In flying, one should always have a credible escape route.
For an engine loss over land, it's a forced landing (OK, there are time windows when that will be tricky e.g. forests but one tries to minimise those)
For an engine loss over water, a raft is the only credible option IMHO.
For icing, it's a descent into warmer air (but without hitting the terrain), etc, etc
Not flying over water is fine but it restricts your "fun" options considerably. A £1000 raft is a pretty cost effective way to cover that one.