Zodiac life raft badly serviced in Auckland

Created by sue. Last modified on 2009-08-23 14:17:17
Countries: New Zealand

Three years ago -2006- I acquired a yacht in Auckland, New Zealand. Needing a life raft in order to leave the country for Fiji I was referred to "Wilco Marine", 23 Westhaven Drive, Auckland (09) 308 9166, which is a Zodiac certified service center. The people there found me a six person Zodiac second hand life raft (in soft bag) that they proclaimed in good condition, further claiming to have performed -as on my request- the appropriate servicing and certification (they affixed the customary sticker for the next due revision).

With the Zodiac carefully stowed away I sailed over 2000 miles in the first year, facing offshore -among other weather- Tropical Storm 11P where fortunately I managed to bring home safely (but by a few slivers) both boat and crew.

This August, a revision being well overdue, I have brought the said Zodiac life raft to "Pamarine" 10 Chia Ping Road, Singapore 619978. They were very helpful and professional and took my raft in.

After opening it they found one major fault: the painter was never tied to the inflating canister, rendering the life raft in all effects completely useless. When inflated by pulling at the canister cord the raft failed miserably, popping out of its socket the whole safety valve. It did not even reach complete inflation.

The technicians there seemed quite appalled and sort of embarrassed at the scene. They saw little use or chance to make the raft usable again, and suggested it be scrapped for good, at which point I just left it there at their facilities to be disposed of.

We are in the process of purchasing a new life raft from another manufacturer.

I politely suggest that Zodiac is more selective to whom it endorses to service its products. As in retrospect the carelessness of Wilco could have very well cost the lives of up to four people.

Thank you very much and hope to receive some explanation of how such enormous "oversight" might happen.

Best regards,
Francesco Silva
SY Keturah

Dear Francesco,

We were very concerned to receive your e-mail and have accordingly had a closer look at the details.

Firstly from the information you have provided us, we presume that the first service since you buying the raft was by Pamarine only recently, and that the 2007 and 2008 annual servicing was missed. In January 2007 Zodiac issued "Service Station Info No.25" identifying a possible problem with the over pressure release valves. Service stations were instructed to carry out checks and replacements if required, at the next annual service. We feel that this issue may have been the cause of the raft failing to inflate completely.

With regards to the connection of the painter line, our job sheet for your raft records that this had been checked and countersigned by two separate service people. This job sheet also verifies that the second hand raft sold to you was in serviceable condition at the time.

This said, there is always the possibility of human error, a factor that regular training and cross checking systems are designed to mitigate, but if that has occurred in your situation then we offer our genuine apologies and assurances that the systems required by Zodiac for the correct servicing of liferafts are being continuously monitored by management and service staff to ensure these situations do not happen.

We would very much look forward to meeting with you on your next visit to New Zealand to discuss your situation, and to that end invite you to contact us.

Best regards,

Bernard Orme
Operations Manager
Wilco Marine