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Comment by _yb2s | Hacker News Reader

an "emergency inflatable raft" is very unlikely to have an engine

Ah yeah good point. Mine is a $600 dinghy from Costco, also inflatable. That's what I'd envisioned using.

I'd highly, highly recommend an engine bigger than you think you'll need.

That is always sound advice. Undersized engines are as good as 'no engine' in some situations and you may end up having to assist someone else. Especially on craft that are not particularly streamlined.

Except oversized engines weigh more, which can pose different problems - especially if you're taking on water. You might find yourself jettisoning the engine altogether just to stay afloat.

'Oversized' -> not so large that you are going to get into trouble...

I have a Rapid Raft 2. 3lbs so portable enough for a cargo bicycle escape or to throw in car, or put in a hiking backpack if you know in advance you are going to need it without it being the end of the world in terms of weight, but yeah not the ideal boat and hand paddles are the best you can do for controlled movement. And sort of an awkward weight bc it's not really light enough for EDC but also sort of a shitty as it gets for an emergency craft.

Super easy to inflate though.

Yeah... I'm very worried you'd get blown out to sea. Paddling in high winds like that isn't really going to work and with winds come swells. You'll be in poor visibility due to smoke and a small craft is hard to see as it is. On top of that, emergency services will be busy. It might be a long time before anybody notices you've been at sea for days and little chance of being found.

Yeah that is very fair. I don't think it's a great solution tbh but it's at least an alternative to drowning if drowning is the other option.

Now I'm wondering if Garmin InReach works at sea....

You can stand in the water for approx 200 meters from shore at waist depth for a big chunk of that Lahaina coast. Lahaina Roads (the water between Maui, Molokai, and Lanai) has LTE coverage cause the space is close enough to the coasts of all 3 islands.

I actually live in NYC, technically on Long Island (Brooklyn).

Garmin InReach has no reason not to work at sea, given it has world-wide coverage via the Iridium sat network:

https://www.iridium.com/network/

Hawaii might be nice because an ELT is going to be heard by every passing airliner (line of sight, which is super far on the ocean). If you’ve got an ELT, PLB, and a flare gun or two, I’d guess someone will get you before you die.

I was there. In Kaanapali village. Was evacuated and currently at an airport waiting to leave the island. While at the village, there was a small sailboat anchored about 100m from the shore, just bobbling from all the wind. It seemed perfectly fine and if someone had been there, they’d be able to just ride it out.

Get a satellite epirb / PLB and toss it in the kit. Not great but you will be found quickly (most likely).

That sounds like a cool raft!

Sure, if you have a planing hull but that usually requires rigid structures that a life raft lacks. Very few inflatables can usefully use even 0.5hp or so because of the short waterline, displacement hull, and flopiness, yet the smallest gasoline outboards are 2hp- already heavy and oversized.

Mine's inflatable and supports up to a 6 hp engine. It's mostly about the strength of the transom.

Speed isn't the goal so planing isn't what I was getting at. If the a wind driven fire is pushing down on you so fast that evacuating on a road isn't feasible, then fighting against that wind blowing you all the way to Japan is going to take an engine.

It seems like a paddle and anchor would accomplish roughly the same thing with a lot fewer potential failures. The anchor might be heavier than the engine, though. I have no idea how heavy of an anchor you would need.

Anchor is going to be a problem quick... it can get deep very fast. Drag anchor and some kind of communications go get ahold of coast guard might be your best bet.

Because of the physics of hull speed, there is no benefit to a motor over 2hp unless you are trying to get up on a plane. Your costco dinghy is a planing boat, and is designed to take a ton of power so it can still get up on a plane with a few people aboard.

The smallest 2hp outboard is equal to about four strong men rowing constantly that never get tired... any boat under about 18 feet long will be able to do hull speed upwind in any wind that wouldn't immediately sink or flip it with just 2hp (or really, even with just 0.5hp if this existed). In a small raft that isn't planing, more than 2hp won't get you anywhere faster, under any conditions.

There is a lot of benefit to the smaller motor- it will use a lot less fuel, and can weigh under 20lbs. Especially if you go air cooled and/or 2-stroke... combine the two and it could be as light as ~10lbs. Less weight on the transom makes a small boat substantially more stable and controllable in rough seas.

Right now the gusts are apparently around 50 mph. Hanging out in the ocean, away from a sheltered bay, in a small craft, will not be fun. Getting a small craft into the water will not be fun.

From memory, much of Lahaina’s shore, and the surrounding coast for several miles, lacks the kind of shelter you would want.

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