This is a transcript of Mad Mariner's MadCast, the podcast that covers all aspects of boats and boating. In this segment, we interview Lenny Rudow, who recently spent 24 hours in a life raft to better understand what the experience would be like. He shares what he learned with Mad Mariner Editor Glen Justice, who was on hand for safety's sake.

Let's tell listeners a bit about the project as we conceived it. Why don't you take them through what we attempted to do, and then we'll get to some more interesting questions about what life on the raft was really like.

Rudow: Well, we wanted to see what it was like to spend a full day's time, 24 hours, inside of a life raft. Not really sure that anybody's tried to do this before, at least not on purpose. And of course, we recognize it wouldn't be exactly like if your boat was sinking out from under you. It's impossible...

Yeah, we could really replicate the fear.

Rudow: Right, right. It's impossible to replicate that without totally going off the deep end. But it at least helped to learn some about what it was like, what might happen, what might you need, what might you not have -- all those type of questions.

And I think we found out a lot about that, didn't we?

Rudow: Yeah, I agree. We did.

So we started in the early morning. We tied the raft off behind the boat. We chugged outside in the bay and tossed the raft in, and then we tossed you in. Why don't you tell us a little bit about the beginning phase -- getting in the water, getting into the raft -- and then we'll talk more about what it was like when you were living in there.

Rudow: You know, I had heard in the past from other people that it can be difficult to board a life raft. So rather than holding the raft right next to the boat and stepping in, which of course is the recommended entry, I decided to jump in the water and just take a flying leap and swim over to it, and find out just how tough or easy it was.

Right. And you were wearing jeans and a T-shirt and the full nine yards.

Rudow: Yeah, I went in fully dressed. Thank goodness I didn't lose my sunglasses or my hat. Took a leap over the side, and there we go.

It was a leap of faith. You found it relatively easy to board with the ladder, right?

Rudow: I did. I was surprised at just how easy it was. Now, the Winslow was a very high-end life raft. It's really very well designed and put together, and it has an inflatable boarding platform with lots and lots of handholds, and then there's a mini cargo net inside of the raft that you can reach over the side and grab to pull yourself in, and it was really quite easy to board. As I recall, from the time that we pulled the painter to inflate the life raft to the time that I was actually sitting inside of it was just two and a half minutes.

It was even less than that, maybe two minutes and 20 seconds.

Rudow: Yeah. So really it was a very quick and easy boarding. Pulling into the raft was just a matter of that, just pulling myself right in. It was easy.

So the first thing that you did was what? Take us through the chronology.

Rudow: Well, the first order of business, as I think would be true in any situation where you're boarding a life raft, was to get rid of all the water. Dragging myself in with jeans and a shirt on brought quite a bit of water into the life raft with me.

Makes sense.

Rudow: So I found the bailer that comes in the life raft pretty quickly -- a little collapsible bailer -- and bailed out the water, and then turned around, and there was more water, and bailed it out again, and then there was more water. It was about then that I figured out that as soon as I bailed out the water, my wet clothes just dripped more water. So then I took off the jeans and the shirt, and put them up on top of the raft so they would dry out a little bit, and then it was possible to bail it and really dry it. One of the neat things that had never occurred to me is the life raft comes with sponges in it. We think of a sponge as a big square thing. These were actually so compressed, they were just like a piece of paper.

Oh, wow.

Rudow: Yeah. But as soon as they hit the water, they soaked it up. They got big, the size of a normal sponge, and I could wring out all the extra water in there. Within about an hour, it was completely dry inside.

And then you went about checking your gear, right?

Rudow: Yep. Did a search through the raft to see what Winslow had put in there, and of course I had brought my own personal ditch bag right off of my boat.

No preparations or anything like that, right?

Rudow: Right. I pulled it out of the boat exactly as I had prepped it for the spring, and just took it right along. It turned out to be redundant, because the Winslow came with an emergency pack that had everything that I did, and then some. There were all kinds of stuff. Probably the most interesting was a mini Bible.

Which I could see you getting around to reading, given that you spent so much time in there. Tell us what else was included. There was a knife, I remember, and there was a bailer, right?

Rudow: Yep. And it was interesting how they packaged everything. Pretty much everything from the flare kit right on down to the freeze-dried food packets was in vacuum-bagged plastic. There was a safety knife that sits in a little pocket on the inside of the raft, and you use that to zip open all of those plastic pouches. And there was all kinds of stuff in there, really everything you could ever want, including an EPIRB. There was a first-aid kit. There was a mini fishing kit, which I put to good use.

You were fishing almost immediately. You caught a crab, if I recall.

Rudow: I did. Well, I managed to snag a crab and brought that in the raft, and then used that as bait to catch a fish, a spot. What I found interesting about that fishing kit was it had a couple of jigs and a couple of hooks and some line and some weights. And in retrospect, if I were ever to be trapped on a life raft -- and I've already done this for my ditch bag, by the way -- I would want to add to that, because nowadays you can get dry, packaged, preserved artificial fish bait that works great. Fishbites is an example. Gulp is another. The fish will swim right up and eat that stuff. They love it, and it won't go bad.

That's a great observation, having some prepackaged, no-spoil bait in the ditch bag.

Rudow: Yeah, that would help quite a bit. But other than that, there was the basic survival gear -- your first-aid kit, your flares, a signal mirror, a streamer. There was a sea anchor attached to the raft, which automatically deployed. The raft also had ballast bags underneath it, which automatically deployed. They filled with water and of course increased the stability of the raft quite a bit. I'd add that we had boats going by us all day long -- boats headed for Annapolis and out of there-- and we had quite a few boat wakes. We even had one or two boats go zooming by us, very close, at 30 to 40 miles an hour, and it really was quite stable inside of the raft. None of the waves ever washed in, and it was really much more stable than I would have thought.

And then obviously the canopy was a big deal. It was a hot day, and having that canopy probably meant the difference between suffering and having an okay existence.

Rudow: The canopy was huge. I'd say the one thing you've got to make sure you have is a canopy. Even with the canopy, it was quite hot in the sun, and without it, you would have fried. It also raises the raft and increases its visibility. At night, it makes it possible to seal the raft and make it warmer. The canopy really is a key item, and not all rafts have it.

You were able to control the climate in the raft a bit using the air chamber on the floor, right?

Rudow: Yeah, I found that quite interesting. It was something I had never heard of before. I didn't realize that rafts had this capability, but this Winslow did. The floor is actually a double wall, and it was possible to take a foot pump, which, again, was included in the survival pack, plug it into the floor, and pump up the floor. And the result was, when I deflated the floor and left it totally flat, I could lay down on it, and the water right against the rubber had a great cooling effect. It was actually much cooler to lay down on the raft than it was to sit up in it. Then at night, as it grew cold -- and it did grow quite chilly -- it was possible to inflate the floor so that I got an air barrier of several inches between myself and the rubber that was touching the water, which made it quite a bit warmer.

Was it tough to inflate the floor like that, with you sitting on it?

Rudow: Well, it wasn't difficult to inflate it. Once it was inflated, it became even more wacky to try and move around and sit up. I'd compare being inside the raft in general to a cross between being in a moon bounce and on a waterbed. Trying to sit up on the floor, kneel on it, was really quite difficult. You're constantly being pushed up and down on opposite ends, and it really was quite a bizarre feeling.

You don't get a flat surface.

Rudow: No, there's nothing flat about it. So once the floor was inflated all the way, it was almost convex, and it was really quite strange to lay down and try to be in a normal position.

I can imagine. One of the things that struck me about the raft is just how well thought out it was for a fairly small package. We figured out that the raft, before we inflated it, was about 58 pounds or so. So it was a little heavy, but given how much was in there and what it became once we pulled the ripcord, it was really an engineering marvel. What was your take on it?

Rudow: Yeah, downright astonishing they can pack all that stuff in there. The whole thing was maybe the size of your average computer hard drive. It really wasn't large -- a small suitcase. And once I pulled it and it popped open, I thought, "Wow, look at everything they packed into there." I mean, there's enough in there for six people to last for days on end, plus the room of the raft itself. I guess that speaks to why it's so heavy for its small size, too.

Absolutely. And it's fairly tough material, too.

Rudow: Yeah, absolutely. And it's smaller than what you normally see on the bow of the big sportfish boats as they run offshore, those hard cases.

What do you think is the biggest lesson learned?

Rudow: Well, the biggest thing I came away with is, if you're going to get a life raft, make darn sure you get a high-quality raft. Again, the canopy was key. Of course, you can pack all the safety gear into a ditch bag yourself, but the rest of this you can't. You can't replace the canopy. And of course, you absolutely need to have some sort of signaling device -- an EPIRB, a Spot satellite messenger, a PLB. Something along those lines.

Right. And probably a VHF radio as well.

Rudow: Absolutely. I guess the biggest single lesson that I learned is prepare all this stuff right and get rescued quickly. Hopefully in less than 24 hours.

Was there anything that you would have liked to have had with you that you didn't?

Rudow: I really wished I had a towel. It would have been nice to be able to dry off on entry. After that, it would have been nice to use as a blanket. It really got quite chilly at night. You might recall, I did have one of the fold-up space blankets in my ditch bag, and I attempted to use that to sleep, and, truth be told, it did keep me warm, but it was so loud and crackly, it was like sleeping under cellophane. I just couldn't use it.

You could even hear it outside the raft. It was pretty loud. They don't tell you that about those space blankets.

Rudow: No, they don't. That was an interesting lesson for me. I had no idea. One other thing I'd mention is sunscreen. Sunscreen came in the emergency kit, but it was 30 SPF, and it was in the pre-prepped envelopes with wipes, and I don't think it really had quite the same oomph as heavy-duty sunscreen that you can get in the store in a cream. Another thing is, you can't put that on your lips, and of course your lips are exposed to the sun and burn very easily, so you can't beat having one of the ChapStick type of sunscreens.

Sure, sure. What else would you add in?

Rudow: I think I'd add to that list bottled water. The survival kit, and my ditch bag also, have sealed pouches of water, which basically will last forever, right? And that's great. But I have to admit, they really taste icky. It wasn't pleasant to drink them. Now, if you're in an emergency, are you going to drink it to save your life? Well, of course you will. But if you had some bottled water in there, you would have to replace it at least once a season to make sure that it was in good shape, but it certainly would taste a lot less metallic.

As far as that goes, tell us about the food. You were eating the dehydrated MREs, right?

Rudow: Yeah, they were SOS brand emergency rations, and much to my surprise, they really weren't that bad. I liken them to graham crackers crunched up and then fused back together in a block. I guess the consistency was closer to chalk, but they really weren't that bad. I really didn't know what to expect. They came in the Winslow, and they're exactly the same thing I have in my ditch bag, and again, there's enough in there for several people for several days. Now that said, we started off in the morning. I had a block for lunch. I had another block for dinner. And in the morning when I woke up, I was quite hungry, but I really didn't have any desire to eat any more of it.

It gets old in a hurry, I would imagine.

Rudow: Yeah. Better hope you can catch some fish and birds and stuff.

Right. You caught your fish, and then it washed out, right?

Rudow: Oh, it did. Yeah, don't leave any fish sitting in the boarding platform, because there are a couple of slots in there that let water drain out. I didn't notice them, but the fish did.

Let's talk about the highs and lows. Was there something that you could point to that was the worst thing about this experience?

Rudow: Oh, no question. Trying to sleep. Trying to sleep was just awful. It was cold. It was, again, laying in a really bizarre position over this convex type of floor. The raft is moving. That was most certainly the most difficult part. Pretty tough on the back.

And we were in a protected area. So it wasn't like we were getting swells or anything like that. I can only imagine what it's like when there's a real seaway around you.

Rudow: Absolutely. And if there's a bunch of people in there. Even in a six-man life raft, a large life raft, I was unable to stretch out all the way, even laying across it. If you have three, four, five guys in there, I guess you'd have to sleep sitting up. That's the only way you'd be able to do it. Six people would really be packed in there.

That was one of the questions I was going to ask you. Obviously these are emergency craft. They're not designed for comfort; they're designed to keep you alive. But still, it did seem like six people would be tight in a raft this size.

Rudow: It absolutely did. For me, it was just fine. Two or three guys, you'd be okay. Four guys, you're going to be bumping elbows, and with six in there, if you sat around the sides of the raft, I think you'd be shoulder to shoulder.

In fairness to Winslow, all the manufacturers are going to be like that. It's not just their raft.

Rudow: Oh, absolutely.

Did you run into things that you didn't anticipate?

Rudow: Let's see. Well, the Bible was certainly one thing that didn't cross my mind. The floor, the ability to regulate the temperature somewhat, was a big surprise to me. The nature of the canopy was a pretty big surprise, too. The canopy itself has two inflatable structural members, and when it pops up, it's really quite rigid. It's not strong enough to pull yourself up on, but for instance, when I spread out my clothes on top of the raft to dry, the weight of a wet pair of jeans had no effect at all on that canopy. It was really quite rigid. Being inside of there, I was surprised at how quiet it was. There wasn't as much noise as I think there is laying in the cabin of a boat, when you hear the water sloshing against the fiberglass.

Obviously, boredom is a big part of the experience. Now, that may not be as big if you're truly adrift and working to keep yourself alive. But you found boredom was a pretty big issue.

Rudow: Oh, yeah. After maybe four hours in the raft, I thought I had been in it for, oh, 30 to 40 hours. Time started to pass pretty slowly. The Winslow includes a survival guide, which kept me occupied for a little while. I think they might want to update that survival guide, because it includes things like killing walruses to stay alive.

It's an all-scenarios guide.

Rudow: Yeah. Yeah. It's a pretty wacky survival guide, but...

They talk about killing birds to eat, and that actually has happened more than once, where you had guys in a raft who were surviving on birds, which I wouldn't have ever thought of. I would have thought of fishing first, but I guess you go with what's available.

Rudow: Yeah, absolutely. I recall one of the things the survival guide said was that all seabirds are edible.

Something I definitely didn't know. I asked you about the worst thing. Was there a best thing, sort of a high point for you?

Rudow: I guess when I discovered the ability to regulate the temperature. That was really a big surprise. It was quite fascinating how big an effect it had to deflate versus inflate that floor. I also didn't realize how easy boarding would be. I had really thought that might be a problem. If you read some of the accounts of rescues and people being in life rafts, a lot of them talk about getting washed out and not being able to get back in, or entering the water and not being able to get into the life raft. Again, I would tell anybody who's looking at a life raft to make sure it has an inflatable boarding platform, because that made it downright easy.

It's really a key piece of gear, Anybody who's tried to get into a dinghy from the water can say it's no easy task. So I know exactly what you're talking about. As far as the raft itself goes, are there any other observations in terms of things you liked, or things you didn't? We didn't get a chance to test the sea anchor, but that would be an important piece of gear if you were adrift, and it did deploy automatically. I watched you bring it back in.

Rudow: Right. That was a great piece of equipment. Now, we didn't have to do this, but the guide did describe how to actually sail the raft. The canopy can be used as a sail. You can, either with Velcro or zippers, loosen and tighten different parts of it and try to change the direction of it as a sail. And you can pull up the ballast and lash them down so they don't fill with water, which of course we had to do to tow it. But if you want to sail it, to actually try and make some headway, you can pull them up, and you can actually get the raft moving. I was quite surprised at that. It also came with a pair of paddles. If you recall, at one point, I had to paddle to try and collect the sea anchor, and it was really quite difficult to paddle the raft with my hands. It didn't move very well. So you want those paddles.

Absolutely. Lenny, thank you so much for joining us, and thank you for taking the bullet and getting into the raft. We really do appreciate it, and it made for some enlightening copy.

Rudow: Good, good. It was my pleasure. Sort of.