Self Servicing a Plastimo Offshore life raft

The Life raft I inherited with Moyana was out of service... by a long long time.
So, instead of paying the £3-400 for a professional service i thought I'd give it a go myself.
* Disclaimer ** I CAN NOT recommend you do this for yourselves, this video is for educational purposes only.***

[@AndyUK-Corrival]

Good job. When I bought my Rival I took the life raft to a service centre and asked them to blow it up so I could see what was inside. Glad I did as it was atrocious. It was an Arimar life raft and the paddles were in fact plastic beach spades, the sea drogues was not fit for purpose, there were no bags under the raft to stop it flipping over, the pump was a party balloon pump still in novelty packaging. Unreal, only good,for saving a life on the village pond. Even more worrying is that it had been serviced previously by Suffolk Safety and I nearly sent it there again in which case I would not have known the horrors that lay inside. I bought a new raft,,,, Andy UK

[@mattkillingley9489]

Great video! Very useful. So many comments online about badly serviced liferafts.

[@robertfine5131]

First, 3-400lbs for recertification is cheap. It's more like 800-900 here in the States. Second, vicegrip on the brass fitting? Dude, no proper spanner? I'm sure you're going to be safe after doing this, but it will lack certification.

[@DS-bz4sl]

Could you please expand on how you removed the head from the cylinder? Does the small hex nut/valve on the side need adjustment before the cylinder can be unscrewed? Thanks.

[@itsverygreen532]

You are supposed to weigh the cylinder WITHOUT the firing mechanism attatched. This is why you got a weight of 6.7kg and an original weight that was LESS at 6.178. First thing you do when you open the raft, detatch the firing mechanism!

[@RichardBrocklesby101]

Indeed.

[@craigcook4015]

If I am licensed fisherman for example, can I do this myself or will they need proof of it being serviced to pass an mca on fishing veseel

[@helidan5536]

@@craigcook4015 I'm a liferaft service engineer, the MCA will want a certificate issued by a proper liferaft service station.

[@itsverygreen532]

The gas cylinder will fill BOTH tubes, you won't have to pump it yourself.

[@OceanCruisers]

Hi Robin, question as you seem to know what you are talking about, the duct tape around the life raft, is this correct? I just opened mine up and it was wrapped with masses of duct tape, will it inflate with this on? would it break the duct tape?

[@DS-bz4sl]

Mine was held with duct tape also. A single 3 or 4 inch wide strip holding the raft in its folded shape. HTH.

[@vandevenronald1395]

The tape on the liferaft is correct if you use the dediceted tape for it.(only one in the middle)
The tape around the contaier was wrong , the tape must be only on the upper side of the container
,it's just decorative.
You have also use the tension straps with the correct breaking tension by repacking.
LEAVE THE SERVICE OVER ON A APPROVED SERVICE STATION !
There have the training and the approved parts to do the service