As a standard the Moody 54 has a life raft fitted in a dedicated locker on the aft deck above the aft stateroom. I guess this is well positioned since you should always step up into the life raft and with its weight, not many older cruisers are going to be able to pull it out and lift it over the guard rail so the water will be lapping over the stern by the time you are ready.

However, apart from the aft lazarette and the anchor locker there is no stowage accessible from the deck. This was not a problem on our previous Dufour 455 which seemed to have lockers everywhere.

For these reasons we decided to move the life raft to create an additional locker and to make it more accessible in case of emergency.  At the same time we braced the pushpit by connecting it to the heavy duty davits. The work was done for us by Ian and Rob at East Coast Stainless, based in Ipswich.  We were really pleased with the work and they were able to fit us in despite becoming increasingly busy as their reputation goes from strength to strength.

As you can see, it is a simple quick release frame, which allows the life raft to be stowed safely and deployed quickly.