Life Raft Buyer's Guide

By: Dan Greer

 There are many reasons why you might be shopping for a new life raft, and there are a multitude of options available. Selecting the best raft for your particular situation can be confusing and overwhelming. When hopping in the car and driving to your local life raft shop isn’t an option, you’ll probably start searching online. You’ll soon find out that there are several online retailers to choose from, many of which are selling the same models for the same prices, and many of which you have never heard of before. So, how do you figure out which model is right for you and which store to buy it from? In this guide, I’ll outline the top four things you need to know when shopping for a new life raft online.

If you’re short on time, here's a quick summary of the top four things you need to know when buying a life raft online with the key takeaways. Continue reading below for the full guide and explanations.

1. Availability

   • Understanding availability will help you get the raft you want within the timeframe you have.
   • Most liferafts are dated when they are packed at the factory which means most online retailers don’t actually have new rafts in stock.
   • The retailers that do have rafts in stock, like SurvivalAtSea.com, will make it clear by displaying the quantity they have available or indicating that the raft is available to be ordered.

2. Model

• Choosing a model is based on three main factors; the type of boating you’re doing, the number of passengers and crew you have onboard, and the distance from shore you will be operating.
• Use the liferaft selection tool at SurvivalAtSea.com to easily identify the best life raft model(s) for your application
• Brand is usually less important than finding the correct model that is available within your timeframe.

3. Price

• Less expensive doesn’t necessarily mean lower quality.
• When you can’t see or touch the life raft in person, talk to someone who has. SurvivalAtSea.com operates two life raft service facilities (Liferaft Services, LLC) which gives us the unique ability to give you honest feedback about the life raft you might be considering.
• When you buy from SurvivalAtSea.com, you can rest assured that you’re covered by our low-price guarantee.

4. Shipping

• Life rafts contain high-pressure gas cylinders and must ship via HazMat ground carrier or LTL freight.
• HazMat shipments are much more expensive than standard ground or LTL shipments because of the added liability and paperwork involved. Be prepared to see a shipping charge during checkout.
• Most online retailers are charging similar shipping fees which are close to or even less than the actual shipping charges from the carrier.

Here’s the full guide to buying a life raft online…

1: Availability The first step in searching for a liferaft online is understanding new raft availability and making sure you can get the raft you want within the timeframe you have. Most liferafts are dated when they are packed at the manufacturer’s factory. That means that the moment they leave the factory the clock starts ticking down towards the first service date of that raft. For commercial rafts in the United States, the first service is due after 24 months (12 months in most other places), or 36 months for most recreational liferafts. Because of this, most of those online retailers you found don’t actually have new rafts sitting in their warehouses ready to ship. Most of these retailers will wait until you place your order with them before they order the raft from the factory. The lead time to get a new raft directly from the factory can range anywhere from a couple of weeks to a few months depending on the model and time of year. There are a couple of exceptions to this:

• There are some recreational raft models that some of the manufacturers keep ready for quick shipping. The manufacturers keep these rafts in stock and don’t date them until they ship (instead of when they’re packed). These rafts will generally ship out from the manufacturer within a few days. Keep in mind that commercial rafts are never available like this and are always packed to order.

• I mentioned that most retailers do not keep new rafts in stock, however, there are a select few that do. These retailers are usually also liferaft service stations and sell enough volume of new liferafts to keep some in stock and sell them before they get old. SurvivalAtSea.com | Liferaft Services, LLC is one of the largest volume retailers of new liferafts in the United States and also has two USCG-approved liferaft service stations. We order liferafts months ahead of time to make sure we have inventory available during key times of the year (usually the spring and summer months). When you’re browsing online stores, make sure you notice if they display the quantity they have available or if they indicate that the raft needs to be ordered. If they’re just displaying the product and not talking about the lead time or their inventory levels, chances are they don’t actually have any life rafts in stock. Unfortunately, there are several stores that won’t mention the lead time until they’ve already got your credit card number.

2: Model Now that you understand the availability challenges you could be facing, it’s time to narrow down your search to one or two suitable models. This decision should be based on three main factors; the type of boating you’re doing, the number of passengers and crew you have onboard, and the distance from shore you will be operating. We have developed a simple life raft selection tool at SurvivalAtSea.com to help you easily identify the best life raft model(s) for your application. Our life raft selection tool is located just below the header section on every page of our site. After answering those three main questions, you will see a list of applicable models which is further refinable by inventory status and other attributes.

You may have noticed that I haven’t mentioned anything about choosing the brand yet. To be honest, unless you have a certain brand in mind that you are set on buying, selecting a brand usually takes a back seat to availability and model. Many of the major liferaft brands are very similar in their design and construction, so finding the correct model that is available within your timeframe is usually more important. As with anything, there are some exceptions to this if you are looking for a special feature or model that is only available from certain brands. One example of this is Ocean Safety’s Ocean Ultralight liferaft which features a carbon-wrapped aluminum cylinder and carbon fiber container. This raft is not for the boater on a budget, but it does meet the needs of someone looking for an extremely lightweight full-featured raft or someone who doesn’t mind spending the extra money for the cool factor.

3:Price Of course price is going to be a major factor for most people shopping for a life raft, and the million-dollar question is – “Do you get what you pay for?”. The answer is… well… it depends. There is a pretty wide range of price points for new life rafts, but just because one is less expensive than another doesn’t necessarily mean it’s not as good. There is a lot of competition between manufacturers and sometimes one will undercut another even though they have a comparable product. As a consumer, it’s hard to know if something is cheap because it’s of lower quality or if it’s marked down for a different reason. It’s even harder to determine the true quality of a life raft if you can’t see and touch it outside of its container. The next best thing in this situation is to talk to someone who has seen and touched the raft in real life. At SurvivalAtSea.com, we operate two USCG-approved liferaft service facilities ( Liferaft Services, LLC) and we are testing and repacking these life rafts every day. When you call or email our sales team, they have either worked on the rafts themselves or can walk over to our service shop and talk to someone who has. This gives us the unique ability to give you honest feedback about the life raft you might be considering.

Pricing between retailers is another thing to consider in your quest to buy a new life raft. Thankfully, it’s pretty easy to search around on the web and compare prices between retailers. One thing to be careful of, however, is to make sure you are comparing the exact model-for-model and options. Sometimes the results you initially see on a search engine might not be the price you pay once you click on the website and select the final options. When you buy from SurvivalAtSea.com, you can rest assured that you’re covered by our low-price guarantee and we stand behind our prices for six months after your purchase. The other thing to watch for is shipping charges. The cost of shipping life rafts is worth explaining in more detail, so I’ll cover it in the next section.

4:Shipping All life rafts contain a high-pressure inflation cylinder containing either CO2, a mixture of CO2 and Nitrogen, or compressed air. This cylinder holds enough compressed gas to quickly inflate the raft when it’s activated in an emergency. Unfortunately, high-pressure gas cylinders are considered hazardous by the DOT and shipping carriers, and thus so are life rafts themselves. Some life rafts contain pyrotechnic signaling flares which are also considered hazardous when shipping. For these reasons, all life rafts must be shipped via HazMat ground service or LTL (Less Than Truckload) freight carrier (tractor trailer). HazMat life raft shipments must travel by ground and cannot be expedited. If a life raft weighs 70 lbs or less with packaging, it can be shipped via ground carriers such as UPS or FedEx. If the total package weighs more than 70 lbs, the shipment must be sent on a tractor-trailer freight truck. LTL Tractor-trailer trucks normally deliver to businesses that have a forklift or loading dock and are open during normal business hours. LTL shipments can be delivered to residential addresses, but there are additional fees to unload the shipment with a liftgate and to schedule the delivery when someone is home. Either way, HazMat shipments are much more expensive than standard ground or LTL shipments because of the added liability and paperwork involved. The point here is to be prepared to see a shipping charge at checkout. For the most part, most online retailers are charging similar shipping fees which are close to or even less than the actual shipping charges from the carrier.

Now that you understand availability, pricing, shipping, and how to select the correct life raft model, you need to choose where to buy it. Hopefully, working through the first four categories will have led you to a reputable online retailer with upfront information about their inventory and shipping policies. They should be able to guide you to a few key models based on the type of boating you’re doing, the number of crew onboard, and the distance from shore you operate. Ideally, they will have daily hands-on experience servicing the type of life raft you are considering and can answer any questions you have about the product. A great online retailer, like SurvivalAtSea.com, will be able to check all of those boxes for you and make buying a new life raft online smooth and simple.