Spending $4,000 on Stuff We Plan to Never Use!

We spent $4,000 on stuff we’ll never use. At least, we hope we’ll never use it. We bought a life raft, an EPIRB and a variety of signal flares. All of these items are for use in an emergency. They would be used if we were ever in serious danger. Danger like a fire on board or if the boat is sinking. Of course, these are situations we don’t plan to ever let happen. Then again, they are all things we need to have in order to be fully prepared for our trip. Here’s a little bit more detail on what we purchased.

We bought a Crewsaver Offshore Liferaft. It’s built tough to withstand the worst of wind, waves and weather. It comes stored in a case that attaches to the aft rail of our boat. It will inflate when deployed and has enough food and water to last several days while a crew waits for a rescue.

I recently read 438 Days: An Extraordinary True Story of Survival at Sea by Jonathon Franklin. The book is about two men that lose their engine while fishing approximately 100 miles off the coast of Mexico. One man survives. He and his boat wash up on the shores of a remote island in the Marshall Islands. He had drifted over 9,000 miles. It was a heroic feat. Our life raft certainly does not have enough supplies to last 483 days but that’s okay. We don’t plan to ever use it.

We purchased a new EPIRB (Emergency Position Indicating Radiobeacon). EPIRBs are used when a boat is in grave danger. When activated they send out a radio signal that Rescue Centers around the world receive. From there a rescue can be coordinated. We bought a McMurdo EPIRB which sends out a radio signal and is equipped with a GPS, so it sends out our latitude and longitude. The GPS signal would make it easier for rescuers to find us but again, we don’t plan to need rescuing.

Signal flares have been used on boats for many, many years. Now that boats have radios and EPIRBs, they don’t seem as necessary but they are still important to have on board. There are situations where they will be more effective than more modern electronic emergency equipment. We bought a variety of signal flares

There you have it. $4,000 on equipment we hope to never use. In fact, all the planning, learning and practicing we do now is so we never need the emergency equipment. In fact, when we complete our trip and return to Canada without ever using this equipment, we will be proud. It will be money well worth wasting.