Given the condition of some of the rations in our test rafts, even a year would be too much. Still, that also isn't a complete service, just component service, the raft still wouldn't need to be serviced according to Air Cruisers. On the marine raft side we recently discovered a situation where a potentially fatal defect in one manufacturer's rafts wasn't discovered until years down the road solely because of extended service intervals. Plus, humans make and pack these rafts and mistakes do occur. The quality control lapses we saw in this test, such as the short tether on the raft knife in the Air Cruisers' 3-persn raft, is testament to that.
Regular service tends to catch such errors quicker.
Quite frankly, we're not convinced that such long service intervals are a particularly good idea. We've seen our share of failures of equipment that has been serviced annually. Those failures have rarely been in areas where these rafts differ significantly from others, such as their fabric. Responding to competitive pressure, Winslow has extended their service interval to two years for the first four years and then annually after that. We're a lot more comfortable with that arrangement.