I'm calling foul play here

[GeorgeKohler]

https://gma.yahoo.com/rescued-boater-nathan-carman-says-wasnt-responsible-moms-101700525--abc-news-topstories.html Something doesn't pass the sniff test. The survivor was previously investigated for the unsolved murder of his grandfather, his missing mother's father. Destroyed his hard drive and GPS back in 2013 on the day that his grandfather was killed. Grandfather was worth $40 million. Mother inherited $21 million from her dead father. Hmmmmm...

 

[boatbum]

It certainly is suspicious.

 

[November Charlie]

Odd that he was right in the search area but never tried to (or didn't succeed in) signal search assets. The fact he subsisted on food and water from the raft outfit tells me the raft had at least a coastal pack, which would have had pyro and non-pyro signaling devices. In fact - if the media reports are correct (which, as usual, is dubious at best) he'd have at least a SOLAS A pack. Unless my memory is getting bad, which is a distinct possibility, SOLAS B and Coastal packs have water, but not food. I'd be very surprised if a recreational boat had a raft with a SOLAS A pack. I've never seen a small 4 man with an A pack, and one of the media photos showed the boat with a raft on the T-top - the rafts suitable for service where an A pack is required are HEAVY, can't see them being mounted on a small boat's T-top. Heavy enough they're usually lashed and rigged with a hydrostatic release instead of a float-free configuration.

Very odd. May just be shoddy reporting.

EDIT:
Here's the photo I saw:
http://abcnews.go.com/US/boater-rescued-days-sea-arrives-boston-face-questioning/story?id=42389309

That's a 4 man raft rigged with a Hammar hydrostatic release. Unless someone tripped the pelican hook, hefted it off the t-top, and pulled all the painter, that raft shouldn't have even come loose until the boat was under about 18-33fsw, and inflated at about 50fsw.

Odd.