In the market for a new life jacket...

[farmerdan79]

...what would you recommend?

Budget £50 - £100

Auto a definate as is a harness,

Mainly cruising in the solent with some channel hops once or twice a year and the round the island race too...

Thoughts?

Ta

 

[photodog]

Well you want something with a crutch strap, hood and light... and I am inclined towards 175 newtons instead of 150.... all the clobber we wear.. and the full Englishes we consume....

I think this is a good package...

http://www.force4.co.uk/7378/Seago-...-with-spray-hood--light-and-crutch-strap.html

 

[exfinnsailor]

How much is your life worth

Chinese import life jacket with garenntee hear band neewe £10

By something that fits properly with crutch straps etc. Light would be good as is a face mask.

..

 

[Rum_Pirate]

How much is your life worth

+1

 

[Dab]

My choice would be an auto jacket with crotch strap, spray hood and light. :

-Crotch strap essential, otherwise it is quite likely that you will float with your face under water, especially if you are unconcious. Even if conscious you will expend more energy keeping your head up which will reduce your survival time in a prolonged immersion.

-Auto essential as if if you are unconcious as you go over the side you might as well not be wearing one.

-A spray hood keeps spray out of your face. Spray in your face contributes to secondary drowning. I would want one. If you can guarantee you will only go over the side for a short time and/or in a low wind and sea state you could take a risk on this.

-A light makes you much more visible at night. If you never sail at night again you could take a risk on this.

-How much buoyancy? When I did my sea survival course it was suggested by some people that a standard 150N jacket would ot guarantee turning you face up if you were a big lad and/or wearing lots of clothes with trapped air pockets (winter sailing). So if you are larger than average and plan to go sailing with lots of clothes on you might consider a 190N or 275N jacket.

I would start with the full set, and then decide if I could reliably do without any of the features. Once you have decided what features you need then look to seat what is in your budget. Photodog's suggestion is a good one, I quite like the look of the Crewsave 190 (some high buoyancy models are quite long and manage to hang in the way of most of the things you are trying to do on deck).

 

[FishyInverness]

-How much buoyancy? When I did my sea survival course it was suggested by some people that a standard 150N jacket would ot guarantee turning you face up if you were a big lad and/or wearing lots of clothes with trapped air pockets (winter sailing). So if you are larger than average and plan to go sailing with lots of clothes on you might consider a 190N or 275N jacket.

The "big people need more buoyancy" part is an oft spread fallacy and endlessly debated on here...you really do not need more buoyancy in a lifejacket if you are a bigger person, it's a myth and in fact if you have more fat on you, you are naturally more buoyant. The main reasons for upping to a 275newton lifejacket (190 isn't a rating, though a lot of lifejackets rated to 150 newton exceed that by a certain amount and the manufacturers then quite justifiably, boast that extra buoyancy) are if:

A) You intend to wear inherent buoyancy articles of clothing alongside your lifejacket (Flotation suit, jacket, waistcoat or the like).

B) You intend to wear heavy clothing, clothing which is likely to become heavier when waterlogged or clothing which is likely to trap air inside it.

C) You intend to carry heavy equipment attached to your person.

farmerdan - I would suggest, as most do on these threads, to try as many lifejackets on as you can in time and availability constraints. If you have a local chandler worth their salt they will spend the time with you, and most will be happy to let you try on as many as possible and provide some good advice, and point out the specifications as you do.

TBH, The best lifejacket for you is the one you feel you can wear all day, some will not be to your personal taste, some will feel more uncomfortable to you than others - What I might tell you on this forum is a great lifejacket, you might buy and then really dislike! Eg, I really like the look and features of the CrewSaver 190, I really don't like the way it feels around my neck (Like a rolled up towel, I always say!) - but one of my colleagues thinks that the same feeling is more secure (psychologically) than, for example, the Secumar. So advice goes so far, but personal experience in something like this is worth far more.

I'd agree with the features outlined, Crotch Strap and Sprayhood are highly recommended.

If you can get the time to go and "get fitted" as I say, that is the best method for selection, then come back here and ask people what they think or what's their experience of the jackets that you prefer in the real world...

Oh, and I suspect that we are overdue a lifejacket test article in the boating press main titles so expect to see one coming up in the next few months!

Have fun!

 

[Talulah]

If you are inclined to do your own servicing you can stop reading.
If you want a service centre to service your lifejacket find where one is that services your brand and find out how much they charge.
Your results may well influence which brand you bought.
The latter means I personnaly would never buy a Crewsaver lifejacket.

 

[fireball]

First and foremost ... before ANYTHING else ...

It has to be comfortable to wear ... if it is uncomfortable then you either won't wear it or you'll resent wearing it and it'll distract you.

Beyond that then you can read the others advice ...

 

[PetiteFleur]

I have a mixture of Seago and Plastimo - Auto with harness & crutch strap. Make sure they are comfortable particularly for the ladies.

 

[BlueSkyNick]

...what would you recommend?

Budget £50 - £100

Auto a definate as is a harness,

Mainly cruising in the solent with some channel hops once or twice a year and the round the island race too...

Thoughts?

Ta

I would save up some more and go for a Kru or Spinlock waistcoat type.

 

[BlueSkyNick]

If you are inclined to do your own servicing you can stop reading.
If you want a service centre to service your lifejacket find where one is that services your brand and find out how much they charge.
Your results may well influence which brand you bought.
The latter means I personnaly would never buy a Crewsaver lifejacket.

what does a service centre do that we can't do ourselves? I blow them up manually, leave them for a couple of days, manually inspect and repack them.

 

[Talulah]

what does a service centre do that we can't do ourselves? I blow them up manually, leave them for a couple of days, manually inspect and repack them.

Bit of thread drift suffice to say if I wasn't 'required' to use a service center I wouldn't.
However, it does give me a piece of paper which goes some way to show I have carried out my duty of care. If it wasn't a requirement for us commercial chaps than I'm sure a lot of life jackets would never see the light of day.
I know of one case where the operator at the time of inspection brought onto their boat a set of life jackets off another boat. The inspector, being switched on, then got the chap to write in permanent marker the name of the boat on each life jacket.

 

[rotrax]

...what would you recommend?

Budget £50 - £100

Auto a definate as is a harness,

Mainly cruising in the solent with some channel hops once or twice a year and the round the island race too...

Thoughts?

Ta

Hi, First Mate and I treated ourselves last year to KRU 175 waistcoat types. A little more than you are asking but they are so comfortable compared to non waistcoat types they are worth every penny.Built in harness,sprayhood,auto. The chandlery at port solent threw in two lights as we got a pair. Highly recomended.

 

[bbg]

I would save up some more and go for a Kru or Spinlock waistcoat type.

+1

I can vouch for the comfort of a Spinlock. Seemed to wear it for days at a time, recently, including sleeping. Forgot it was there.

 

[Allan]

+1 for Kru. Recently got used when the dinghy flipped over and I was impressed. In the past I have jumped overboard wearing my old Crewsaver twice. Once without crutch straps and once with them. I would never wear a lifejacket without them now.
Allan
PS Kru are made by Remploy in the UK. In the past I have tried to support Remploy, I'm not sure if they are quite as worthy of support these days.

 

[Slowtack]

I have a secumar 275 auto for heavy weather in full gear with a very good divebelt type buckle. Its a bit heavy though so I use a 150 auto for lighter duty sailing. Havng gone in once I would always advocate using crotch straps.