Check Your Viking Raft Cradle

Meanwhile

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My Viking 6 person Coastal raft took a dunking this last September. I was pushing the boat a bit hard to get out to give some decent fishing time, but the cradle arms gave way. One arm broke off and the 3 others bent, allowing the raft to slide back and forth. I don't know the sequence but I'm betting the broken one allowed the raft to self launch. The strap was tight but could not hold a heavy raft in place.

So check your cradles, or better yet, have one built with a 360 rail around the raft. I'm not the first guy to have a raft deploy, but I hope from my lesson I'll be the last.

I had the raft repacked a year ago and the guy at the counter gave me this cradle as I was using a home built version. Viking was not interested in my story, they told me my repack history showed no cradle.

After my experience I'll get a raft I can get packed closer to Portland. The raft itself deployed and was very stable. I had a guy get in to find the manner of deflation. He could scoot around in the raft with ease. I could reach the top valve, but the bottom valve had to be pressed from inside the raft. A couple crew got the thing up on the bow and strapped it down. With the ballast pockets full they had a chore lifting it up. They said it was like a giant octopus, get one side started up and the other would flop over. Of course the big cylinder and packed supplies still tipped the scales at over 100lbs.

So check the cradles. I lost 4 rods as the raft went sailing off, but luckily no person was hit.
 

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