Life Raft - Ranger 27 Tug

[cmwalsh8]

Hello, My wife and I just bought a Ranger 27 tug and we're looking to buy a life-raft. We have two young children and a dog Any recommendations on a good life-raft for the Ranger 27?

 

[venajeff]

Just my 2 cents: having a dingy is really useful in most cruising grounds. Maybe figure out a way to keep a dingy stored and then you can kill two birds with one stone. In my experience I would take a dingy over a life raft. To many stories of problems with the raft deploying.
I like to keep a small waterproof container in my dingy that has a VHF radio, a flashlight, a whistle, a knife, and nighttime navigation lights. You never know when it might be needed.

 

[GunkHoling]

could you mount it to the roof? I think I’d try a hard canister mounted above the cabin with a hydro static release. I have a dinghy on my C28, but it attaches via weaver davits on the swim step. I have serious doubt that I could get the dinghy deployed if the C28 was going down fast from taking on water. I’m not overly worried about it in protected areas like the San Juans and Gulf Islands, but I’d love to explore Barkley Sound on the west coast of Vancouver Island. That feels like a big amount of cold water to traverse without both a buddy boat and a life raft.

 

[venajeff]

Most liferafts require servicing every 3 years at a cost that can be over $1000. I had one off of a past boat that was 2 years past service and when we threw it into the swimming pool it did not deploy no matter how hard we pulled on the cord. If you do choose a life raft, make sure that you keep it certified at all times, especially if you plan on going offshore.