Great idea but try to fit a set of offshore flares in the small Lifecell. Hard to believe but they won't fit. You will need to go the next size up. They have the small one at Chivers Marine. Go in and see the Chivers guys and see if they have found offshore flares that will fit.

I think they are a great idea but going a bigger size too fit a handheld VHF, EPIRB, Flares etc

 My grab bag has plb, handheld waterproof vhf and flares. Doesn't take up much room and it's kept on deck where it's easily accessable.

 Yep just a grab bag with current flares EPIRB and two bottles water. Spare flares kept stored on board

 My boat is foam filled under deck. Adds a bit of weight but makes it relatively unsinkable, or would at least make it submarine a bit slower. I Dare say that I would need 5 seconds to access my epirb and flares though going 20 knots and in full control, a broach would have you feeling in control and out of the boat within half a second, and you would be holding onto the boat, rather than grabbing for the grab bag and if it were a catastrophic broach or grounding, I guess personal injury would be bigger issue.

For offshore sailing, between the hours of sunset and sunrise, we all have to wear PFD's, have a torch and PLB. I used to strap some expired flares to the man overboard life ring so if someone was to go overboard at night, we had a chance to find them as we could be a mile or so down the track before we could go back and recover in the worse case.

It is really hard to justify wearing all the gear on a calm day though dress to the conditions and trusting you are concious when you hit the water, you may just stand a chance.

 Thanks for the comments / feedback...

Most trips I do are with the family on board (including my daughters - 7 and 9), who always have their life jackets on as they should. We are mainly down the bottom of Exmouth gulf with few to no other boats around, so my thinking with the life cell was to aid in all 4 of us staying attached to a floating device (apparently it comes with arm lanyards), and to be able to head to shore, with the Shark Shield on as extra insurance... I like the idea of a big orange box that everyone on board knows what it is for and the closest person to it can quickly grab....

 I wasn't 100% on the smallest one as the EPIRB appears to be mounted on the outside, and I would prefer it locked away inside the case....It isn't any good to me anyway if offshore flares don't fit....

I suppose I should go and have a look at them and go from there...

Does anyone sell them in Bunbury??

Thanks

Drew

Wannafish,
I have the small one, you can fit an offshore flare kit inside, smoke flares clip in under the lid and parachute flares sit diagonally inside. Wrist lanyards also contained inside along with a waterproof torch. I would think there is still room for a handheld radio. Epirb is mounted in a bracket secured to the outside. Claim to support up to 4 people in the water.

What sea-kem has in his go bag is something a lot of people I know don't think of. Water, you can still dehydrate whilst swimming in the ocean.

Having a couple of sealed 1 lte water bottles in or attached to your go bag I think is a very important item to help keep you thinking straight and hydrated in a bad situation.

We all know that EPIRBs float, but what about your "go" bag, have you ever tested to see if it has positive buoyancy.

With all the stuff we stash in them, muesli bars, signalling mirror, knife, orange distress sheet, light sticks, laser light, length of rope etc. It is very easy to make these bags a sinking prospect. by attaching a decent size polly ball this risk is overcome and takes little space.

I have the Lifecell Yachtsman on our boat, the second size up.  Has all my flares, EPIRB and handheld VHF.  Can grab it and go in a few seconds if needed.  Good to have the EPIRB with you rather than on the boat.  Also rated for 4 people to float on. 

 Thanks everyone!

I am thinking of looking closer at the 'Yachtsman'. Would a Shark Shield fit inside it with everything else?

Drew

 i've got the yachtsman as well. mounted outside the cabin can be picked up in a second or two. if the boat sank upright it would also float off it's supports. pretty sure i've got epirb, 2 sets of flares, lanyards, torch, reflector, v-sheet in there. fair point about the water, hadn't considered it. sharkshield would fit depending on what else you have in there. got a grab bag as well but that's just under a seat and not as accessible in an outright emergency - should probably organise a quick way of mounting the grab bag outside the cabin as well.

if you are coming to perth (woodmans point in particular) and want a hands on look at it give us a yell and we'll see if we can tee something up. i couldn't find a stockist in WA and got mine from Boating & RV online. 

Anyone else have one installed in the past 2years?

I'm thinking the yachtsman sized one in a free floating spot so that it should float if the boat was to go down. It's the same width as the trailer boat.

 Sports Marine are the dealer in Bunbury

I have this also but one of the biggest problems people don't realize the fuel spills out over the water making it hard to get back to the boat because of the fumes floating on the water surface. I think water activated epirbs are the go.

 I have a man 3 biscuit with hand pump left in my boat as a added life raft of sort.