Inflatable rubber rafts have been around for decades as people have seen how helpful they can be in a variety of situations. Interestingly enough, some of the first makers of inflatable rubber rafts were the same companies that made rubber tires for cars, truck, tractors and other equipment. Some of these companies have subdivisions that are still making rafts today.

Rafts come in all kinds of shapes and sizes that can hold any number of people. There are rafts that are made for just one person and some that can handle up to 150 people at the same time. Obviously rafts of this size are not for your everyday recreational boat but for huge passenger boats or merchant/commercial ships with a large number of people on board.

Life Saving Inflatable Rubber Rafts
In the early days of inflatable rubber rafts, many were designed for military operations and the government bought many rafts for just such purposes. As time has gone by, the military has not had the need for as many rafts as it did in the past and companies began to look toward recreational users as their targets for sales. The rafts were still meant for use if there was a problem with the boat but the size and certain other aspects were changed for civilian use.

In the late 1980s to early 1990s, some changes took place in life rafts to make them more suited to sustain life out on the ocean when Mother Nature is stirring up trouble. These rafts have seen continual improvement and now come with ballast systems, lights, survival packs, canopies, self inflating mechanisms and more as standard features. Some people have been able to survive out on the ocean for over 100 days because of the quality of raft they were using.