Most of the PLB designs I've seen look like they'd have a pretty low risk of accidental activation. And if you're going down... odds are, someone knows where you are. We generally don't lose ships to bad weather any more. But tactical considerations were something I was leaving out, for that reason.

I probably shouldn't ask, but how rough of weather is needed to sink a life raft? Either the 25- or 50-man variety. Has anyone tried to "gather the flock" as it were under weather, say, 80% as bad? Although, based on the size, once the weather cleared out, they should be spotable from satellite and high altitude air. Not much in nature is that color orange.