Children's Lifejackets

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Grumpybear

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We are about to buy an automatic lifejacket for our granddaughter, aged 2 yrs 6 months. can the forum recommend suitable makes/models? Or, conversely, identify ones to avoid?

Many thanks in anticipation.

Giles
 
Grumpybear said:
We are about to buy an automatic lifejacket for our granddaughter, aged 2 yrs 6 months. can the forum recommend suitable makes/models? Or, conversely, identify ones to avoid?
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You won't find one from any reputable maker. Automatic lifejackets are not suitable for small children - you need a foam one.

The Boy has two. One is a Baltic with inbuilt harness which we use sailing on the sea. For local freshwater sailing he has a Crewsaver. Both seem well made, with perhaps a slight edge to the Crewsaver, and comfortable. He has tried the Baltic one in the local swimming pool and so knows more-or-less what to expect if he ever falls in.
 
For a child of that age, I would forget about an inflating type lifejacket which has no intrinsic buoyancy and get a good non inflating type buoyancy aid. What kids of that age need is immediate buoyancy if they do fall in and not faffing about with inflating type buoyancy aids. Also, it must have crotch straps and a good buoyant collar so if the child falls in, they will immediately float on their back.

I have these for my grandchildren they are fitted with an integral harness which is fitted with a ring on the back onto which we can clip a safety line.

The ones we have are Crewsaver:

http://www.crewsaver.co.uk/Crewsaver/Crewsaver_Leisure_Products/index.html?catid=25

FWIW, the one and only time I have fallen in, my automatic lifejacket took a few minutes, in fact after I had got back on baord, before it inflated!!
 
Up to the age of 7 or so, ours wore the bouyancy filled life jackets. It meant I never had to worry about the reliability of an auto-inflation devices or the ability of a submerged, stressed 5 year old to find a red cord to pull.

Also, and of use on every trip, was the padding. Young 'uns will get covered in bruises on boats and a bit of padding saves a lot of tears.
 
Ubergeekian said:
You won't find one from any reputable maker. Automatic lifejackets are not suitable for small children - you need a foam one.
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Agree.

Min weight/size for a Crewsaver Junior 150N auto is 20 Kg (44 lbs) and 66cm (26") chest, so basically, it's foam (Seababy, then Seatoddler[0]) to age 5/6 depending on how much they eat - TheBoy got a 150 Auto early 'cos TheGirl outgrew the Seababy and needed his Seatoddler ;-)

[0] Note Seachild foam has overlap with with junior 150, so *that's* when you can move to auto.
 
Grumpybear said:
We are about to buy an automatic lifejacket for our granddaughter, aged 2 yrs 6 months. can the forum recommend suitable makes/models? Or, conversely, identify ones to avoid?

Many thanks in anticipation.

Giles
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As others have said - don't go for the auto inflating style. I like the foam ones as they give the child some form of padding as well and they do not really get in the way of their movement.

You can get cheap foam filled ones from most chandlers in the £20-30 range which I think are adequate (we have had a couple).

Better are the Seatoddler and so on from CrewSaver - but they are more expensive. They have the benefit of being orally inflatable from 100N (equivalent) spec to 150N or more. We also have one of these. Much nicer piece of kit but realistically I don't think it adds anything to the safety of a child.

In my opinion the most important issue is ensuring that should the child falls in he will float head up - that requires a significant amount of buoyancy at the back of the head so avoid any design that looks deficient in that area.
 
Anyone care to stab an a rough age where they'd be comfortable with automatic lifejackets for kids? Double digits? Teens?
thx
 
dbasrus said:
Anyone care to stab an a rough age where they'd be comfortable with automatic lifejackets for kids? Double digits? Teens?
thx
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The Crewsaver chap at the boat show suggested min age 6, citing sufficiently-developed chest & ribcages to take the force of auto-inflation.

I'd never heard that suggestion before, but he was adamant on No Sale - I don't know whether there have ever been any product liability issues with 'em...
 
dbasrus said:
Anyone care to stab an a rough age where they'd be comfortable with automatic lifejackets for kids? Double digits? Teens?
thx
Click to expand...

Agree with all above. We use the Crewsaver Seasafe / Toddler jackets. The upgrade to the Crewsaver Junior Air Only was at the point when the kids could swim strongly and understood the issues, which for our two was when they were about 7/8.

Have a look on ebay where you can find some bargains. I'm selling a Crewsaver Junior Air Only one at the moment but this is no use to you.
 
Last edited:
I have mentioned this before, but probably it bears repeating.
I witnessed a young girl wearing an auto inflating LJ, when her brother pulled the rip cord.
Imagine happily playing sand-pies and suddenly there's a loud bang, lots of hissing and something is grabbing you round the neck.
This kid was terrified and the last I saw was the parents trying to persuade her to get into the dinghy so they could get clean underwear for her. I don't think she ever wanted to go near a boat again!
Have a look at dinghy racing buoyancy aids, my grand-kids consider these "cool".
 
DanTribe said:
I have mentioned this before, but probably it bears repeating.
I witnessed a young girl wearing an auto inflating LJ, when her brother pulled the rip cord.
Imagine happily playing sand-pies and suddenly there's a loud bang, lots of hissing and something is grabbing you round the neck.
This kid was terrified and the last I saw was the parents trying to persuade her to get into the dinghy so they could get clean underwear for her. I don't think she ever wanted to go near a boat again!
Have a look at dinghy racing buoyancy aids, my grand-kids consider these "cool".
Click to expand...

Good point, well made! :)
 
dbasrus said:
Anyone care to stab an a rough age where they'd be comfortable with automatic lifejackets for kids? Double digits? Teens?
thx
Click to expand...

Replaced a foam crewsaver with an auto for my daughter this year. She is a very skinny ten year old. Last time she tried one she found it too heavy. The kids autos aren't much lighter than an adults.
 
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