The RFD Life raft has been installed. I used Sikaflex to bind the 12mm ply curved platform (which I built, YAY!) to the deck and to bind the fiberglass supports provided by RFD to the curved ply platform. The raft is strapped by three 316 stainless steel fittings bolted through the deck with four 5/16-inch screws per fitting.
One of the enclosed photos (from the starboard) shows some red and green components. This is the automatic-launch mechanism. If the boat sinks before we have a chance to deploy the life raft a pressure-gauge goes off at 4m of depth which will cut a rope and inflate the raft. The raft will surface as the boat sinks, with the raft still attached to the boat by the painter. At some point the rope between the raft and the boat will reach its full length and the strain between the floating raft and sinking boat will reach the 1.3kg "weak link" strength of the mechanism (green component) and the raft will break free of the boat.
At this point the crew swims to the raft, is saved, and lives happily ever after.
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