Back in February 2024, Oso pulled into Fox’s Marina and Boatyard in Ipswich, UK, for a long list of boat projects. One of the items on that list was the deck-mounted liferaft – original to the boat build in 2010, the age of the liferaft meant that it would require an annual recertification, instead of the three-year cadence of a newer liferaft. Given the time and financial investment associated with recertification, we decided that the smart move would be just to buy a new one.

We arrived back in Falmouth on a beautiful day- ready to pick up our new liferaft the next morning
Homemade cupcakes for the folks at SKB Sails who received our liferaft and held it until we arrived to pick it up.  Of course it was pouring down rain the day we picked up the new liferaft so the cupcakes made the trip up the river in the dinghy in repurposed plastic storage bins

Since the original Viking liferaft fits neatly into a custom stainless cradle bolted to Oso’s foredeck, we decided to replace the raft with another Viking. We asked the boatyard to contact Viking, were quoted a leadtime of 6-8 weeks, and placed the order.

Wheeling the new liferaft from the sail loft to the dinghy dock
Heading back to Oso

That 6-8 week leadtime extended to ten weeks, and then to twelve weeks, before Viking explained to us that the liferaft they agreed to deliver wasn’t actually available in the UK and would have to be shipped from Thailand – it would only be available at the beginning of August.

Out of the dinghy and onto the deck thanks to the topping lift line and a winch
New liferaft in its cradle!

With a strong desire to not spend most of the summer in Ipswich, we began to search for other options. Luckily for us, the Ocean Cruising Club (OCC) has a network of cruisers around the world, and John Head from the Helford River in Cornwall, UK, quickly responded to our introductory email. Within a couple of days, he had arranged for our liferaft to be delivered to a local sailmaker, and he’d further arranged for the local branch of the Sea Cadets to take our old liferaft as a donation for their training.

Sea Cadet building in Penryn
The Chairman of the Trustees of the Sea Cadets program, also named Mike, met us at the Sea Cadets building to take our old liferaft for donation. While we were there, he gave us a personal tour of the Sea Cadets site

With plans to sail the Brittany coast in France, it was a relatively short detour to return to Falmouth, take the dinghy upriver to Penryn, and load the new liferaft onto our handy trolley. With more than a few strange looks from the local pedestrians, we successfully lowered the liferaft into the dinghy, chugged back to Oso, and hoisted the liferaft onboard. A perfect fit, and only six months after we ordered it!

Another perk of returning to Falmouth was that Mike’s sister and her husband Clive joined us for a couple of days
We had a lovely weekend together

It’s hard to believe that it took almost six months to arrive, but it feels good to have a new liferaft, even if we hope to never need it.