Estimated Cost of Liferaft Certification

[PamlicoTraveler]

Originally Posted by hellosailor

Pamlico-
Yeah, hold onto your socks, the life raft certification business is damned expensive, even more so for "certified" shops. I sometimes think a very good case can be made for simply selling a raft and replacing it with a new one every two years, instead of paying the certification fees and eventually, the raft is condemned anyway. Sadly, they're all very much disposable goods. The guy who figures out a new paradigm for life rafts that don't rot on the shelf is probably going to make a lot of money.

Thanks HS. At least now I will question them if they mention "Hydro" which I wouldn't have understood. Yeah, as much as we scrimp on everything else, and then to "invest" in something we hope we'll never use - it's difficult. I wish the certification business was more competitive.

Originally Posted by sded

I had my six-man Viking inspected and re-packed by USA Services in Norfolk, VA for between $400 and $500, but that was 5-6 years ago. I wouldn't expect the cost to more than double in that time period.

USA Services has gone out of business and sold their assets to Viking and is apparently in the same place with many of the same employees.

I had a hard time getting even an approximate quote...So many "if your liferaft has this" or "if your liferaft has that" qualifiers. I said "it's a Viking that USA certified 4 years ago. Can you look at the records?" Her reply was "Oh we don't have those records. We just bought the assets of the company."

Maybe it'll go better as we move along. I'll report back. We will likely do it soon and hope to have positive reports about them.