What's the catch? There's one, really, and then just info which you
may
feel to be a catch, depending on how you view free stuff.

The catch is that this raft is now sitting open, ready for
certification, at
SunCoast Inflatables. If someone wants it for the cost of putting it
back
into its case ($225), it's yours. It was opened this morning, and is
rock
hard - but they require them to hold air for 24 hours, so we won't have
an
answer on that until tomorrow. This is a very busy facility, and a
week
from today, it will have to be out of there one way or another. Free
for
the packing charge, or tossed, it's not going back to the boat. More
below...

Why is it available? It's an older raft, and the contents are expired.
If
you want to update all the contents, it's expensive (in relative terms
compared to a new raft or one with current contents). It's a big raft,
suitable for offshore use, and we don't need one that big. If you want
it,
I'll throw in the mounting brackets as they're unlikely to fit any
other
canister we might buy. Ditto the sunbrella cover.

There's nothing wrong with it otherwise. It even has the log book,
which
the tech and the owner of the place tell me is nearly unheard of. The
owner, who rents rafts for offshore racers (gotta have a raft to do the
race, but the boats wouldn't ordinarily have one), said that if it were
a
valise (soft cover) type, he'd buy it from me, to rent. However, it's
not a
new raft, so it's not something he'd expect to rent out for the next 10
years.

And, that's the reason it's not going back on the boat. Barring some
catastrophe in our enthusiasm or life event, we're going to be on the
boat
the rest of our expected lives. Nearly never will we have more than 4
aboard, and we'll be aboard for a very long time - longer than the
reasonable life expectancy of this raft. So...

Want a raft on the cheap? Offshore and in a canister, with mounting
rack
and sunbrella cover? This thing is heavy (offshore is heavier than
coastal,
and there's more stuff), so to ship it would be fairly expensive - but
still
cheaper than buying one any other way. Or, you can come get it. If
you
want it, I'll keep it here if you pay the shop - because they'll not
pack it
without payment, and it has to leave their shop next Thursday.

No takers will have it in the dumpster with all usable parts removed,
and
I'll pay the condemnation fee (not condemned, but the fee they get for
taking it out and inspecting it without repacking)...

MANY pictures, inside and out, including the log and the removal and
inflation process, can be found in the April06 gallery, beginning at
#130
(http://www.justpickone.org/skip/gall...06&s tart=129).
All of these pictures can be clicked to enlarge very substantially in
case
there's something you'd like to more closely inspect.

Please have a look if it's interesting to you - there's a VERY short
fuse on
this one...

L8R

Skip

PS update - I thought this was posted Thursday AM, but it only went to
..marketplace.

I've learned some mo

It's still available...

The raft is at Suncoast Inflatables in Clearwater. At this point,
aside
from (if - to be determined) it's being condemned (won't hold air), and
my
retrieving anything which might be useful before it goes in the trash,
anything else will have to be taken up with SCI, as they'll be
collecting
for any fees on it, whether for recertification (estimated 1k or
thereabouts) or otherwise.

They're at 727-572-4317. The inflation test will be complete by about
noon
Friday...

However, there seems to be some ambiguity about repacking vs
requirement of
certification. I'm waiting for an answer on that point. If it is
required
to be certified before repacking, that will mean restocking, which is
much
more than what I thought to be the other alternative (assuming it
passes the
hold-air test), that of putting it back like I brought it in, but
knowing
that it held air, with the cost to be the same if it were that way with

current gear (as if you brought a current raft for its normal
inspection,
but, of course, with our outdated gear). None the less, to recertify
would be considerably less expensive than half the cost of a new one.

Others to whom I've corresponded, in other states, have said that their

local Avon service station - equivalent to SunCoast - is emphatic that
certification isn't needed to repack - but that's not much use when
possession is 9 points of the law, and it's open, inflated, on their
shop
floor. Whatever the inspection station demands is what will be.

One other wrinkle I've discovered is that if it has to be shipped, it
will
go hazmat due to the inflation bottle, which makes for higher shipping
costs.

Anyway, we'll not know for about 12 hours if it passes the holding air
part...

Morgan 461 #2
SV Flying Pig KI4MPC
http://tinyurl.com/384p2 The vessel as Tehamana, as we bought her

"Believe me, my young friend, there is *nothing*-absolutely
nothing-half so
much worth doing as simply messing, messing-about-in-boats; messing
about in
boats-or *with* boats.
In or out of 'em, it doesn't matter. Nothing seems really to matter,
that's
the charm of it.
Whether you get away, or whether you don't; whether you arrive at your
destination or whether you reach somewhere else, or whether you never
get
anywhere at all, you're always busy, and you never do anything in
particular; and when you've done it there's always something else to
do, and
you can do it if you like, but you'd much better not."