A lifejacket warning

wotayottie

wotayottie

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With my wife's lifejacket at home I did my checks and found a slightly rusty cylinder. Aha, thinks I - we'll fire off that cylinder so wifey knows what she'll have to do if she ever falls in. So I got her to put on the jacket and she pulled and pulled on the lanyard but couldnt trigger the gas cylinder. I gave it one decent yank and it fired.

My wife isnt in the first flush of youth and she isnt a big woman anyway. But she does do "sturdy" these days (she doesnt read forums, thank heavens) so she's not the weakest around.

I guess my message is that if your wife is not a big strapping woman, she need an auto inflating lifejacket and not one where you need to pull a cord.
 
Might be worth letting her have another go. It doesn't take much force to set one off and as children are given lifejackets like that it seems inconceivable that your wife lacks the strength to pull the cord. Did she try jerking it instead of just a steady pull?
 
Yes she tried both. I was the one that triggered it and I would definitely not give one to a child - the effort required was too much for many kids (but obviously not for a strapping 14 year old rugby player ;-) )

It is a Crewsaver jacket and the pin is quite sharp.
 
I still say let her have another go before you come to conclusions. I once had a friend explain to me that women often seem weaker than men because they often don't comprehend how much force is required to move something, and they're unwilling to go all out on a first attempt. Where as most men aren't afraid of giving things that should move a damn good tug.

Lifejackets shouldn't require an inordinate amount of strength to trigger. They'd use a different design if that was the case.
 
And as she floats away into the darkness your parting call to her can be "Try again dear, you're not pulling it hard enough".:rolleyes:

I think I'd buy her an auto inflate jobby personally, they don't cost that much.:)

Tim
 
I tested SWMBO out with an expired Hammar Auto LJ, and the first few times she attempted to inflate it were a "fail", cos she was just pulling it like a bathroom light switch string.

On her first attempt at "yanking" it with a decent follow through, it inflated first time...

dv.
 
puddock said:
I allowed a 9 year old lass to fire one of mine and she managed no problem.
I think there is a good chance your wife may pull a little harder if she were in the drink but I would definitely have the mechanism checked out.
Click to expand...

When working for a sailing school one of the students asked how hard you had to pull the string. My response was that he'd know when it came to it.
 
IMHO, one that doesn't auto inflate is pretty useless anyway. If you're conscious enough to tug the cord, you're conscious enough to swim for a little while and so you don't need it.
 
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