Safety of automatic life vest

slawosz

slawosz

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Hi,
as someone very cautious, there is one thing that makes me worry - safety of automatic life jacket. I never used one, last time I was on serious cruise was 2005 (7 days on Baltic) and turned out things changed since then.
I am bit worried that automatic lifejacket may fail, could someone explain me how they are design to be 100% reliable?
 
Nothing is 100% reliable, but regular servicing and, especially, making sure the cylinder is screwed home firmly makes my jackets reliable enough for us to trust our lives to them.

The capsule has an expiry date, but I once serviced a jacket whose capsule had expired seven years ago. I tossed it into a bowl of water and it went off with a satisfying pop, so was still perfectly functional.
 
Inflatable Life jackets have to be inspected and maintained; I do this every season. However, there are Buoyancy Aid jackets that are practically maintenance free, used by windsurfers and others. I use buoyancy aid jackets when I am on the dinghy; very practical, quick and less to worry about.
 
You still don't need to use one unless the laws in your cruising area state that you do. To alleviate your worry you can educate yourself, for example : -

https://www.rya.org.uk/knowledge-ad...ts-tips/Pages/look-after-your-lifejacket.aspx
https://www.pbo.co.uk/expert-advice/service-lifejacket-17599

Or just Google "how to inspect a lifejacket" and lots of information will be available to you.

In general you are quite right to be concerned, especially if you rely on a lifejacket supplied by someone else as you have no idea if they really have inspected it. Rather than blind trust, a bit of research will allow you to make an easy check without much hassle to at least verify that everything looks OK.

Of course, if you get entangled in the yacht, you could be dragged under and drown as the yacht sinks (even if the lifejacket inflates), so it's best to keep things in perspective.
 
BlowingOldBoots said:
You still don't need to use one unless the laws in your cruising area state that you do. To alleviate your worry you can educate yourself, for example : -

https://www.rya.org.uk/knowledge-ad...ts-tips/Pages/look-after-your-lifejacket.aspx
https://www.pbo.co.uk/expert-advice/service-lifejacket-17599

Or just Google "how to inspect a lifejacket" and lots of information will be available to you.

In general you are quite right to be concerned, especially if you rely on a lifejacket supplied by someone else as you have no idea if they really have inspected it. Rather than blind trust, a bit of research will allow you to make an easy check without much hassle to at least verify that everything looks OK.

Of course, if you get entangled in the yacht, you could be dragged under and drown as the yacht sinks (even if the lifejacket inflates), so it's best to keep things in perspective.
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Holy malony B.o. B happy days , don't put the poor soul of sailing :p
But all good advice a basic check and understanding of your life jacket should see you 99% ok
 
Bought the missus a new shaped L J . All singing, started to show her the quick safety details (powerboat 2 level) to find the co2 cylinder was about 3 turns undone.
Read up on the RYA service you life jacket already posted even if brand new.
 
Stood on a tender on Davits once to reach the belly straps. It twisted leaving me 8’ in the air looking at the bathing platform below, needless to say I did not stay 8’ up for very long.
Hit bathing platform, it was originally head first but turned head away, bounced and twisted, hit the water, life jacket went off and pinned me under the bathing platform with just a 3” air gap and slight waves continuously closing that gap.
It takes a bit of effort to push under to get out from the the bathing platform when the life jacket is holding you up
 
Thanks for your answers, I will go to local chandlery today and ask them to show me details of release mechanizm. I am not worried about maintenance, I am more worried about some weird fault that would prevent inflation. I will definitely consider old, foam ones instead of pneumatic. At least those can't go broke.
 
slawosz said:
Thanks for your answers, I will go to local chandlery today and ask them to show me details of release mechanizm. I am not worried about maintenance, I am more worried about some weird fault that would prevent inflation. I will definitely consider old, foam ones instead of pneumatic. At least those can't go broke.
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Not sure what is behind your worry. The main risks with automatic lifejackets are (a) loose gas cylinders and (b) not being properly checked/serviced annually. Address these and should be fine. Plus two tiers of fallback in worst case - as stated earlier.
Can’t see the chandlery can show you anything about the firing mechanism that can’t be better seen online.

More importantly, what is your intended use for these lifejackets. There are times when solid foam style lifejackets are better (eg in dinghy sailing) and times when gas inflatable are better (eg yacht sailing). They are not generally interchangeable
 
dunedin said:
Not sure what is behind your worry.
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Besides sailing, I am also aviation enthusiasts. Plane and gliders are still crashing because of very stupid malfunctions that should not really happen. The same with automatic lifejacket - maybe its my safety obsession, but I am worried that release mechanizm is not 100% safe. Maybe when I see how mechanizm is working, I will stop worry - I simply never used one, thats it.

I need them for estuary/costal cruising, I already have buoyancy aid for my Laser sailing.
 
slawosz said:
Besides sailing, I am also aviation enthusiasts. Plane and gliders are still crashing because of very stupid malfunctions that should not really happen. The same with automatic lifejacket - maybe its my safety obsession, but I am worried that release mechanizm is not 100% safe. Maybe when I see how mechanizm is working, I will stop worry - I simply never used one, thats it.

I need them for estuary/costal cruising, I already have buoyancy aid for my Laser sailing.
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For estuary cruising on a yacht a gas inflatable automatic lifejacket is ideal. Research online the firing mechanism, or indeed test one yourself. If avoid Hammar type it is generally just a block of material that dissolves in water which releases a pin which punctures a thin area of metal on the gas cylinder.

You are over worrying it. Nothing in life is 100% safe, and lots of other risks in coastal sailing - mainly related to going to and from the boat, in car or to pub.
 
slawosz said:
Besides sailing, I am also aviation enthusiasts. Plane and gliders are still crashing because of very stupid malfunctions that should not really happen. The same with automatic lifejacket - maybe its my safety obsession, but I am worried that release mechanizm is not 100% safe. Maybe when I see how mechanizm is working, I will stop worry - I simply never used one, thats it.

I need them for estuary/costal cruising, I already have buoyancy aid for my Laser sailing.
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In the day job I am a Safety Engineer*, nothing is 100% safe. We mitigate the risks as best we can, and to be honest we are pretty good at keeping nuclear power stations blowing up every few years, aeroplanes from falling out of the sky (let's not talk about the Boeing Max373) and trains from crashing weekly. Personally, I wear a good quality automatic lifejacket. I really don't want to end up face down and unconscious in the oggin but if I do I want something that will 99.95% of the time inflate and turn my face out of the water pronto.

You may find the following report intesting.

https://www.gov.uk/maib-reports/sinking-of-vivier-creel-boat-louisa-with-loss-of-3-lives

*What Safety Engineers do

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Safety_engineering
 
The chief cause of lifejacket malfunction, as we are always being told, is failure to wear it. A modern lifejacket is more comfortable than bulkier kinds and therefore more likely to be worn. As stated above, failure of the mechanism is not the end of one's options.
 
+ lots.

As the RNLI says, "Useless unless worn."

Yes, there are odd failure modes and situations where a lifejacket is going to cause problems, but it's akin to the very rare situations where a seat belt in a car will do more harm than good. A solid LJ would be worse than an inflatable in most of those situations, because it's a bit hard to deflate polystyrene foam when it's the buoyancy that's the problem.

The only totally safe way to sail is under an oak tree. Then the damn thing will get struck by lightning and fall on your head. The most dangerous part of my weekend's sailing is the trip along the M27.
 
Well, thank you for your answers. I will buy a solid Crewsaver life west and hope for the best. Everyone is using them, so why not me?
I will assume that my 90 minutes drive to the place where my mooring is will be much more dangerous...
And for 7 yo, would you buy inflatable life jacket or stick with solid (I would stick with solid for some time)?
 
slawosz said:
I will buy a solid Crewsaver life west and hope for the best. Everyone is using them, so why not me?
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Crewsaver do not do solid lifejackets for adults. They do foam buoyancy aids but these are for use within close range of rescue. Crucially they will not keep an unconscious MOB the right wa up (as well as having less buoyancy).

The solid (foam) lifejackets for children have more buoyancy and a collar which will turn them onto their back. These are ideal for coastal yachting use.
 
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