts
SOLAS RAFTS require an annual service. As the life raft gets older the service becomes more involved. From year 5 the gas cylinder starts to require additional inspection/testing. Again, you should discuss with your preferred service centre the economic life expectancy of a SOLAS raft on annual services.
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