TAGS:

Pat Manley, a long-time contributor to PBO and who regularly featured in our Ask the Experts pages, passed away on 5 September.

Pat must have inspired thousands of sailors with his articles in PBO and the numerous RYA courses he ran, writes Dick Everitt.

He was both a flyer and a sailor. He once had to navigate his RAF transport plane blind, by instruments, through a dust storm on the ground, while hoping to avoid possible enemy landmines.

This made his days as an airline and survey pilot a bit tame.

He was a ‘can-do’ character, which made testing marine kit with him a joy. Once we needed to test wind generators, so Pat set to, making a rig on the back of a pick-up truck, and we made our own wind!

Sadly during the test runs Pat felt very ill. But instead of abandoning, he just carried on.

He was a great character and had a great life.

Video – PBO liferaft test

Video – PBO liferaft test

Prices of liferafts range from £500 to more than £2,000. Will the cheap ones costing under £560 suit your type…

Ask the PBO experts

Ask the PBO experts

Q: I have a Bénéteau 35s5 that produces a lot of vibration and rumbling when motoring...