By the Chase Leavitt service team · Portland & Ellsworth, ME · Updated November 2026

First — we open it.

Most rafts come in sealed in a valise or container. The first thing we do is open them. Not because we don’t trust the previous service; because we have to know exactly what’s inside before we close it again.

For sealed valises, the cut is straight along the seal seam. For containers, we release the lacing or the latches. Either way, the work goes onto a clean bench, and the contents are laid out so a crew member walking by could see everything that came out of the raft.

Visual inspection — outside in

Before we touch anything functional, we look at the raft. We’re checking for:

• External case integrity — abrasion, UV damage, cracking
• Hydrostatic release condition (if container) — date, hardware, lacing
• Painter line — fraying, kinks, knots
• External straps and lanyards — chafe, hardware
• Manufacturer service bulletins — anything specific to this raft model that’s been issued since last service

Most rafts pass this stage clean. The ones that don’t are usually showing UV damage on a raft that’s been stored on deck.

Full inflation and pressure test

We inflate the raft using shop air, not the CO2 cylinder. The cylinder is tested separately. Full inflation goes to manufacturer-spec pressure and we leave it for the spec hold time — typically 4 hours for a recreational raft, longer for SOLAS.

During the hold, we walk the raft seam by seam looking for leaks, soft spots, or pressure decay. Most rafts hold pressure fine. The ones that don’t usually have a small leak at a seam glue line or a valve, both of which we can repair.

CO2 cylinder test

The CO2 cylinder is what fires the raft when it’s needed. We weigh it against manufacturer tolerance. If it’s outside spec — meaning it’s lost gas — we either swap or recharge it depending on the type. Valves, gaskets, and discharge components get inspected separately.

Cylinders that are within their hydrostatic test interval get recharged. Cylinders past the hydrostatic test date get retested or replaced. The hydrostatic test for cylinders is a separate 5-year cycle from the raft service.

Survival pack audit

This is where most of the parts replacement happens. Every item in the survival pack gets checked, dated, and either kept, replaced, or added back from new stock. The standard survival pack contains:

• Flares (handheld, parachute, smoke)
• Signal mirror
• Whistle
• Drinking water (sealed packets)
• Survival rations
• Repair kit (patch glue, plugs, gauze)
• Pump
• Paddles
• Sea anchor
• Knife (sealed)
• First aid kit
• Light (sometimes battery-replaced, sometimes whole-unit replaced)
• SOLAS pack additional items if applicable

Flares and water are the most-frequently replaced items. They have aging dates separate from the raft service interval. A raft that hasn’t been opened in three years usually has multiple expired pack items, which is part of why a lapsed raft service costs more than a current one.

HRU swap

Container rafts are equipped with a hydrostatic release unit. The HRU is a small, sacrificial component that releases the raft from its cradle when the boat sinks past a depth of 1.5–4 meters. The HRU has its own 24-month replacement cycle, independent of the raft service. We swap them every two years even if the raft is on its annual service.

Repack and seal

Once everything is back in the raft (after pressure-testing and pack replacement), we deflate the raft and repack it to the manufacturer’s specified fold pattern. This is more than a folding exercise — the fold pattern dictates how the raft inflates when deployed, and a wrongly-folded raft can deploy in a tangle.

We treat the folded raft with talc to prevent the rubber from sticking to itself, then seal it back into the valise or container with tamper-evident closures. A new service tag goes on the outside. Photographs of the repacked raft go in the file.

Certificate

The certificate is what an inspector wants to see. We issue a USCG-approved service certificate on the day the raft is sealed. Copies go to:

• The raft (a tag)
• The owner’s email
• The owner’s insurance company (if requested)
• Our file (we keep these going back to the 1970s)

Back to you

We call when the raft is ready. Pickup at our shop or on the next pickup route. Walk in any business day to grab it; we’ll wheel it out to your truck if it’s a container.

Most rafts go from drop-off to ready in 1–2 weeks off-season, 6–8 weeks during the spring rush. SOLAS rafts and ISAF Cat 1 rafts are on the longer end of those windows.