Instead of staking out a spot to watch the fireworks from the Esplanade this year, over 100 people will view Boston’s Independence Day celebrations from more than four dozen inflatable rafts on the Charles River.
Project Best Idea Ever, an ad hoc group of engineering graduates from Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering in Needham, organizes groups of mainly students every year to take part in the endeavor. The group preorders rafts, life jackets, American flags and snacks in bulk and sells them in three packages on their website. The costs range from $14.99 to $44.99.
Anthony Roldan and his roommates, who graduated from Olin in 2008, began watching the fireworks floating on the Charles six years ago. Roldan, who now works at Quickware Engineering in Waltham, decided a rental canoe was too expensive, so he went to Target and bought a few inflatable rafts instead.
‘‘The reason why it’s called Project Best Idea Ever is because I had to convince my friends it was a good idea,’’ Roldan said. ‘‘Everyone was like, ’Those are like pool toys; we’re going to get hit by other boats.’’’
This year, a few of his friends who have graduated and moved away are flying back to Boston just to help out with the event.
To view pictures from last year, click here.
‘‘The first time they made it out to where the fireworks went off, where it feels like the fireworks are right beneath them ... seeing that awe and happiness expand every year has been the coolest part,’’ he said.
Each year, the group joining Roldan invited more ‘‘friends of friends of friends,’’ and Roldan moved from buying rafts at Target to bulk ordering them from a manufacturer, he said. He added life jackets to the package after the Coast Guard once questioned the strength of his 8-person boat, a Craigslist purchase with only one life jacket aboard.
Anyone planning to watch the fireworks from a raft should keep a safe distance from the fireworks, marked by a line in the water, and wear a life jacket, said Coast Guard Petty Officer Connie Terrell. The Coast Guard increases patrolling the night of the fireworks to make sure spectators take safety precautions.
This year, Roldan plans to lead the participants into the water on the Fourth at 7:30 p.m. He and his friends will ride on ‘‘motherships,’’ which have grills and coolers attached to supply everyone with a hot dog dinner by the Massachusetts Avenue bridge before the show begins.
After dinner, the group stops about 50 feet behind the safety line, marking off the danger zone near the fireworks. The most difficult part of the evening is keeping over 100 people anchored in the same spot, Roldan said.
The rafts seat two people each, so participants can sign up in pairs or be matched with someone else who doesn’t already have a partner, Roldan said. The group, however, always shares the experience all together.
‘‘Generally, people who want to spend their Fourth of July on an inflatable boat on the Charles tend to be pretty cool,’’ he said.
Those who don’t sign up with Project Best Idea Ever could buy their own raft and join the group on the Charles, but tag-alongs would miss out on dinner and the special instruction booklets Roldan passes out.
Roldan’s freshman year roommate and co-founder of Somerville Artisan Asylum, Gui Cavalcanti, led another group down the Charles last year on an inflatable pool shaped like a pirate ship, converted into a boat. This year, he’s working on giant rafts that resemble rubber ducks. Roldan said he’ll share food with the ducks, but they’ll have to figure out the rest on their own.
Anticipating more demand this year, Project Best Idea Ever placed a second order of rafts to open up 35 more spots for this year, and Roldan said he expects they will expand ever further next year. He is, however, a bit nervous about liability issues as the project gets bigger.
‘‘This year we posted it in a couple of places, and it’s sort of exploded in the last week and a half,’’ he said.
However, he said he’s not seeking profit and will use extra funding or equipment for next year’s event. Last year, the six organizers walked away with $7, he said.
‘‘It’s about the shared experience of going on the water with your friends in these cute little boats,’’ Roldan said. ‘‘It’s a really fun time.’’
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