Life Jacket - rplcmnt gas bottles

[Shearwater]

I have three brands of l/jacket: Seago, XM and Baltic. The XM self inflated last summer (it was probably left in direct Spanish sunlight in a closed up cabin) and getting BRANDED replacements is impossible. I've looked closely at as many pictures as I can and it appears all bottles and the plastic re-arm device appear very similar. Can anyone confirm they are all industry standard (i.e. excluding hammar) and any brand can be fitted to any jacket. Many tks. Colin

 

[Hugh Foulis]

Hi,

The gas bottles are industry standard 33g CO2 but the firing mechanism is not. I was looking for service kits for two baltic automatic units that I have and our wholesaler had to send me combintions of everything for me to work out what fitted where. However the choice I think is between 'united moulders' and 'Halkey Roberts'.

If United Moulders, the firing mechanism is a throw away black cartridge about 60mm long and 22mm diameter and the old one is replaced with a new one, if its Halkey Roberts its a case of unscrewing the assembly and fitting a new dissolving pellet before reassembly. Total cost of bottle and consumables about £17.

Best Regards

HF

 

[Talbot]

Not all lifejackets are the 33 gm standard - here is a list:

24g - twenty four gram co2 cylinder, commonly used on kids automatic gas life jackets.

33g - thirty three gram co2 cylinder, commonly used on adult 150N gas lifejackets.

38g - thirty eight gram co2 cylinder, less common, found on 150-175N gas life jackets.

60g - sixty gram co2 cylinder, found on 275N gas life jackets.



but provided you get the correct weight, it should be identical.

(puts anorak away again)

 

[Shearwater]

Why can't the l.j. makers get together and design a standard firingmechanism. It's not just stupid, it's counter productive. The answer is do not buy an l.j. unless you can be sure of buying a re-fit some years in the future.

 

[Gin]

Good questions and informative responses- going down a similar path now for my six (expired) canisters- some XM remainder Seago.

It's like domestic light bulbs- they all do the same job but a nightmare to find the right bayonet/screw fitting etc.- time the manufacturers adopted a standard.

The cynic in me says they won't because they then continue to have us by the 'shorts'

 

[AIDY]

I've always wondered about using cylinders from a bike shop for pumping you tyres up for a couple of squid.... they even have the same thread and same weight... /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif

never been tempted to replace with them though /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif