Vintage coal-fired steamship TSS Earnslaw will cruise on Lake Wakatipu after its latest annual maintenance survey with two open reversible rafts, which means they do not have a canopy and it does not matter which way up they are when they inflate.
Safe ships manager and chief launchmaster Peter Bloxham said they were each capable of carrying 150 people and complemented the vessel's existing life-saving equipment.
Earnslaw already had 160 adult life jackets and 60 child-specific jackets, plus 45 sets of buoyancy apparatus that could take 10 passengers each and two ship's tenders which took 30 each.
"We are going above and beyond legal requirements getting the inflatable life rafts as well," Mr Bloxham said.
The Earnslaw crew would be trained in the simple process of deploying the life rafts, he said.
Southern Ocean Safety Equipment Ltd manager Steven Sargeant, of Bluff, is the sales and services agent delivering the rafts to Earnslaw operator Real Journeys in Queenstown.
The rafts were designed and manufactured by Viking Life Saving Equipment and shipped from Denmark.
The rafts, costing about $30,000 each, will be stowed amidships in round fibreglass containers, just over 1m in diameter, and held in purpose-built cradles.
The rafts weigh 500kg and inflate to measure 12.5m in length and 7m in width.
