Liferaft and lifejacket servicing, EPIRBs, flares and safety compliance.
Written by Daniel Mercer, Boating & Yacht Ownership EditorLast updated
Safety gear is the one category on a boat where the equipment has an expiry date and a service schedule, and where the servicing is often more important than the purchase. Liferafts need repacking on a manufacturer's cycle — commonly annually or every three years depending on the pack. Lifejackets with gas inflators need an annual check of cylinder, firing head and bladder. EPIRBs and PLBs carry batteries with fixed replacement dates and must be registered with the UK beacon registry. Flares have expiry dates and, awkwardly, disposal rules. Fire extinguishers and fixed engine-space systems need periodic inspection and pressure checks.
The specialists in this category do three things: supply the right equipment for how you actually use the boat, service it on schedule as an approved agent, and advise on what is required versus what is sensible. For private UK leisure craft, safety equipment is mostly a matter of good practice rather than statutory requirement — but the moment a boat is coded for commercial use or charter under the MCA small-commercial-vessel codes, it becomes a defined list with defined servicing, inspected at survey.
Buying is the easy part. Getting a liferaft serviced in February rather than discovering in June that it went out of date in April is what actually keeps a boat usable and a claim payable.
Liferaft and lifejacket servicing must be done by an agent approved by the manufacturer for the certificate to stand. Ask which brands they are approved for — Ocean Safety, Viking, Seago, Plastimo and Crewsaver approvals are not interchangeable.
If your boat is coded, or you plan to code it, use a supplier who knows the relevant small-commercial-vessel code and category so the equipment list passes survey the first time.
A coastal day-sailing inventory is not an offshore one. A specialist should ask how far you go, how many crew and how long you would be waiting for help before recommending raft type, EPIRB versus PLB and flare pack.
Ask how long a raft service takes and whether they offer a loan or hire raft while yours is away. In spring the answer is often weeks, which is a good reason to book in winter.
Good agents let you watch your liferaft unpacked and inflated. You get to see what is actually in it, and the written service report should list what was replaced and the next due date.
Check they will take expired flares and handle EPIRB and PLB battery replacement and re-registration. Expired pyrotechnics cannot go in a bin and are a genuine nuisance to shift otherwise.
British sea temperatures are the reason the inventory looks the way it does. Water around the UK sits roughly between 7°C and 17°C through the year, so cold-water shock and hypothermia dominate the risk: a lifejacket with a spray hood and crotch straps, a means of getting a casualty back aboard, and a raft you could actually deploy alone are worth more than extra flares. Tidal streams in the Channel, the Bristol Channel and around the Scottish headlands mean a man overboard separates from the boat fast.
Distance from help shapes it as well. In the Solent or the Thames Estuary you are minutes from a lifeboat station; on passage across Biscay, up the West Coast of Scotland or out to the Isles of Scilly, you are relying on an EPIRB, VHF DSC range and your own capability. Service your gear over the winter lay-up — spring is when every agent on the coast has a backlog.
It depends on the raft and pack: many leisure rafts are on a three-year initial cycle then annual or biennial, while some are annual from new. The manufacturer's label and service history are the authority — an out-of-date raft may also breach your insurance conditions.
For private pleasure use there is no single statutory inventory, though flares, gas systems and radio licensing are regulated. Coded commercial and charter vessels are different: the applicable MCA code sets a defined equipment list and servicing regime checked at survey.
Many owners now carry a reduced flare pack alongside a DSC VHF, AIS, EPIRB or PLB and an electronic distress light. Flares remain useful for pinpointing your position to a searching lifeboat or helicopter, but electronic alerting reaches help far faster.
An EPIRB is registered to the vessel and usually float-free or larger-capacity; a PLB is registered to a person and goes in your pocket or lifejacket. Offshore crews often carry both. Either must be registered with the UK beacon registry to be any use.
Typically £20 to £40 per jacket plus any cylinder or firing head replacement, and a leisure liferaft service commonly £250 to £600 depending on size, pack type and what needs renewing inside. Book it in the winter and the price and the wait are both better.
United Kingdom
Marine safety specialist supplying and servicing liferafts, lifejackets, emergency beacons and survival equipment for leisure and commercial vessels.
Covers United Kingdom and international marine markets
United Kingdom
Global safety and survival equipment provider supporting leisure, commercial, offshore and naval marine customers in the UK.
Covers United Kingdom and worldwide
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