Journal · Gear Review
The one piece of safety gear everyone hopes never gets used — a Duarry liferaft mounted at the stern, backed by a Hammar hydrostatic release that fires automatically if it's ever needed without anyone there to launch it by hand.
A liferaft is the one piece of safety equipment aboard that everyone hopes never gets used, and that's exactly why it gets treated as seriously as it does: properly mounted, properly serviced, and backed up by a release mechanism that works even in the worst-case scenario, where there's no time or no one able to launch it manually.
What's Fitted
An 8-person Duarry liferaft, mounted in its hard canister at the stern rail, marked up with Gran Blau's name and full launch instructions printed directly on the case — visible and ready, not buried in a locker where a stressed crew has to hunt for it.
A Hammar hydrostatic release unit (HRU) holds the raft to its cradle day to day, and releases it automatically under water pressure if the boat were ever to sink with the raft still lashed down — freeing it to float clear and inflate without anyone needing to act.
Why It Matters
Manual launch is always the plan, but a hydrostatic release exists for the scenario where that plan can't happen — a fast-developing emergency, an incapacitated crew, or a sinking too sudden to react to. Hammar units are a widely trusted standard in commercial and offshore use specifically because they're designed to fail safe: they release under genuine submersion pressure and not from a wave washing over the deck, so the raft stays securely mounted through normal offshore conditions right up until it's actually needed.
Installation Notes
The liferaft is due for its next service in September 2027, keeping it properly certified and repacked well within its serviceable life for the seasons ahead.
Living With It
Fortunately, this is one piece of gear with nothing exciting to report — it's covered in the safety briefing every guest gets before their first passage, so everyone aboard knows exactly where it is and how it deploys, and the sincere hope is that it stays that way.
More From the Refit
This is one of the safety systems covered on the Boat & Safety page — see certification and the rest of the safety inventory.
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