I never bought one, thinking about it for the trip out to the Bahamas. I'm a bit ambivalent: they are not only expensive to buy, but to maintain as well, for something you hope never to have to use. Still, I think I would feel a little silly floating in the Atlantic contemplating the money I saved.

A new Winslow 6 man is about $4000 all in, 4 man not much cheaper. I have found a number of used ones for between $1000 and $2000, however they are invariably out of date. Winslow says: a) for one older than about 5-6 years you are looking at $800 - 1200 for the repack and b), the average expected life is around 10 - 12 years so buying one made in say 2003 (typical used one) for $1000, paying $1000 to repack, then having it last only a couple of years seems like a non-starter.

I have contacted a few rental companies, as this seems ideal - I will only need it for a couple of months, then not again for perhaps a couple of years. However the rentals seem to be set up for a weekend or a week at most. The quotes I have gotten for 2 months are closing in on the price of a new raft. I would probably pay $1000 for the two or three months I need it, but $3000 seems ridiculous.

Another alternative is to just buy immersion suits. They are much cheaper than a raft, and even out to the Bahamas you are mostly in helo extraction range. But you are a pretty small target to find in just a suit.