Lifejackets

[boatone]

How often do you have your lifejackets serviced - particularly the self inflating gas cylinder types?

Do any of you replace the cylinders and triggers yourselves?

 

[pheran]

There's not much more to do other than changing the cylinder and widget. Once a year I open ours out, inspect the stitching etc then refold. Then, perhaps every 3 or 4 years, I have the fun of setting them off, leaving them fully inflated for 48 hours to check for leakage. Replace the bits and the whole thing starts all over again! Probably wont be quite so fastidious now we've given up going to sea.

 

[teddington_lock]

I check mine once a month , take firing head off , inspect , check clips , check cylinder , check light , inflate for 24hrs , check stitching for abrasions / breaks , re-assemble.

Once a year it goes back to Crewsaver and is serviced.

All as per EA instructions.

 

[Ramage]

I have done lots of lifejacket servicing... We have our own to do plus the ones we use for the Explorer Scouts when we take them power boating.

Every so often someone fires one off by accident too!

I usually get the rearm kits from www.lifejackets.co.uk

 

[Dave_Seager]

I service ours myself as described above by Teddington Lock, at the start of every season.

Also, we always wear them when we are below Teddington Lock (the place that is, not the contributor to this forum).

 

[byron]

I always used straight Kapok type jackets that need no servicing.

 

[pheran]

I check mine once a month , take firing head off , inspect , check clips , check cylinder , check light , inflate for 24hrs , check stitching for abrasions / breaks , re-assemble.

Once a year it goes back to Crewsaver and is serviced.

All as per EA instructions.

Just a thought (but I know you are only following orders). I assume you inflate the lifejacket by mouth? I remember going to a presentation at one of the boat shows a while back where they very firmly advised against regular inflation in this way. All to do with the moisture it introduces etc.

 

[Richard Shead]

I leave

Them just below a leaking window for a few weeks, when I come back they are usually inflated...

 

[Ramage]

Obviously not Hammar ones....

 

[suzanne]

Dad used to push us overboard every summer to check if they still worked. Only had one occassion where we had a problem - my sister was involved in an incident where a RIB flipped over and she was trapped underneath, the lifejacket did not go off but actually if it had she would not have been able to swim out!

 

[bradtarga34]

I always used straight Kapok type jackets that need no servicing.

Are they the standard White Star Line issue?

 

[byron]

Are they the standard White Star Line issue?

Even I am not that old but yes they are (were) all off merchant ships. They might not be pretty but that last thing I would be thinking about is style if I was in the briny.

 

[Searush]

Ok, I know you are teasing, but just in case any one reads you & thinks it's safe to use kapok;

A material called kapok was later used as the fill material in life vests. Kapok is a vegetable fiber found in tropical tree pods, resembling milkweed. The waxy coating which covers the kapok fiber provided the necessary buoyancy. The kapok fiber was sealed in vinyl plastic packets to prevent exposure to the water. One problem with the vinyl-sealed kapok fiber life jacket was that the packets could be punctured, causing the jacket to lose its buoyancy. Kapok is now prohibited for use in life preservers in most of Europe and in Canada.

From here;
Almost the first reference I took off google, there are many more. Kapok L/J & PBA's may be OK as cushions and are certainly an improvement over nothing, but I wouldn't want to be relying on one if I was in the water for more than a few minutes.

Having said that I have a couple of kapok PBA's for the kids to play in - plus several BOAC lightweight manual inflatables that still pass the service tests. But these are not kept as safety devices - they are toys for playing with when swimming.