How much do you pay for your household 'FIRE/contents Insurance policy' & how many times have most of us seen a Fire Engine up our street? Probably very few times!
Oh gawd - here we go - another "bubblewrap everything because it is safer" post ...
Do you:
Wear a crash helmet, knee and elbow pads whilst walking down the road? You could be hit by anything or trip over a stone so you should really.
Put your lifejacket on and inflate it before going afloat? What if the gas bottle fails?
Do you have a LR in your tender? What if that sinks on an ebb tide ....
Put your lifejacket on and have your survival suit ready when walking along the beach? What if a rouge wave comes in?
Have a full first aid kit complete with leg splints and defib unit about your person the whole time? What if you fall off a curb and have a heart attack?
Is there a Fire extinguisher and blanket ready for deployment when you light a BBQ or operate any electrical equipment? It could catch fire ....
Am I saying that you shouldn't have a liferaft? No ... of course not ... but it is dependent on your perception of the risk. I'm one of those reckless individuals that doesn't wear their LJ all the time - I didn't even put it on last weekend - we don't have a liferaft either - with the sort of sailing we do this chances of needing one are so slight that I'd rather spend the money on items that may actually see some use - ensuring that we don't need the LR to start with ....
A lot of sailing is about risk management - do you have a safety line on when going up the mast - are you expecting the main line to fail? If not, could the spare line not fail too? Should you put a 3rd line on?
Should you be going out in weather where you deem the LR to be of importance - are you expecting your boat to fail - if so, shouldn't you look at resolving those issues first ... what would cause a boat to sink?
1) Mast coming down and puncturing the hull - check the rigging - replace it, have a redundant spare, have bolt croppers to get rid of it as quickly as possible 2) Keel falling off - buy a boat with an encapsulated keel 3) Seacock / Skin fitting / Pipe failure - get the highest possible quality fittings, inspect often, replace before they need it, have bungs/padding available, have suitable pumps and buckets at hand 4) Collision - difficult to mitigate against - could be you are hit by another craft or you hit a submerged object in the water - for the first, make sure you have RADAR and know how to operate - take avoiding action as early as possible, for the second - how about considering making the bow section a sacraficial bow - fill in the forepeak stowage with suitable buoyancy - make the door to the forepeak watertight. Have a keel and rudder design that won't fall off when hit 5) Rolling/pooping - don't go out in weather (or forecasted weather) conditions that would make this a possibility ... 6) Fire - Have additional automatic fire extinguishers onboard in the likely places, make sure all your electrical items are suitably protected, remove gas appliances/bottles, do not allow smoking on board.
Any other reasons you may wish to take to your liferaft? For many, the risk is so low that it really isn't worth purchasing a LR - you'd do better spending the £500 on a family holiday somewhere hotter!
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Re: "Liferaft" is it needed for coastal cruising in UK
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- we don't have a liferaft either - with the sort of sailing we do this chances of needing one are so slight that I'd rather spend the money on items that may actually see some use - ensuring that we don't need the LR to start with .... 
