It is worth taking a lot to time to consider the raft's location. Each time I see a canister raft in a deck-mounted bracket, I think of all the times I've read about this mounting style being ripped from the boat by boarding waves. And still, I see them mounted before the mast on sailboats. I don't like them on deck at all; at least not in front of the cockpit. For this reason, the raft on my sailboat is a valise-type, and stowed below, adjacent to the cockpit companionway. It is, however, a 4-person raft, and although I can easily send it into the cockpit, a larger one might be too much for one person -- another consideration. OTOH, Seahorse's raft is in a canister and bracket, and resides abaft the pilothouse on a chest-high deck, where it's doubtful we'd experience boarding seas. John "Seahorse"