Up Click on photos for larger image. The stability of the raft is critical. Survival accounts are filled with tales of rafts capsizing again and again, usually losing precious supplies and equipment in the process. Lives which should have been saved have been lost due to capsizing.
Stability is a function of center of gravity, ballast, shape of the raft and the sea anchor.
All contribute to keeping the raft upright in heavy weather. Individually, they cannot begin to perform as well as if they are considered as a system. The sea anchor and ballast are the two principle devices which prevent the raft from capsizing. We'll look at both ballast and sea anchors. Ballast can also make initial boarding easier, the Hoover's lack thereof being a case in point, and prevent tipping when bringing an injured survivor on board.