The first time I heard of an inflatable raft, I thought someone hadn’t quite thought things through very well. In my experience, inflatable items (balloons, tires, air mattresses) are rather sensitive to sharp objects and go flat quite easily. While an air mattress going flat is just a bit irritating, a deflating raft could prove very dangerous. As it turned out, my rejection of the idea was unfair.

I had neglected to take into account that all inflatable items are not created equal. Air mattresses are a lot more hardy than the average balloon, and an inflatable raft is sturdier still. The first time I actually saw one of these rafts, I was surprised at its apparent sturdiness. Once I’d seen it with my own eyes, I had no qualms about boarding it for some whitewater rafting. We must have bumped into countless rocks, but the raft just bounced off.

In fact, making rafts inflatable makes a lot of sense. Inflatable devices take up a lot less room, which can save money on storage. They are also simpler and cheaper to transport because they are a lot lighter than non-inflatable alternatives. In a way, they are less likely to be wrecked, because they can bounce off of things that would put a big dent in an aluminum boat. 

It’s clear to me now that besides being very safe, these rafts can be designed to save lives. Most airplanes have inflatable stairs connected to emergency exits. After an emergency landing on water, these stairs can detach from the plane to act as lifeboats. Without inflatables, this would never have been an option. (Can you picture a plane carrying wooden or metal lifeboats for all of its passengers?)

In the end, I applaud the imagination that dreamed up the first inflatable raft. It must have seemed quite absurd to him (or her) as well, at first, but perseverance showed that it could, in fact, work. If nobody had decided to just try it, airplanes might not have carried lifeboats today.