Life rafts are one of the most important pieces of equipment on any boat, yacht or ship because they could literally mean the difference between life and death. Many people who are aboard a boat for pleasure spend very little time thinking about the provisions that are available should something go awry with the boat itself, causing a need to disembark suddenly. This is the way it should be as boats are to be enjoyed to their fullest when out on the open waters.
If something should go wrong though, there better be some type of plan to keep the people onboard as safe as possible, even though the odds of something bad may be slim. When I was a kid, my family was enjoying a day on Clear Lake, near Houston, Texas, in a boat that was supposed to be totally safe without any chance of tipping over (a catamaran if you must know). Somehow, the boat flipped over and we were stuck out in the middle of the lake with a useless boat and our life preservers that did its job beautifully.
I do not remember how long it took but eventually someone came by and loaded us up in their boat to take us to shore. I can not imagine what that experience would have been like if it had occurred out on the open sea with churning waves and no one to be seen for miles around. It would definitely require the use of life rafts for survival purposes.
The Importance of Life Rafts
If you look back in history, it is easy to point to one of the most unlikely accidents of modern times; the fate of the Titanic. It was the ship that would never sink, built like a tank and put into the water for safe passage from one place to another unless a nasty iceberg gets in the way. Unfortunately, there were too few life rafts or life boats onboard and it created a big problem.
In order to survive that disaster, it was almost mandatory for people to be out of the water and resting safely in the boats. In fact, the people who were not in the life rafts did not stand a chance of survival because of the cold waters. Hypothermia is one of the deadliest aspects of being trapped in the cold ocean waters for any amount of time.
Life Rafts Provide Protection
Staying out of the cold water and in life rafts is a necessity for people who are going to survive a lost ship or yacht. The cold water can cause hypothermia which means the core temperature of bodys temperature falls well below normal levels, causing heart failure when the core temperature falls to around 30-32 degrees Celsius (86-90 degrees Fahrenheit). The human body loses heat 30 times faster in cold water then when exposed to cold air.
If you are in water that is only 15 degrees Celsius (59 degrees Fahrenheit), survival time is less than five hours. Obviously if passengers are in life rafts, their survival time increases dramatically, from hours to days. It only makes sense to provide enough life rafts for the maximum number of people who can be on board the boat or yacht at any time.
If you are traveling in waters that are significantly warmer, it is still better to be in life rafts than exposed to the elements. Many life rafts have coverings that can provide protection from the damaging effects of the sun so that people can survive for longer periods of time. You should also consider putting some type of survival kit with each raft that will provide some of the basic necessities for surviving out on the ocean for extended periods of time.