I think my liferaft is a 4 person, but I do not recall. I do recall that "bigger is not better" if you have to use it according to my liferaft guy. You want the size for the crew you generally have. If it is too big, my raft guy said that you will be rolled in wind and seas and if you are there for any length of time, you need to not have a lot of surface to lose heat to, even in the tropics. If you read the accounts of folks who have used them, hypothermia is a big risk as is being rolled by wind and waves can be a problem for personal injury and damage to the raft. I think some of this has been mitigated by the fact that most of us are carrying GPS enabled EPIRBs that speed recovery. I carry mine in the quarter berth with my abandon ship bag. All the stuff is in one place and I am confident that I could get it tied on deck quickly---( you need to think this through on your boat and I have practiced it--tie it before you take it topsides) before you toss it overboard to inflate it. I would not recommend carrying it on deck. As I mentioned before, I have had a couple waves offshore in my years there that could have taken the raft with them. Those might be the conditions where you find yourself needing a life raft. Offshore I have carried my partially inflated inflatable upside down on the deck as a backup, but I would not substitute this arrangement for a true life raft. I also am not so sure this is safe---I definitely do not think davits or towing a dinghy is a good idea offshore. If you have the opportunity to take an offshore safety class, I can tell you that they are worth the effort. Seeing what it takes to get a raft launched and actually getting inside can challenge your view of the process. It is harder than it looks.
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