"Mark" wrote

Liferaft rep in this region says that's a bad idea if the raft is
going
to be returned to service; cylinder inflation stresses the raft
unnecessarily. Rafts are slowly inflated with compressors at repack
centers.

These were all rafts from hard working commercial boats. They are
only allowed so many repacks and I think these were probably headed
for the great repacking center in the sky. That probably skewed the
results. Still, they were taken off in service and it was sobering.

One interesting lesson. A big, strong guy on a warm summer day tried
to inflate one by pulling out yards of painter (50 man raft). By the
time he got it all out and pulled hard enough to inflate it, he was
too exhausted to get himself into it.

--

Roger Long