roughbert
Member
There seems to be a lot of choice in life jackets these days. Can anyone suggest a good cheap 'un, or maybe a cheap one that is not to be avoided. Thanks!
Good cheap personal bouyancy?
- Thread starter roughbert
- Start date
SkipperJonB
New Member
Don't think there is 'cheap' when it comes to Lifejackets...unless you buy second hand from eBay! Then you would need to get them serviced. Sure there are outfits selling cheap ones online and they probably have the 'wheel mark'. Be careful it's not all what it seems...
Got 8 from a reputable company but within 6 months they were looking tired and the Velcro was knackered...complained and eventually after a long battle managed to return them and get the money back. The thing is, Lifejackets should be worn at all times and the MCA & RYA advocate they should be worn at all times unless safe not to. I recommend Baltic, we now have 10 Baltic Winner Lifejackets onboard and they are great. They have withstood continuous use over the past 3 years and still look like new. Yes they have been back to Baltic for their servicing and what a great service Baltic give....
Over the years I've had experience of many of many a Lifejacket... Baltic comes out on top!...OK, not the cheapest but when it's your or your families life...what is the price....
No doubt you will get different comments....hey ho...! The amatures will have there say and the ones that have not twigged yet... Happy boating!
Got 8 from a reputable company but within 6 months they were looking tired and the Velcro was knackered...complained and eventually after a long battle managed to return them and get the money back. The thing is, Lifejackets should be worn at all times and the MCA & RYA advocate they should be worn at all times unless safe not to. I recommend Baltic, we now have 10 Baltic Winner Lifejackets onboard and they are great. They have withstood continuous use over the past 3 years and still look like new. Yes they have been back to Baltic for their servicing and what a great service Baltic give....
Over the years I've had experience of many of many a Lifejacket... Baltic comes out on top!...OK, not the cheapest but when it's your or your families life...what is the price....
No doubt you will get different comments....hey ho...! The amatures will have there say and the ones that have not twigged yet... Happy boating!
[70521]
Well-Known Member
What sort of life jacket do you want?
I am a bit pedant when it comes to safety kit, and never scrimp on LJs.
prv
Well-Known Member
The Infamous Ebay Speedboat (my mate's boat run on a shoestring budget, mentioned here several times before) is kitted out with these: http://www.force4.co.uk/9780/Seago-Seaguard-Manual-Gas-Lifejacket-Navy.html which were the cheapest he could find in a bricks-and-mortar shop when he needed them in a hurry. They are the basic ordinary type of manual gas-inflation jackets - I think you'd have to go for foam to get much cheaper. The manufacturing quality of these ones is not noticeably lower than our own more expensive Crewsavers.
Pete
Pete
Tranona
Well-Known Member
In terms of performing the job of keeping you afloat, all LJs meet the same standard. For normal use the 150N standard, although most are 170N. The basic ones such as the Seago already suggessted is fine for ordinary leisure use.
You can pay more, and the increased price is first some have more features (lights, hoods etc) as standard second more robust fittings and materials, and third different designs, usually to improve comfort. The "extras" are of value if you use your LJ a lot, or it is for commercial use by a lot of different users as in a sailing school.
So your choice. Useful to go in a well stocked supplier and try them on to see whether you will be comfortable and have the opportunity to compare the detail differences between makes.
You can pay more, and the increased price is first some have more features (lights, hoods etc) as standard second more robust fittings and materials, and third different designs, usually to improve comfort. The "extras" are of value if you use your LJ a lot, or it is for commercial use by a lot of different users as in a sailing school.
So your choice. Useful to go in a well stocked supplier and try them on to see whether you will be comfortable and have the opportunity to compare the detail differences between makes.
roughbert
Member
@Tranona, thanks for mentioning the standard, that gives me some confidence that even a "cheapie" will be functional if it has 150N or 170N written on it.
Thanks indeed to all who answered.
Thanks indeed to all who answered.
William_H
Well-Known Member
I find it a bit amazing that the only answers seem to suggest gas inflatable LJs are the only ones. Now it depends on what you want or are required to have. For choice I go for buoyancy vests in foam. Thse are pretty much indestructable. Can help keep you warm around the torso and provide buoyancy with no action from the victim. The vest type will not keep your head out of the water but on the other hand enable you to swim and hopefully get back on the boat unaided. More floatation on the front and behind the neck give the self righting head out function but are then uncomfortable to wear long term.
I have a couple of new inflatables made obligatory for sail training but for choice I wear and give my crew buoyancy vests. Worst problem is tha they forget to take them off when they home. Especially if it is cold. Incidentally my own and favourite is home made with foam filling from hiking mats. yes I have done some swimming in it. But I only give the customers commercially made ones. Of course you cna be a lot more confident buying foam LJs because you can see the condition. olewill
I have a couple of new inflatables made obligatory for sail training but for choice I wear and give my crew buoyancy vests. Worst problem is tha they forget to take them off when they home. Especially if it is cold. Incidentally my own and favourite is home made with foam filling from hiking mats. yes I have done some swimming in it. But I only give the customers commercially made ones. Of course you cna be a lot more confident buying foam LJs because you can see the condition. olewill
prv
Well-Known Member
In this part of the world nowadays you basically never see foam lifejackets on yachts except for small children.
In the past, when lifejackets were only worn in genuinely heavy weather and for abandoning ship, you would sometimes find a charter boat kitted out with all foam, on the grounds that nobody was ever really expected to wear them and a locker full of unused foam jackets required no maintenance from the owner or charter company. But these days, when people tend to wear lifejackets more readily and in some cases all the time, it's invariably gas.
This is probably why nobody here uses them on seagoing yachts.
Going into the water in the Channel, with lots of clothing, boots, and waterproofs, a 50N buoyancy aid is really not what you want. A proper lifejacket made of foam is an embuggerance to wear (every time I sailed on Stavros we had to put them on as part of the Abandon Ship drill - no way it's practical to wear the things full time).
People do, of course, wear foam vests in dinghies. In racing dayboats, where you don't expect to fall in, but are generally in fairly protected waters, you tend to see a mixture of foam buoyancy aids and gas lifejackets.
No requirement here, if it's your own boat (and, I think, under 24m). You could go to sea with a plastic bag to blow into and then hold onto, but it wouldn't be very clever.
Pete
alant
Well-Known Member
Problem with foam filled/'rigid' vests, is when entering the water from a height. Unless the wearer has been trained in crossing arms to prevent the LJ being forced up under their chin, injury can occur. Can I also emphasise the use of crutch straps, which continue to be ignored by people wearing LJ's. Having used one in anger off a ship, I can recommend their use.
The problem with some LJ's, is the flimsy way they are 'packed'.
Make sure you buy one (like the Baltic) which can withstand frequent taking off/putting on, which some seem not to be able to do, with the outer protective covering bursting open even when deflated, causing wear on the important inner tubes.
prv
Well-Known Member
To be fair, you're unlikely to enter the water from a great height, especially deliberately and vertically, from a yacht.
Pete
alant
Well-Known Member
Even from a metre or so, can still hurt if done incorrectly.
prv
Well-Known Member
It hardly matters, as nobody wears them for all the other good reasons - but I still can't imagine why you'd be jumping into the water off a yacht. Falling off, perhaps, but then training about holding the jacket down is no use as you fly off any which way. Otherwise, if you have a metre of freeboard, you want to be staying on board.
Pete
roughbert
Member
When I read this a little bell rang. I'm pretty sure that 50 years ago when lifejackets were made of canvas and cork I was instructed thus. A little research revealed that this crutch strap business is serious indeed, people have died in recent years. Here's a great lifejacket resource: http://ftp.rta.nato.int/public//PubFullText/RTO/AG/RTO-AG-HFM-152///AG-HFM-152-09B.pdf
William_H
Well-Known Member
Hi prv. I would not necessarily disagree with you. In fact it is amazing how different my own situation is hence different attitudes. I guess it does point to the fact that different situations would best be served by different LJs.
Yes here we are obliged by law to carry PFD1 for every person.
Yes the water is not so cold. In fact we frequently read of survival after boat capsizes where a crew has swum ashore often many kms. A feat that would be very difficult in an infaltable or Mae West type LJ. it does tend to make for a more lacidasical approach to falling over board. Most people however are reasonably competent swimmers.
I often wear infatable LJs and often wonder just how long it would take me or worse a student to find the toggle and inflate the LJ. Asuming he is not injured (unconscious). You have to tuck it away to avoid inadvertant infaltion.
Anyway I not try to change the world thinking away from infaltable LJ just to add to the discussion that there are other options to consider.
olewill
prv
Well-Known Member
Automatic inflation, either hydrostatic or dissolving-tablet, is pretty common here.
I don't generally hide the toggle even on an auto jacket, and I certainly wouldn't on a manual. The pear-shaped knob is pretty good at not getting caught on stuff, and the lanyard is very short so it doesn't dangle where it shouldn't. My new Kru Sport Pro jacket also has an extra velcro tab to hold it out of the way and prevent any light tugs setting it off.
Pete
alant
Well-Known Member
Very interesting, thanks.
alant
Well-Known Member
When doing a safety brief, I often pointed out the words embossed on the t-toggle "jerk to inflate", stating that it was an instruction, not a comment. They seemed to remember.
When I had to use mine in anger, whilst plummeting to the bottom in the North Sea, my auto seemed to take an age to activate & I can remember looking down toward the toggle & reaching for it (mine always dangled). Still don't know which system inflated my LJ first.
PS my 150N LJ, was adequate to support me & all my heavy work gear, easily.
Also able to swim to a ladder (back stroke).
winsbury
Well-Known Member
FWIW the missus is somewhat distrustful of auto LJ's and prefers wearing her well tested dinghy 50N bouyancy aid when transferring between tender and yacht though does wear an inflatable once on board the yacht for the additional freedom of movement. The dinghy aids dont take up a lot of stowage and potentially saves having to buy a rearm kit. So far its only me that's fallen in though !
prv
Well-Known Member
I think there's a lot to be said for wearing buoyancy aids in tenders. You're more likely to need to swim as you don't have the yacht coming to pick you up, and you're in calmer conditions generally in some kind of harbour. Plus, oldish looking buoyancy aids are a lot less nickable than expensive auto gas jackets and can be left in the dinghy while you go to the pub.
Pete
