MLA Business Member of the Month: LifeRaft Services

Dan Greer, 40, and his brother Tim, 46, founded LifeRaft Services in 2014. The two brothers grew up fishing out of York with their father Hank. Hank lobstered aboard a 32-foot Holland that he and his sons finished themselves. In the summer Dan and Tim would join their father harpooning tuna off southern Maine.

Dan Greer at LifeRaft Services inspection facility.

“My brother got into marine electronics and went to college for that. He started Navtronics afterward. I went to college for business management but found that it wasn’t for me and started doing construction,” Greer said. “We both were trying for years to get into marine safety.”

Fishermen in their area either had to go to Boston to buy life rafts and have them serviced or drove to Portland. The two men saw there was a definite need for a company like theirs in between the two cities to provide more convenient service to fishermen in southern Maine and in New Hampshire. And so they started LifeRaft Services.

“We outfit commercial fishing vessels primarily. We know the Coast Guard regulations really well so we can tell you what you need based on how far from shore you fish. And then we maintain equipment for the life of the item,” Greer said.

The company sells a full range of safety equipment, from life rafts and survival suits to EPIRBS and abandon ship items. They do equipment inspection, replacement, testing, and repair services for life rafts, EPIRBS, PFDs, and other items at their U.S. Coast Guard and raft manufacturer-approved facilities in York and Belfast. 

LifeRaft Services covers the entire coast of Maine to the Canadian border and as far south as Cape Cod. It partners with Brooks Trap Mill and other marine businesses to offer drop-off and pick-up services for all equipment. “We will also pick up directly from lobster co-ops and throughout Massachusetts. The trucks go weekly to all locations,” Greer said.

Greer is happy to be reconnected to the marine world in which he grew up. When he’s not working, he and his brother run their father’s boat in the summer, heading out to catch tuna with him as they did when they were young.

He feels that being an MLA business member is one way to keep the Maine fishing sector strong and fishing communities fishing. “The MLA brings fishermen, organizations and businesses like ours together. It gives us one voice and more power. We are nothing without fishermen. Without fishermen, the community isn’t there and our business doesn’t exist,” Greer said.

LifeRaft Services

15 Hannaford Dr.

York, ME.

207-363-0220

www.survivalatsea.com