life rafts

[cterrebonne]

im seriously looking into life rafts for the v-20 since i plan on going out further within the next couple of years and i found a model that they say is for coastal water and then they have the ones that are for offshore. they seem to have the same basic things. balast bags hand pumps and canopies, where the offshore models get different is that they have flares and paddles and other sorts of things. but they basically look like they would do the same job. i also will have an epirb so i dont plan on spendign that much time in the water and in the GOM there is always some type of boat, aircraft or manned oil rig in the vicinity. i will have a ditch bag with the epirb, handheld vhf, gps, food, water, paddle, emergency blanketsm full array of flares and such, with teh appropriate 1st aid items. so is the offshore raft worth the extra 1300 dollars? thanks

[macojoe]

I would say no, as even that you are going off shore, you are not going that far, that you are not near any real help.

I have my buds 6 man on my boat for late fall and earlie spring, Tuna and Cod fishing. I have seen some pretty good deals on some rafts on crigslist.

[cterrebonne]

thanks,
mj, so if i read what you wrote right the 6 man less expensive model should work out for me?

[cterrebonne]

these look identical but one says offshore and the other does not

http://www.starmarinedepot.com/Rever...mmander+6.html

http://www.starmarinedepot.com/Rever...Life+Raft.html

????

[macojoe]

They look the same to me, and in there description they even say they are made of the same stuff.
I think the difference is all the safety equipment, and the hard case the off shore comes in for automatic deploy.

Some rafts also are not Coast Guard approved, and if you are commercial you have to have one that is.

You will be fine with the cheaper one!

[cterrebonne]

thanks mj.