Lifejackets - manual or automatic?

[prv]

As well as a Hammar automatic lifejacket I also carry a foam buoyancy aid to use in the dinghy, because if I fall out of that I want to be able to swim.

I too have some foam buoyancy aids for the dinghy. Being able to swim is part of it, but mostly I have them so that I don't need to worry about the expensive auto jackets getting nicked

Pete

 

[sailorman]

When I wrote my reply, you hadn't yet edited your post to add the bit about the knockdown.

To address that though - avoiding automatic lifejackets because you're worried about the thousands-to-one chance of being trapped in the cabin during a knockdown seems like a very odd set of priorities for the average coastal leisure sailor.

Pete

It happened on a nice calm sunny day last summer off of Felixstowe. which is why i posed the question

 

[Hadenough]

Water down below decks ??????

Perhaps if you could take the trouble to reply with more than smug one liners (at least 64,000 so far) we would be able to pursue the thead!

 

[GrahamM376]

When I wrote my reply, you hadn't yet edited your post to add the bit about the knockdown.

To address that though - avoiding automatic lifejackets because you're worried about the thousands-to-one chance of being trapped in the cabin during a knockdown seems like a very odd set of priorities for the average coastal leisure sailor.

Pete

Being in the cabin shouldn't be a problem whereas being in the cockpit of an inverted boat with an inflated jacket wouldn't be healthy but, as others have said, the main risk is falling or being knocked overboard. I've only had one auto go off unexpectedly, when dunked by a large wave on foredeck.

 

[sailorman]

I am asking why auto are deemed to be better as this isnt always the case, is it. what do you wear & when

 

[Pladdatoo]

+1, the only accidental inflation I've seen was a manual jacket, the toggle got caught up in the sail somehow while reefing

Pete

+2 and for the third time over the past fees years ..... Doing up the stack pack and the the bl@@@y toggle got caught in the reefingline line and once again I was left looking like a muppet with an inflated l/j and me on the foredeck!

So ?, do auto jackets have the toggle for manual inflation? I am interested in the Kru, what have been people's experience of them?

 

[sailorman]

+2 and for the third time over the past fees years ..... Doing up the stack pack and the the bl@@@y toggle got caught in the reefingline line and once again I was left looking like a muppet with an inflated l/j and me on the foredeck!

So ?, do auto jackets have the toggle for manual inflation? I am interested in the Kru, what have been people's experience of them?

Spinlock certainly do

 

[GrahamM376]

Spinlock certainly do

So do Crewsaver and I suspect every other make.

 

[ghostlymoron]

As far as I know, all automatics have a pull cord as well. They are fairly easily caught on things and can inflate accidentally but to me this slight downside is worth putting up with. Its very disorienting falling into cold sea and sometimes difficult to tell which way is up.

 

[LittleSister]

I also carry a foam buoyancy aid to use in the dinghy, because if I fall out of that I want to be able to swim.

I too have some foam buoyancy aids for the dinghy.

Yes, I too use a buoyancy aid when in the dinghy. It so much 'goes without saying' (thinking?), I hadn't thought to mention it.

Being able to swim is part of it, but mostly I have them so that I don't need to worry about the expensive auto jackets getting nicked

My cunning ruse for avoiding getting my lifejacket nicked involves spending several years cultivating mould spots and diverse stains.

 

[DownWest]

Manual gas. I often sail small boats and need the choice if swimming after a capsize. I have not tried getting back into a boat with an inflated LJ and do not want to have to try. Also, I had to swim in an inflated one and one goes very slowly, on ones back. That experience also taught me that it is very difficult to orally blow up a LJ in choppy water, hence my vote for manual gas.

 

[Triassic]

Manual gas one. As a multihull the last thing I want is my lifejacket going off and potentially trapping me under an overturned boat....

I've put quite a lot of thought into if I should wear one at all. When I'm single handed who is actually going to come and rescue me, and if I am sailing with crew and given the speed of the boat in conditions where I could potentially go over the side what are the chances of them actually finding me by the time they have stopped her/turned around?

I do wear a lifejacket but mainly because it has a harness built in and I'm fanatical about clipping on. I also carry a VHF radio and a locator beacon in my jacket pocket. I figure the lifejacket may keep me afloat long enough for me to alert help and then be able to direct them to where I am, if I'm lucky.....

 

[[70521]]

Automatic.

If I enter the water at anything less than 5 on the Glasgow Coma Scale; I want the jacked to keep my airway above the water.

They are not designed to swim in, yes you can swim using a breast stroke kick on your back, but if I fall out of the dingy into a spring ebb I shall be waving to Exmouth Lifeboat station as I pass them at 4 knots.

 

[prv]

Yes, I too use a buoyancy aid when in the dinghy. It so much 'goes without saying' (thinking?), I hadn't thought to mention it.

Are we talking at cross purposes here? That sounds like you're talking about a sailing dinghy, where indeed a buoyancy aid is so standard as not to be worth mentioning.

I was talking about the yacht's tender; looking at other people in the West Country and the Channel Islands, either the yacht's inflatable jackets or none at all seems more common than foam.

My cunning ruse for avoiding getting my lifejacket nicked involves spending several years cultivating mould spots and diverse stains.

I bought mine via eBay, already faded and lightly stained with mildew and paint

Pete

 

[prv]

As far as I know, all automatics have a pull cord as well. They are fairly easily caught on things and can inflate accidentally but to me this slight downside is worth putting up with.

In the past I have been known to tuck the manual toggle inside the cover on an auto jacket. Obviously you are then placing more trust in the auto mechanism, though I believe they're pretty reliable. On a velcro-closed jacket (which these were) you do still have some chance of getting at it if required.

I don't do it any more as my Kru Sport Pro holds the toggle tightly in a protected corner against the edge of the pack, rather than leaving it to dangle. So it seems much less likely to get caught (plus I do less scrabbling around on the foredeck than I used to )

Pete

 

[Robin]

Manual gas one. As a multihull the last thing I want is my lifejacket going off and potentially trapping me under an overturned boat....

I've put quite a lot of thought into if I should wear one at all. When I'm single handed who is actually going to come and rescue me, and if I am sailing with crew and given the speed of the boat in conditions where I could potentially go over the side what are the chances of them actually finding me by the time they have stopped her/turned around?

I do wear a lifejacket but mainly because it has a harness built in and I'm fanatical about clipping on. I also carry a VHF radio and a locator beacon in my jacket pocket. I figure the lifejacket may keep me afloat long enough for me to alert help and then be able to direct them to where I am, if I'm lucky.....

I understand the logic but might also add one of those nifty credit card sized line cutters to the jacket to cut the harness line if disaster happens. Might also help if you were being towed at water ski speeds by the upright tri.?

 

[Triassic]

I understand the logic but might also add one of those nifty credit card sized line cutters to the jacket to cut the harness line if disaster happens. Might also help if you were being towed at water ski speeds by the upright tri.?

I carry a knife on the lifejacket webbing. Technically it's almost impossible to go overboard on my trimaran. The jack lines are either side of the cabin top and the line on my harness is just long enough that I can get to the hatches on the floats and the bow, but not to let me go past...... I could concievably go over the front of the nets between the bows but it would have to be quite a stumble to get there.

 

[sailorman]

Nets have been known to fail :ambivalence:

 

[Leighb]

Automatic, as I would like to be sure it would inflate should I enter the water unconscious for whatever reason.

 

[LittleSister]

Yes, I too use a buoyancy aid when in the dinghy. It so much 'goes without saying' (thinking?), I hadn't thought to mention it.

Are we talking at cross purposes here? That sounds like you're talking about a sailing dinghy, where indeed a buoyancy aid is so standard as not to be worth mentioning.

I was talking about the yacht's tender; looking at other people in the West Country and the Channel Islands, either the yacht's inflatable jackets or none at all seems more common than foam.

No, we're not at cross purposes, I was talking about the yacht tender, too. (Though I also wear a buoyancy aid in a sea kayak, and did when I had a sailing dinghy.)