Liftjacket test and ZIP

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sailor211

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In preparation for the scuttlebutt cruise I was encouraged by SWMBO to test my Spinlock lifejacket. Sensible precaution as it is now 10 years old and was last inflated sometime last year. The gas bottle was a corroded so I thought I should try it and then rearm the jacket.

For the full experience, I put it on and pulled the cord. It took a lot more pulling than I expected/recall but is did fire. Cats and Dog run from the room, it appears that they are not keen on the noise. The lifejacket was quick and fully inflated. It stayed fully inflated and hard for more than 12 hours which is good. :encouragement:

For testing the auto part, I lowered the unit in a glass of water and it also worked as expected sending the bits of plastic across the kitchen

The light marked “replace by 2015” also works well. I will buy a new one.

So a couple of days later, when the rearming pack arrived, I set about repacking. The lifejacket was at this stage still inflate but very squishy.

The problem is when I go to do up the zip , one part of the zip moving parts is stuck at the end and the other is missing having exploded at inflation, I did find the bits on the floor. Zip is now not a zip. :(

What to do, rather that buy a new £110 Lifejacket?

It is possible to buy new zip components and fit them?

Are zips a standard size? If so I could but an new zip and use the parts? My sailbags work with lose zip sliders.

I have not investigated sewing in a new zip but the spinlock has an easy open section so it opens on inflation. I have yet to ask for parts from Spinlock as I expect them to sell me a new one.

Has anyone solved this problem?
 
Not sure of the exact issue, but I had a zip fail on a sailing jacket and was able to go to a haberdashery and find a zip with the same tooth size and spacing. I then removed the zipper from that and managed (with much effort and some minor mods to the top of the failed zip) to put the new zipper onto the jacket. It is sadly the wrong colour, but functionally fine.
 
Answering your question (rather than posting aside comments): what to do rather than buy a new lifejacket?

1) Contact manufacturer with photos or video if you took video ? Maybe worth a go?

2) Cut zip off leaving some of zip webbing and glue on weak 'hook and loop' (must not mention "V" word as that company polices its registered trademark vigorously). Ensure hook and loop is NOT stronger than the zip was.

But be aware I have been called an idiot dreamer.

MOST importantly, don't go overboard.

Have a good trip and good luck with the lifejacket.
 
I was able to inflate a Spinlock LJ at the London Boat Show a few years back. I consider the length of the manual pull cord as a serious design failure; unless you have arms down to your ankles it just does not work. Personally, I'd like to see the cord inflating the LJ with a pull of 150 mm.
 
Sailingsaves said:
Answering your question (rather than posting aside comments): what to do rather than buy a new lifejacket?

1) Contact manufacturer with photos or video if you took video ? Maybe worth a go?

2) Cut zip off leaving some of zip webbing and glue on weak 'hook and loop' (must not mention "V" word as that company polices its registered trademark vigorously). Ensure hook and loop is NOT stronger than the zip was.

But be aware I have been called an idiot dreamer.

MOST importantly, don't go overboard.

Have a good trip and good luck with the lifejacket.
Click to expand...

Velcro is not as good as the zips. My Velcro lifejackets have about 5mm width of small Velcro strip. After a season the Velcro can be quite compacted with a big force required to remove it. My new zipper lifejackets are very easy to unravel and reassembly with a high degree of repeatability unlike Velcro.

The damaged lifejacket should be replaced. In Curry Night money, it's only one meal for 2 and couple of beers each. I would not want to wear a butchered lifejacket.

The OP should have unwrapped the lifejacket and manually inflated it for the test. Then unscrewed the bottle and weighed it, removed the automatic inflation device, activated the manual firing mechanism by pulling on the string then reassembled it all with new parts as required. The lifejackets are tough and designed to force the cover off should it be stiff or even stuck, there is a fair amount of surface area under low pressure which equates to a big force. I would not not drive my car into a wall at low sped to test the airbags, same principle applies for lifejackets. At least the OP knew it would have worked at the time, had he been in the water, maybe not the next time, such is life.
 
Interesting point. Off the top of my head I would expect a zippered LJ to destroy the zip on actual ‘emergency’ inflation. But if tgst’s The case they can’t really be re-armed; re-arming kits are really service kits I suppose.

Yes the OP should have annually serviced the LJ rather than kicking the can down the road for a decade then fully function-testing it.

Still a question for the manufacturers of these LJs if they are safely re-useable after a full but accidental inflation. Velcro ones are.
 
Really, the OP should have opened up the LJ, looked at the age label and declared it scrap.
Then auto inflate it.
Then knife it to bits, throw it in the bin and buy another one.
(actually, I keep the harness hardware and bits of webbing for things like mending boat covers and tie-downs)
If £110 or whatever every ten years seems a lot of money, buy a cheaper model.

I've pushed the 10 year life a little on LJs that still look brand new, but I wouldn't rearm one that was either a) more than say 7 years old, or b) tatty with any visible wear or damage.
It might only be my LJ, not for guests etc, but things happen, someone else might end up wearing it.
You can get an acceptable LJ with harness for £45. A fiver a year is not much. It does smart a bit when you suddenly need several, so we buy in rotation and use the older ones for everyday local use.
Most people who crew more than a few times don't mind buying their own.
 
bitbaltic said:
Interesting point. Off the top of my head I would expect a zippered LJ to destroy the zip on actual ‘emergency’ inflation. But if tgst’s The case they can’t really be re-armed; re-arming kits are really service kits I suppos
.
Click to expand...
The zip is not designed to disintegrate on inflation. That would mean that a LJ was a single use item.

I went for a wee swim in mine a few years ago and it passed its annual test once it been washed in fresh water and allowed to dry
 
I seem to recall that on my Spinlock there is a weak point in the zip , and you are really supposed to pull the zipper off the end of the zip, so the only thing that is holding the life jacket is the teeth and not the zipper.

I don't have that LJ with me and won't be able to look at it for a couple of weeks, but I think that inflating the LJ should not destroy the zipper.
 
It is a pity that you were not wearing the life jacket at the time. When the cylinder on my wife's LJ reached it's expiry date I decided that she should test it. I could not get her to strip off & sit in the bath, (something about "my dirty mind"!!) but she did stand in the lounge. First problem was that it did not inflate . Why? Because the pull cord was wrapped around the cylinder & we had never noticed that all our spare LJs of similar make were the same. When we had sorted that, she pulled the cord & the shock pushed her head back rather violently & the seam of the bladder where it went under her chin cut her slightly drawing blood. If she had been in the water the bladder would almost certainly have been higher up her body an inch or so & the effect even worse So the point of this is that one really should try out a dry run on their LJs to see if they are going to be OK. It is one thing to check for comfort when in normal wear but it would not be much fun it when in the water it was rammed up against one's chin & causing pain.
 
Although it is also possible that the force of the bladder wouldn’t be noticed in a real incident because it would be immediately preceded by the big SMACK of the water hitting her. I tested my LJ by jumping off the end of the boat and although it all happened very quickly the bladder was inflating in water not air, and then I surfaced on my back with my head feeling like it was a long way out of the water.
 
When I tried my Spinlock in a pool during a survival course the inflation all went fine. But when we started swimming and mucking about with the liferaft it soon became obvious that the fully-inflated l/j was too restrictive. After I deflated it slightly movement became much easier.
 
bbg said:
I seem to recall that on my Spinlock there is a weak point in the zip , and you are really supposed to pull the zipper off the end of the zip, so the only thing that is holding the life jacket is the teeth and not the zipper.

I don't have that LJ with me and won't be able to look at it for a couple of weeks, but I think that inflating the LJ should not destroy the zipper.
Click to expand...

The zip slider should be right at the end of its run and, like a jacket zip will come apart. About 9" further along the zip, locking teeth are missing for about 2" which allows the zip to burst open along its length on inflation and the end of the zip pulls out of the slider. I suspect the OP's zip slider was not at the end when inflated.
 
Last edited:
lw395 said:
The alternative would be to do your cruising with P&O.
Click to expand...

Cruising with P&O is great, Cunard better still.

But don't bother with trying to nick their lifejackets, they're dreadful. I'd rather take my chances without one than use their belted, Velcro-jointed nasty things that try to squeeze your head off.

Or get yourself a new LJ... :)
 
Re: Liftjacket test and ZIP UPDATE

An update.

To answer some comment, I have not left things for 10 years until I tested the lifejacket. I have tested my lifejacket at least twice a year, usually by manually inflating it as hard as possible and leaving it for some days to see if it is OK . The jacket is perfectly serviceable.

It was this year that as the cylinder was a bit corroded and the auto part was a few years old, I though it would fire the mechanism to see how it well everything worked and enjoy the experience. The pull cord worked and from the test of the auto part in a glass of water worked.

It is still as very safe liftjacket, that i am happy will keep me afloat long enough for someone to find me, return to pick me up, or well past the point in time that i give up due to the cold. The only problem is that the zip is knackered as a result of the activation.


Well today i spoke to Spinlock. It is obviously a known problem because without any questions, i was offered a new zip. Either send the life jacket to them and they would fit it, or a zip can be sent in the post. The zip will be with me Tuesday and i can play with the wife's sewing machine and try not to puncture the bladder.

I cannot ask for more. I fully expected, on age basis alone, there would be no parts available and at best a small discount on a new (£185:-) life jacket. A free zip is good service.

I probably will not test the zip next time. but will keep inflating it a couple of times a season.
It was testing that caused my previous crewsaver to fail where the a tube was glued in.
 
sailor211 said:
Which lift jacket will last longer than one inflation test. Happy to use one of the others I have but will be cautious about a full test If a zip fail results in having to buy a new life jacket.
Click to expand...

I feel that a zip failure makes the integrity of the whole thing very doubtful.
In my experience, zips mostly fail on either badly made things, or things that have had long/hard lives.
Either way, every other part of it has had the same life, so it's no longer something to rely on.
A life jacket has quite a hard life, the bladder is folded up tightly then leant on, sat on, squeezed into bags, bent as you put it on or take it off, all the while the plastic in the fabric is aging.
10 years is a fair life for almost anything made of fabric.
I've been through two oily jackets and two drysuits in that time.

The zip on my Guy Cotten kitbag has failed, after about 15 years of heavy use more than once most weeks.
The fabric of that seems to still be sound, it still holds water, so maybe I'll look around for a new slider for the zip. But it won't be in the News if my kitbag lets me down.
 
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