Avon Inflatables

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Avon Inflatables, Ltd
Industryinflatable boats
Founded1959, England
ParentZodiac Marine

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

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.[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). 2018-09-14. Retrieved 2019-09-12.
  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.

External links[]


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