The Ovatek on the N47 looks like the 7 person version. When I show ours to people, there are comments about "Can 7 people really fit in there? I jokingly say, "If the boat was sinking, I bet we could fit 10 people in there." Remember a life raft is for survival, not comfort and spaciousness. Blow up a 6 person inflatable and see how much room there is. Having it somewhat tight keeps things from moving around as much. As for deployment... I have a gap in the deck rail in front of the Ovatek. Deployment in case of fire is: 1) pull the release lever, 2) shove it forward and over. It is on a mount that makes this easy. Deploying in a serious sea would be to ride out the storm in the pod until sinking was assured, then pull the release from inside the pod as the boat goes down. There is a hydrostatic release if the manual is not activated. The pod has watertight hatches and a spray deflecting air vent that can also be shut down. It may look commercial and a little ugly. As Bob said, if it bugged me I could have a cover made for it. On the Northeast coast, this is what the fishermen are switching to, their wives are insisting. At 12:00 AM 2/11/2005, passagemaking-under-power-request@lists.samurai.com wrote: >I am not sure it is possible to deploy this if the boat was >burning. Clearly lifting it over by hand is a no go. >Also deploying it is serious seas would be problematic.