Liferafts inspection

Setmabas has many years experience in Life Raft Testing, Service and Repacking. All repair and inspection personnel are trained and certified individually by each manufacturer.

Setmabas Repairs and Inspections

Servicing a life raft is no place for amateur or improvised solutions. With a large state-of-the-art approved repair facility, Setmabas can provide the level of quality inspection and service that you can depend on. Our services are approved by all major maritime authorities including the USCG, ABS, Lloyds, DMV, NK and BV. Setmabas requires that all marine safety personnel are regularly trained and certified to follow each specific manufacturer's service procedures. As a result, we are authorized to service all major brands of life rafts and inflatable crafts. Air-Sea Safety provides prompt and convenient dockside service. To ensure efficiency in your commercial operation, Setmabas will greet your ship on arrival and return most equipment within 12-24 hours.

Why Service a Life Raft?

A life raft is one of the most important pieces of safety equipment on board a vessel. It has been designed, tested, and approved to save your life in the event one must abandon ship. The only way to ensure that your life raft is in exceptional condition and ready for deployment is to inspect it annually. Annual inspection ensures that your life raft will perform and operate as designed. Annual inspections are the only way to combat the wide range of elements the life raft is subject to each year that accelerate the natural aging process of the life raft and its components. By inspecting your life raft annually you will increase the life expectancy of the unit and most importantly restore your confidence while on open waters.

• Commercial Life Raft Service and Repair
• Dockside pick-up and delivery 24 hours a day
• Re-certification and issuing of new certificates with each unit

Complete Servicing for

• Swift Water Rescue Boats
• Commercial Rescue Boats
• Fire Rescue boats
• Law Enforcement Boats
• Military and Government Boats
• Recreational Inflatables
• Commercial Inflatables
• Recreational Life Rafts

The crew Setmabas are foremost experts in marine safety outfitting. Factory-trained and certified service technicians staff our U.S. Coast Guard approved servicing facility.

It is the policy of Setmabas to perform its services in conformance with all applicable national and international, industry and manufacturer regulations and guidelines. The critical importance of performing quality service work upon life rafts and survival equipment cannot be overstressed.

At Setmabas we will only service equipment that we are certified by the manufacturer to perform inspection, testing and certification. We have an extensive listing of approvals by manufactures and by regulatory bodies that have required us to meet stringent guidelines to meet approval requirements. Our investment in training for our service technicians is what makes us one of the most qualified companies in the world.

We welcome and urge our customers to become familiar with our services and with their own safety gear. Our service manager will be happy to make an appointment with you to come in and see your equipment when it is opened up for service. Our technicians can help you and your crew becomes more familiar with your equipment. This short training can be critical if ever an impending mishap at sea occurs. Training can dramatically reduce panic in these situations. Please call us to arrange an appointment to view your equipment.

Setmabas offers the following services to the commercial and recreational marine industries:

Selecting, equipping, installing, and maintaining a life raft can be a daunting task. Dozens of makes and models crowd the market, and some manufacturers offer numerous options for their rafts. High-end rafts cost three times as much as the budget models of major brands, and some offbrands are far cheaper still.

A cost-conscious operator has to decide which features and options are essential and should pick a unit that is suitable to the vessel and application. Then the raft has to be installed so that it will function properly, and maintained to achieve maximum service life and total reliability. Keep in mind that the following comments pertain only to life rafts, not to similar devices such as the inflatable buoyant apparatus and the rescue pod.

Selecting a Raft

For operators of commercial vessels in the aforementioned classes the choice is somewhat simplified by the fact that the law requires Coast Guard-approved rafts, and even specifies the equipment packs (SOLAS A, SOLAS B, or Coastal) depending upon the distance from the coast at which the vessel will operate. Coast Guard approval eliminates about half of all available models, including some of the highest-quality rafts that are required for or selected by people, such as ocean yacht racers, for whom effectiveness is paramount and cost no object. If you're not required to carry a raft but want one anyway and are looking for a good one, Coast Guard approval is not necessarily a criterion. Look for SOLAS (Safety of Life at Sea, an international convention), ORC (Offshore Racing Council), RORC (Royal Ocean Racing Club), or other approval labels. But if you're operating an American fishing or certified passenger vessel, USCG is the approval you need.

The importance of servicing

Servicing a Liferaft leaves no place for amateur or improvised solutions. Servicing must be carried out at an authorized Setmabas service station by qualified personnel who are regularly trained and follow strict factory procedures. Packaged in a valise or a container, the rafts must undergo this inspection every three years from their date of sale (up to 15 years)*. This inspection is indispensable in order to check that your raft and its equipment are in good condition. For Open Sea ISO 9650 rafts provided with a separate > 24 hours bag (grab bag), you are also responsible for ensuring the good condition of the contents of the grab bag. Your Setmabas service station would be happy to do this and we strongly recommend that you bring your grab bag for servicing with your Liferaft.

When you put your boat up for the winter, use this opportunity to take your Liferaft in for its annual inspection. It's a good idea to ask the service station to show you the raft as it is taken from the valise or canister for the inspection procedure. Then you can get to know your raft.

At each service, the service station will:

• open the container
• unfold and inflate the Liferaft
• test the inflation system (firing head, tubes and valves)
• weigh the CO2 bottle
• check the emergency equipment
• re-pack the Liferaft and its equipment in a shrink wrapped waterproof pocket
  • hydrostatic test of the gas bottle
  • replacement of equipment which is out of date or will be before the next service

Where to store your Liferaft?

If there was a fire you would want an extinguisher easily at hand to put it out. A Liferaft is no different. If you have to abandon ship you will not necessarily have time to search for the container in a locker under a bed or find a key to a padlock to release it. The situation is stressful enough as it is and you need calm and clear thinking to increase your chances of survival. Make sure that where you store it will not be subject to unnecessary wear and tear from people walking on it or knocking it. If the boat's designer hasn't designed a specific place for it, the best place is in a cradle on the deck for instance, at the foot of the mast or on a powerboat.

Valise or canister?

All Setmabas Liferafts are available in either a valise or a canister. Where possible, a canister is recommended to offer the best protection against wear and tear and the elements. A canister can be left on deck or mounted in the stern of a yacht. A Liferaft in a valise should be protected from the elements and care should be taken to keep it clear from sharp objects. It will need to be stored in a location that permits it to be brought on deck quickly and easily.

Safety

Accidents, whether fire, collision or sinking, don't just happen to others. As confident as you may be about your vessel and its crew, unfortunate things can happen. Even with today's high performance communications which allow your position to be rapidly and accurately pinpointed, setting off a beacon or launching a Mayday is no guarantee of rescue. Help may take time coming or be unable to respond immediately and whether you're a good swimmer or not, a Liferaft is the only real protection that you can get against the wind and cold.

Countless shipwreck survivors can testify that they owe their lives to the Liferaft. It may only be a couple of hours or a few days before help arrives. Or maybe it will extend to the 130 days a Japanese sailor survived in one, but whichever way, a Liferaft increases your odds of survival. A Liferaft may not be the most comfortable or largest of crafts but it can give you the peace of mind to set out and enjoy your voyage, properly prepared.

Liferaft Servicing

Setmabas has nine authorised Liferaft Service Stations in the Ecuador. These are strategically located near ports to ensure minimum delay in collection, service and return of the Liferaft from your vessel. As most commercial Liferafts require servicing annually, we provide exceptional facilities across the globe to service RFD Liferafts, Beaufort Liferafts, DSB Liferafts and various additional makes of commercial Liferaft

In-house expertise you can trust

Liferaft servicing is carried out by our fully trained engineers. Setmabas Liferaft servicing engineers regularly attend all major manufacturer's education programmes to ensure we strictly adhere to all the latest requirements. Every Setmabas Liferaft Service Station carries the appropriate tools, together with a supply of approved spare parts. Liferafts are then serviced according to the manufacturer's manual. We receive vital updates on a regular basis from each manufacturer to ensure your Liferafts are serviced and maintained to the highest possible standard.

A one-stop solution for all your servicing needs

Any Liferafts which are unable to be serviced onsite are referred to the nearest approved service station. Setmabas also service a range of Rescue Boats, Lifejackets, Immersion Suits and Leisure Liferafts and Boats. Our pan America network enables us to look after every aspect of your Marine Safety including Liferafts wherever your vessel is trading in America. Servicing can be arranged quickly and easily with your local office or the one nearest to your vessel.