Re-packing life jackets

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Captn D

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Each year I "Service" all our life jackets - check for wear/corrosion, blow up bladder and leave over night, weigh gas bottle etc. and repack. However, I always struggle with the repacking and am left with the feeling that I could have done a better job. Do others suffer like this and any suggestions for a more professional looking re-packing job?
 
Captn D said:
Each year I "Service" all our life jackets - check for wear/corrosion, blow up bladder and leave over night, weigh gas bottle etc. and repack. However, I always struggle with the repacking and am left with the feeling that I could have done a better job. Do others suffer like this and any suggestions for a more professional looking re-packing job?
Click to expand...

Rig simple vacuum source and valve depressor through the mouth piece and this will help deflate them
Makes packing easier.
 
Captn D said:
Each year I "Service" all our life jackets - check for wear/corrosion, blow up bladder and leave over night, weigh gas bottle etc. and repack. However, I always struggle with the repacking and am left with the feeling that I could have done a better job. Do others suffer like this and any suggestions for a more professional looking re-packing job?
Click to expand...
Practice, practice practice... as my fiddle teacher tells me.
 
I recently had some advice from the forum on removing all the air from my LJ. It's essential to remove completely especially from more recent models which are extremely compact. My previous ones were quite easy to repack neatly but my recently acquired Crewsavers are fiddly to re-pack to say the least. I have got all the bits packed but they don't look quite 'as purchased'. I'm hoping that I'll be better at it next time.
I think my old ones were XM. My new Crewsaver is a much neater design and less likely to snag when ducking under guardrails etc. They also come complete with sprayhood and light which I think should be mandatory for coastal and offshore use.
 
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It does seem to vary. My four Crewsavers (2009 vintage) are fairly easy to fold up, and my older XM is trivial (each side basically just folds in half). But the new Kru Sport Pro is really rather fiddly. Still very doable provided you suck out all the air first, and then pull the wrinkles out of the bladder before trying to fold it.

Pete
 
Check out the International safety Products (Liverpool) web site...... I believe that they make the vast majority of LJ's that are then rebadged!
 
Just found the perfect deflation tool. The top of cap on the end of the tube is all but useless for this purpose on our LJs, but the plastic top from an old-style BIC ballpen worked great! Flattened the LJs in no time by hand.
 
Captn D said:
Each year I "Service" all our life jackets - check for wear/corrosion, blow up bladder and leave over night, weigh gas bottle etc. and repack. However, I always struggle with the repacking and am left with the feeling that I could have done a better job. Do others suffer like this and any suggestions for a more professional looking re-packing job?
Click to expand...

With new jackets, I photograph them as I undo them and then try to fold back.

Often even that did not work, but youtube came to my rescue with a step by step guide.
 
bluedragon said:
Just found the perfect deflation tool. The top of cap on the end of the tube is all but useless for this purpose on our LJs, but the plastic top from an old-style BIC ballpen worked great! Flattened the LJs in no time by hand.
Click to expand...
What I do is to hold the deflator with my finger and suck with my mouth. This works every time and gets all the air out. (I only learned this recently)
 
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