Avon Inflatables

Avon Inflatables, Ltd is a manufacturer of inflatable boats, RIBs and marine safety equipment. The company is based in Dafen, near the town of Llanelli in Carmarthenshire, Wales, and supplies the leisure, commercial and military markets.

Avon Inflatables, Ltd
Industryinflatable boats
Founded1959, England
ParentZodiac Marine

History

The company was founded in 1959 in the town of Bradford on Avon in the English county of Wiltshire, and moved to its current location in the 1960s. During the 90's the hulls were built in Cowes, Isle of Wight, initially under license by Galt Composites & later as part of Avon Inflatables.[1]

Until 1994, Avon Inflatables formed part of Avon Rubber, but the business was then sold and now operates independently of its former parent. Since 1998, the company has been a division of Zodiac Marine of France.[2]

In 2019, Avon launched an electric jet-drive tender. The dinghy is powered by a battery from the BMW i3 car and was developed in partnership with Torqeedo, owned by Deutz AG.[3]

Avon and survival at sea

There are numerous accounts of survival at sea involving Avon equipment.

  • The Perfect Storm describes the use of Avon inflatable rafts under extreme conditions.[4]
  • Steven Callahan survived adrift for 76 days. In a 1983 letter to Cruising World, Callahan said “I must express my appreciation to Avon, who built a good product that did it's [sic] job for 76 days.”[5]
  • Two sailors survived 13 days at sea in their Avon raft after abandoning ship in a 1981 incident.[6]
  • Avon cites a 117-day survival.[7]

References
  1. "Avon Inflatables Ltd. - About Avon Inflatables". 17 April 2006. Archived from the original on 17 April 2006. Retrieved 20 March 2017.
  2. "Rebrand for Avon Inflatables after takeover". Insider Media. 14 February 2013. Retrieved 27 February 2020.
  3. "New in 2019: Avon and Torqeedo launch the eJET 450 electric tender -". Boatmag International (in Italian). 14 September 2018. Retrieved 12 September 2019.
  4. Junger, Sebastian (1997). The Perfect Storm: A True Story of Men Against the Sea. W. W. Norton & Company. p. 158. ISBN 9780393076615. survival at sea, avon.
  5. Cruising World. January 1983. p. 6.
  6. Cartwright, Jerry (July 1981). Lessons from two survivors. Motor Boating. pp. 22–30.
  7. "Avon Inflatables Ltd. - Ocean, Coastline and Modula Liferafts". 15 February 2006. Archived from the original on 15 February 2006. Retrieved 20 March 2017.


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