JOSEN
This is the widest thing we make and the reason most people find us. Seventy-one inches across, a raised ergonomic pillow at one end and a flat air-cushion base that spreads a load instead of folding under it — the result is a float you can lie on diagonally without tipping, which sounds minor until you have spent an hour on something that cannot.
The 500 pound rating is the number people check and the base geometry is the number that matters. Because the floor is a separate inflated cushion rather than a single chamber, the raft stays level with two adults on it and recovers rather than pitching when someone climbs on from the side. Two cup holders are moulded into the rim, and grab ropes with pad eyes run the circumference so you can tie it to a dock or to another float.
Use it as a tanning pool with a few inches of water in the basin, or as a straight raft in the deep end. It inflates in two to three minutes with an electric pump, which is not included, and folds down to a bag you can carry one-handed. Heavy gauge vinyl, welded seams, and the same 48 hour inflation test as everything else here.
Who it is for: anyone whose pool day is a long one. In our experience the people who keep this raft out all season are the ones who stopped trying to balance on a narrow float and accepted that a wide, unglamorous rectangle of air is simply more comfortable. It also doubles as the staging post for a pool party, because four people can hold the rope without anyone being tipped off the side.
Storage is the part people underestimate. Rinse the chlorine off, open all three valves, let it dry flat for an hour and fold from the far end so the air leaves through the pillow. A damp fold is what produces a musty raft next June. Our inflation guide walks through the pump settings we use, and the float guide explains why we rate this one for two adults rather than three.
