Automatic Lifejackets

[Guest]

 

What is a spray hood?

 

Elegant don't you think??

 

[howardang]

Interesting to see this post, especially as we have had ours for at least 6 years and when we asked about replacing the canisters at a chandlery were told, oh no one bothers. It does seem to be a problem to me. Full sized 'normal' life jackets take up a lot of room on a boat. We carry a number of life jackets for visiting children and they take a lot of space.

What is a spray hood?

A spray hood is a transparent plast hood which you can pull over your face to keep out water splashes. It is meant more exposed weather conditions but useful to reduce the effects f cold and water inhalation.

 

Howard

[ditchcrawler]

 

 

We also have spray hoods as well. Not very comfortable to wear it does have to be said but if they save your life.....

Essential if you are in rough water.

[Naughty Cal]

Essential if you are in rough water.

Even in less rough water. A lifejacket will tend to turn you into the waves or wind and you can inadvertanly end up swallowing a lot of water. We have been on the non tidal Trent and Ouse in conditions where a spray hood would be welcome if you were unlucky enough to go in.

 

Elegant don't you think??

 

You wouldnt want to wear one on a night out granted!!

[carlt]

Also available for your dog:

 

[Machpoint005]

>>>a conventional life jacket can easily snag tackle, especially when you are sharing a small boat deck with a dozen other anglers<<<.

 

Ouch!

[carlt]

 

Ouch!

One badly positioned crotch strap could swiftly curtail your love-life.

[scrumpylurcher]

I think the newer jackets have a warning feature much like fire extinguishers to warn you about requiring servicing. CRT insist theirs are serviced annually which I suppose with the numbers involved is sensible. With a 6 year old jacket are you certain that the cylinder is charged and will be servicable

[GUMPY]

I once asked in Uxbridge Boat Centre about checking the lifejackets I'd bought from them a few years before, because I didn't know how to do it. To my amazement they didn't know anything about it and seemed to think they didn't need to be checked.

 

I will check my cyclinders at work. I assume the firing mechanism is date stamped?

some of the date stamps can be confusing.

.

here is a PDF so you can see what type of firing mech you have

www.balticlifejackets.com/_pdf/Inflatable_lifejackets.pdf

most jackets use either Halkey Roberts or United Molders firing mech

the Halkey Roberts bobin type is stamped with a manufacture date, discard after 3 years use

the date is month year day so mar 13 14 is, 14th march 2013

United molders is simpler just has a use by date on it.

[ditchcrawler]

They can fail much sooner if stored in a damp place.

One thing that can happen in the damp is the firing needle that pierces the cylinder can creep, this can put a micro hole in the end of the cylinder, This will allow the gas to escape over a long time period and not inflate the jacket. If you find the cylinder empty, just replacing it can put a micro hole in the new one and you are soon back to square one.

Edit

You will see the hole if you use a magnifying glass

Edited June 12, 2013 by ditchcrawler

[GUMPY]

They can fail much sooner if stored in a damp place.

 

I would struggle to find a damp place inside any of my recent boats......

[BargeeSpud]

The responses have been unbelievably better than I could have imagined when I wrote the thread, I've learn't a lot. Thank you all so much.

 

I conclude that I will be choosing an auto jacket rather than a buoyancy aid (prefer to be floating face up if unconcious!), keeping a spare cylinder & actuator on board as well as regularly checking the serviceability of same along with storing it properly when not in use.

 

When this thread runs out of steam, I'll print it off for reference unless someone can tell me how to get it to the top of the "My Content" list!

[Naughty Cal]

We store our lifejackets in a Gill dry bag in a locker in the cockpit. They used to be just chucked in the ocker but one day whilst Liam was hosing out the cockpit some water must have entered the locker as it set off one of the jackets. Lesson learned.....

[WJM]

Just to throw in another detail regarding Automatic Life Jackets - there are two schools of firing mechanism;

 

One is a simple 'get wet, fire' system where a tablet dissolves thus releasing the spring loaded pin to puncture the gas bottle. The possible negative with this is the jacket just might fire on a very rainy day, very rainy!

 

The other is a pressure based system whereby the firing mechanism can recognise that it is below the surface of the water and not just getting splashed.

 

For inland boating the former is fine but I thought I would mention the latter for clarity.

[Naughty Cal]

Hmm. Our jackets have got very very wet on several of our coastal trips and have not gone off despite being of the get wet fire system yet then with a sprinkle of water set off.

 

We keep saying we will swap the mechanisms for the pressure activated ones but have not done so just yet.

[ditchcrawler]

We store our lifejackets in a Gill dry bag in a locker in the cockpit. They used to be just chucked in the ocker but one day whilst Liam was hosing out the cockpit some water must have entered the locker as it set off one of the jackets. Lesson learned.....

My point exactly except they don't always inflate, sometimes the gas just creeps out.

[Neil TNC]

I would struggle to find a damp place inside any of my recent boats......

Ian Clarke's blew the doors off a locker in Straight Across!

[carlt]

Ian Clarke's blew the doors off a locker in Straight Across!

[roggie]

I took our out to deepest Barking before our first Thames tideway cruise http://www.adecmarine.co.uk/product_details.asp?p={2753236E-C0AA-42D6-BA07-D98E9BBCE42B} They blew them up, weighed the gas canisters and changed the thing that dissolves - it was dated 2003 IIRC. Visual check on the canister as well, if a bit rusty then replace. I was surprised that it wasn't that obvious how to get them serviced, most jacket websites don't mention servicing. I did mention something I wrote about not blowing them up by mouth due to excessive moisture in breath rotting the jacket - never heard that before he said - its rubbish.... We now have 2 automatic jackets, 2 pull the tog and 2 blow up yourself plus a 2 buoyancy aids, one for the dog and the other for people. I don't think we know that many people ;-)

[ditchcrawler]

The instructions are here

[GUMPY]

service instructions for Baltic Jackets it is pretty generic though

https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=baltic%20lifejacket%20service&source=web&cd=7&cad=rja&ved=0CEoQFjAG&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.busyoutdoors.com%2Fproduct_pdf.php%3Fid%3D766&ei=2SW6UfmmBsiU0AXlxYH4DA&usg=AFQjCNF7Y1nSsRs-4ecQYFQJsxMb1CzYxw&sig2=SMXaUPeo_WqZQTBqtCvKQA&bvm=bv.47883778,d.d2k

 

it is a 5mb pdf

Edited June 13, 2013 by Loddon

[waterlily]

Also available for your dog:

 

[Water Rat.]

To be honest, I did not read everthing on this thread but, the only time I fell into the canal, a ladder on the side of my boat woud have been of far more use to me than a life jacket. Canals tend not to be very deep but getting out of them is a bit of a mission!

[Guest]

To be honest, I did not read everthing on this thread but, the only time I fell into the canal, a ladder on the side of my boat woud have been of far more use to me than a life jacket. Canals tend not to be very deep but getting out of them is a bit of a mission!

 

But we don't all boat on shallow muddy ditches, when often the best thing to do is just stand up if you fall in and make your way to the side.

 

That said the canals we regularly boat on are way too deep to stand up in.

 

Worth noting that some boats (including ours) have a metal plate/step protruding from the stern that can help if you need to extricate yourself from the water.

[BargeeSpud]

To be honest, I did not read everthing on this thread but, the only time I fell into the canal, a ladder on the side of my boat woud have been of far more use to me than a life jacket. Canals tend not to be very deep but getting out of them is a bit of a mission!

 

Difficult to do if you're floating face down unconcious (or in my case, sinking & unconcious!). With all the angles & corners you can possibly hit should you fall off the back of the boat, never mind lock sides etc., getting out again is the least of my worries, I want to know I won't sink or drown first!

 

I know where you're coming from though, so cheers anyway.

 

Martin, I've recently had mine extended to improve steering, so even better for me mate!

Edited June 14, 2013 by Spuds