As I understand it, the main reason not to inflate a liferaft out of the water is that the seawater dissipates the cold effect of expanding gas. Pulling the inflation trigger on dry land will cause the raft's rubber to crack. For AVON service I had excellent experience with Panama Marine in the Colon Free Zone of Panama - a commercial outfit: panamax@cwpanama.net. They are authorized service agents for many brands of liferaft. They let me participate in the testing including spending some time inside the raft on the shop floor. They also sell a large range of SOLAS equipment and other commercial marine gear. Nicholas Wentworth