Do you trust your lifejacket?

[RupertW]

I have an auto-inflating harness/lifejacket, bought 18 months ago and thought I'd see how it would cope if I really went into the water last week.

Inflate it did not. The Hammar trigger appeared to fire, but no inflation, even when the cord was pulled, after a few minutes in the water.

I'm very glad the harness part worked over the last couple of seasons. I just wonder now whether it's failure was due to recent use, or whether it would always have failed.

Anybody else tried their auto-inflators?

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[Guest]

Are you sure it wasn't one of the recall ones from a while ago that the gas connection was faulty ? Can't remember what make ----- but a trawl through back PBO's early this year / late last will come up with it ....... unless someone can remember it. The article described the colour code etc. of the items ......


<hr width=100% size=1>Nigel ...
Bilge Keelers get up further ! I came - cos they said was FREE Guinness !
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[Mirelle]

Was the gas bottle screwed home?

I checked mine after reading the MCA report on this - two out of five had partly unscrewed and would probably not have operated.

Sobering!

If yours had a different fault, that is even more alarming.

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[Magic_Sailor]

I\'m not too sure

I used my own Crewsaver 150N during a survival at sea course.

When I jumped in it did not automatically inflate. When I pulled the red chord it then inflated.

Having said that, I only jumped in from the side of the pool and the air in my foulies meant that I barely broke the surface tension. I doubt that I went more than 2' under he water.

Still - sobering.

Magic

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[nailit]

Simple question from a (simple) newbie;

How wet do these auto inflation jackets have to be to inflate?

I mean, are they for example not recommended for speed boats/ribs etc?

or do they need a real good soaking!!

p.s. I don't fancy testing one today!

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[RupertW]

Re: I\'m not too sure

The same lifejacket as me, then, but a different problem.

Hmmm...

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[RupertW]

Re: Was the gas bottle screwed home?

Got it in one.

As the cylinder is inside the lifejacket (great idea for rust-proofing etc.), I hadn't spotted that the cylinder was loose by a couple of turns. Tightening it after the trigger had fired did no good - not sure why!

I've since found out that that lock-tite is now often applied as part of servicing, so the moral seems to be - buy your jacket, then immediately service it, then hope.

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[TheBoatman]

Re: I\'m not too sure

As a RNLI sea check advisor, I'm always a little surprised at how many jackets I check and find the gas bottle loose in its mounting. I also find a lot of people produce a new jacket in its plastic bag complete with seprerate crotch straps. How they expect to don this thing with water lapping around there feet I don't know. I have the greatest difficulty with mine even though its already fitted to me, it always seems to be tied in knots everytime I want to use it!
Where possible jackets should be sent back to the manufacturer for servicing, however you can help yourself by checking the following:
1. Visual check (make sure everything looks OK).
2. Remove gas bottle and check firing mechanism.
3. Inflate by mouth and leave to stand for 24 hours, (leak check).
4. If you have the means weigh the gas bottle (weight stamped on the side, in grammes).
5. Regularly check that gas bottle is tight in housing.
6. Check the end of gas bottle to make sure that a "very" small hole has not been rubbed into it by the firing pin - result - empty gas bottle.

If you do the above, you have done about all you can without specialist knowledge.


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[RupertW]

Re: I\'m not too sure

Unfortunately, 1 (partly),2,4 and 6 can't be done with a Hammar-style trigger as fitted on Crewsaver lifejackets - at least not without a specialist tool, I think?

The cylinder is inside the inflatable part of the lifejacket therefore is not visible or removable without dismantling the trigger. You can (as I now know) feel the cylinder through the lifejacket and tighten it that way. You can also check whether the trigger has fired as a red dot appears.

If you can enlighten me more, I'd be very interested

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[tome]

Re: I\'m not too sure

On the Hanmar equipped LJs you should add a check for security of the gas bottle every time you issue it - this is what we do.

This stems from a recommendation made by MAIB following the loss of the fishing vessel Radiant with 1 fatality. Here's an extract:

<font color=blue>The accident raises a question about the effectiveness of at least one type of lifejacket being used at sea. Realising the importance of finding out what happened without delay, 2 of the lifejackets used in this accident were recovered. Together with 14 others of similar type, 5 of which were unused, they were sent to an independent approved lifesaving appliance laboratory for inspection and testing. They were all fitted with Hammar release units.

The examination revealed that the gas cylinders were either not connected to, or were not fully tightened into their release units. The gas cylinders in the five unused lifejackets were not fully tightened into their release units.</font color=blue>

The report makes the following recommendations in respect of these LJs:

<font color=blue>Fishermen and mariners who routinely wear inflatable lifejackets are recommended to:

1. Check that the gas cylinders are firmly tightened into the release units. It is especially important that owners of lifejackets fitted with Hammar release units make this check.

2. Carry out the safety checks listed in the booklet issued with every lifejacket fitted with a Hammar release unit:

· Check that the single point indicator is green.

· Check that the expiry date has not been reached.

· Check that the red handle is attached.

· Check that the gas cylinder is firmly tightened by holding it through the jacket fabric.

Any deficiencies should be dealt with as soon as practicable and no later than the next time the vessel goes to sea.</font color=blue>

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[Roberto]

re 3)

isn't it advised to inflate them with a bicycle pump or similar, not by mouth as breath water vapour remains inside and can cause corrosion of the whole thing ?
mind you by mouth is much easier...

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[Paul_H]

Nailit
There are two types of auto trigger
Hydrostatic/Hammar uses water pressure to trigger so ok in wet environments but you need to get well dunked for it trigger. Tother uses a salt crystal that disolves after a few secs of immersion, though still ok in wet such as rain and spray.

Staying afloat is the least of your worries. Dont forget: hypothermia, wave wash and the ability of those left on board to turn (assuming your absence is noticed), get back and pick you up.
Like a lot of safety kit it we kick the s**t out of it through neglect and misuse and then expect it work perfectly. Catch 22 with things like auto jackets and flares, cant test em to see if theyre ok.

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[Magic_Sailor]

Re: I\'m not too sure

Clearly, I didn't have a leaking bottle here otherwise it wouldn't have inflated at all and I suspect that the Hammar sensor didn't go off because I just didn't go deep enough to trigger it.

However, I think it shows the benefit of actually using your life jacket at least once "in anger" so that if and when the time comes you're not taken by surprise in the middle of what will be a very stressful situation.

Your observations are of course excellent.

Magic

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[nailit]

Thanks Paul_H

A true story of a SWMBO (not mine) who decided to clean an auto inflate LJ, and washed it. Raised a few laughs when she went to buy a replacement/recharge.



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[Gordonmc]

After months of pestering by our eight year old I relented to test her auto-inflate jacket. It was duly thrown into the oggin with her inside it. She got such a fright at the bang I doubt if she'll ever want to repeat the experience.

More seriously at last year's Scottish Series there was an RNLI stand where they were doing checks on lifejackets and had some statistics on how many failed to have their cartridges properly screwed home. Don't recall, but it was more than half.

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[nicho]

My wife, who loves her sailing, but is terrified of water and cannot swim (she's had many lessons, but seems to suffer from negative bouyancy!), relies on an auto inflation lifejacket, and our greatest fear that at the time she needs it most, i.e.falling in and perhaps being "paralysed" by shock, is the time it will fail to inflate. We take huge care to ensure the likelyhood of her going overboard is minimised, but such an occurrence cannot be ruled out.

The problem is, if we test it by immersion, then replace the spent parts, how the hell do you know it will inflate automatically next time, and so on.

It is terribly worrying that when these items are tested by magazines, around 20% don't do what they should - and they are often the more expensive ones too. I guess we can only check them periodically, and have them professionally serviced, and then keep our fingers crossed, but it's far from a satisfactory situation.

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[Mirelle]

Exactly

Oddly enough, the cheaper moisture-inflated ones are not like this!

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[Mirelle]

EVERYONE SHOUL READ THIS! *DELETED*

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[tome]

Re: EVERYONE SHOUL READ THIS!

Mirelle

I posted extracts from this report (see my earlier post). Wakey wakey!

Regards
Tom

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[RupertW]

Thanks Crewsaver

I've just had a mail from Crewsaver offering to give my failed lifejacket a free service, even though I'd missed the "tighten the cylinder every time" instruction in their leaflet.

Nice.

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