I worked in a shop next to the riggers for a time. I saw them check and repack survival gear of all types. Did a lot of SCUBA diving with them also.

Key points for a do it yourself. NEVER pop the bottle. The area of the raft where the bottle attaches to will freeze due to the pressure differential. The raft can take that ONCE, but who knows after that. The second thing was that for you to have confidence, you need to inflate the raft in an area that will have about the same temperature for 24 hours or so. You need to check the pressure after inflation, then at the end of the 24 hour wait period. You could shorten the wait, but less than 12??????????

Then check all the supplies and like other stated, it might be better to just put them in an ASB. We had a write-up in Good Old Boat some time back. We have 2 ASBs. Both are red insulated water proof coolers. We use them as ice chests or coolers when at a dock/marina. But, just before we head out, we pack them with our ASB gear. That way, ALL the gear gets checked before every trip. The big one is for the boat. The small one for the dink and has dink related gear that ALWAYS goes into the dink before we head away from the main boat.

Just a few notes that comes to my mind.

Greg