Firing off old life Jackets

dylanwinter said:
sorry for the cross post

but this is frightening

Salinia fired off his life jackets

and this is what happened



Dylan
Click to expand...

That frightens you? What did you expect?

Someone fires off a life jacket between 12 and 15 years old (depending on which one of his memories is correct) and it doesn't work properly.

FFS the cylinders are a few quid each. No excuse not to change them regularly. No excuse not to check your life jacket mechanism every year.

Good job the RNLI has lots of expensive boats to rescue those who still carry old kit like that.
 
Almost 60 quids worth of entertainment! I think the "failure" was due to the velcro not releasing on the r/h side, there seemed to be plenty of gas, but it was venting rather than inflating.

Maybe it was the release valve that operated at too low a pressure? But are new release valves included in the re-arming kits? It would still have kept her afloat, but probably not on her back with head out of the water. Perhaps a tug on the velcro would have saved the day?

Edit; Solent boy, the re-arming kits are between £10 & £30 each even on e-bay, like I said that's up to 60 squids worth of entertainment. I don't call that a "couple of quid", especially as it wasn't the gas cylinders that failed.
 
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Nothing to do with the gas bottle. The bladder or one of its attachments was leaking. Not saying that maintenance wouldn't have found it - but in fact it may have CAUSED it if not done properly.
We take ours off and give them a blowjob at home, so at least we know the bladders will stay up all night even if the gas/sensors fail.
 
+1 for leak (damaged bladder or valve stuck open).

It isn't very difficult to dismantled at end of season and check weigh the cylinder. It is worth painting the cyl. in first year to stop corrosion and hen re-check weight for future reference.

Manual systems are pretty easy to check as they are pretty simple. Automatic systems usually have a replace-by date so no problem there either.

I use a dinghy pump to inflate for testing and leave the bladder full for several days to make certain all is OK.

It should be an annual event, given the simplicity of a home service.

Can't see why a failure after 12-15 years (almost certainly without any servicing) would come as a great surprise.
 
dylanwinter said:
sorry for the cross post

but this is frightening

Salinia fired off his life jackets

and this is what happened



Dylan
Click to expand...

I'm not sure what you find frightening?

That someone would expect a life jacket 10 years past its service date to work?

Or do you just expect things to always work with out any sort of checks or maintenance?
 
frightening

wadget said:
I'm not sure what you find frightening?

That someone would expect a life jacket 10 years past its service date to work?

Or do you just expect things to always work with out any sort of checks or maintenance?
Click to expand...

well, it was frightening for me

I have three self inflators of varying ages

I do check them over - and weigh the cylinders

not every year.... but probably every couple of years

so I am a bad and stupid person

have I inflated them - not with an air pump but with a mouth - which is also stupid apparently

but not as hard and as fast as the cylinder did as the one that failed.

so I wonder if my test is actually worth doing

I did drop one of mine as I was unloading a dinghy and it did go off and stayed inflated

but I have failed to find a re-arming kit

I ordered one and that did not fit

then the bloke told me that the kits were no longer available and I should buy a new life jacket

which I have not done as I still have the other two

usually it is just me on board, sometimes Jill as well

if others are joining me afloat I either get them to bring their own life jackets or a I take a couple of dinghy bouyancy aids from the garage

I have even less faith in my self inflators now

Most of my sailing is in the sort of places people sail dinghies - nearly always within a few score yards of the shore

so I think that for routine, day to day sailing I might go back to dinghy bouyancy aids

anyone else care to fess up to owning self inflators that are not properly maintained or am I the only eejit?

Dylan
 
Mental note; never to sail with these people!!

I think people need to be rationed to how many posts they can make......
 
I'm not sure anyone will be brave enough to do it on here. As I said I have inflation tested mine (by mouth) & did once weigh the cylinders. But I keep no records nor do I make much effort to do it regularly, just when I think about it & have the opportunity. So I too am bad & stupid, but everyone knows that already.

Mine spend all their life hanging in the locker anyway as I seldom wear them more than once or twice a year if caught out in bad weather.
 
dylanwinter said:
<snip> am I the only eejit?

Dylan
Click to expand...
Why do you ask rhetorical questions? - You made a fuss recently about servicing your new OB and I am sure you have your CH boiler and car serviced regularly so what is the problem regularly servicing / checking a simple device that could save your life?
 
jellylegs said:
Mental note; never to sail with these people!!

I think people need to be rationed to how many posts they can make......
Click to expand...

Have you too been "trained" to think that sailing will kill you?

Of course it might, but "If not duffers, won't drown". Incidentally, I do understand that not all people who drown at sea have been duffers.

Avoiding "excitement & incident" (as far as you can) is far safer than relying on lifejackets after sinking your boat, isn't it? I understand that boats can sink unexpectedly, or people go over the side, but it isn't that common is it?

The consequences are very serious, but the likelyhood is really quite low. Therefore the risks are slight.

Just put all us regulars on ignore & you can have a lovely quiet forum without posts. :p
 
I wonder how many people read/remember the label that tells them the design/service life of the lifejacket they've bought and then follow it.

My Seago jackets only had a design life of 3 years.

As mentioned on another thread I do test annually - by actually firing the jacket. I also accept this seems to be controversial - but for me I feel it's the best balance that gives me the most confidence that the jacket will work when needed.

I've seen a jacket not go off properly - though nowhere near as badly as this leaky one - because it wasn't packed correctly. This caused the jacket to vent gas through the pressure relief valve rather than pop the velcro. Turned out the bladder had been folder too tightly.
 
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cliff said:
Why do you ask rhetorical questions? - You made a fuss recently about servicing your new OB and I am sure you have your CH boiler and car serviced regularly so what is the problem regularly servicing / checking a simple device that could save your life?
Click to expand...

That's an interesting assumption. Millions of people do neither & still don't get killed by it.

My 25 year old CH has never been professionally serviced, I keep an eye on it & clean & repair it when it needs it, but then I installed my own CH in a previous house.

Lots of people drive their cars until they break down or fail the MOT & then get them repaired or replace them. That's probably why breakdown insurance is so popular.

It's the regularity that some of us fail to cope with, it requires a certain "administrative" mindset that creative, lazy or impulsive people will never have.

But maybe that is just Dylan (creative) & I (lazy) that cannot be bothered with rigid rules & timescales for everything. We respect you paragons of virtue.
 
I confess

My auto LJs have now done six seasons, over 5000nms, quite a lot of which has been offshore. They have never been serviced.

This season I have been beginning to wonder about them and I'm not entirely happy with my daughter using one when crewing on a friends race boat.

I'm naturally suspicious of manufacturers "service intervals", I suspect they are always overly conservative which, curiously, and I'm sure it's an unintended outcome, makes more money for the manufacturer.

I think I'll do something about it this winter.
 
I tested two 10year old life jackets that were given to me - you can see from the video below of my girlfriend testing one that if the Velcro doesn't open it can be very dangerous....


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JWcrKYi5Wqk

Note- I have 2 manual seagos that I have tested by accident that need 38g refills but I have used 33g refills (which work fine) bought online for £3 each!
 
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