Servicing life jackets

Twister_Ken said:
Bottle and trigger £15 approx.

New LJ, £65 approx.
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Some kits are more than that!
I looked at the remaining service life of the last lifejacket that went off, it was about 7 years into its ten year life, I had as many lifejackets as I needed, so I binned it. It had been worn quite a lot for keelboat racing, so I don't feel that it owed me more.
 
Twister_Ken said:
The other Ken,

That appears to be outdated advice, judging by remarks made here in the past.
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Indeed

From the Crewsaver web site
3. Check the air holding properties of the Lifejacket by inflating orally and leaving overnight. If air loss does occur, return the Lifejacket to Crewsaver for inspection (see Servicing).
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orally = by mouth. It's a good way of ensuring that you do not over-inflate the jacket - few people have enough puff to rupture a serviceable lifejacket bladder.
 
A big issue for self servicng is making sure it is folded correctly and stowed ok, holes in the bladder can form if not folded correctly usually around the inflater and arming area if squashed etc...

Servicing iby an authorised company is only a recommendation on the Crewsaver paperwork. They do offer a care and maintenance course for £690 (for 8 people) which covers how to maintain and care for your jacket. No connection but deal with them on a regular basis.

Cheers

Stu
 
Another vote for oral inflation from the latest edition of RNLI Offshore:

"Inflate your lifejacket by blowing through the oral inflation tube. Do not use anything other than your mouth to inflate your lifejacket. Leave inflated for 24 hours to ensuire it holds pressure."
 
Twister_Ken said:
Yes Hammar ones are. Which I why I don't have any!
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Hammar ones are less likely to go off of their own accord. It's not just the expense of a premature inflation, it's the fact that you are without a lifejacket to wear until you can get a spare or service the used one. Having said that, they are not immune, I've seen one go off when worn on the side of a keelboat. Dayboat sailing at Cowes can be very, very wet!
 
There is a world of difference between routine maintenance, re-arming or inspection and actual servicing.

Whilst I am a little suspect of Crewsaver's motives for insisting only they service their own lifejackets (captive income stream?), but granted they have made things complicated with use of different UM firing heads and even a crewsaver specific colour arming cartridge for some of their jackets, there are things that only a trained lifejacket servicing agent can do to ensure that your lifejacket is performing and will perform within it's specific parameters in ALL conditions.

Everyone should perform routine maintenance and replace the expendable items when they need replacing, that's a given, but the yearly service goes over and above that to make sure the jacket is working and would continue to work in the stress position of keeping someone afloat in potentially rough waters - there is a world of difference between being inflated at "just enough pressure" on your coach roof for 24 hours and being inflated around 12 stone of deadweight being pummelled in a heavy swell.

Can you fix a leak in the Oral Inflation Tube valve and replace it?
Could you repair/replace the manifold head if it was found to be leaking?
Do you have a calibrated pressure tester to control whether there might be a 1/2psi leak over 4 hours which might indicate a tiny leak that could cause the jacket to fail catastrophically in the conditions described above?

Essentially there are things that can deteriorate on Lifejackets that you'd have no idea of unless you had been trained to service them - so I wouldn't knock the process.
 
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FishyInverness said:
There is a world of difference between routine maintenance, re-arming or inspection and actual servicing.
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Yes. LSJs do not need an annual service, and Crewsaver do not suggest they have one. They suggest an annual inspection and they suggest changing time-expired components. They also give clear instructions on how to do so. They also suggest that if your LSJ does not pass the recommended inspection process that you then return it to them for service. At that point you might decide to replace the LSJ because of the cost of a service.

Leak testing does not need fancy equipment. You blow the LSJ up tight and you leave it 24 hours (as Crewsaver recommends). If it is still tight it hasn't got a leak.

As I have Crewsaver LSJs and follow their recommendations I'm happy. I don't know anything about other makes.
 
andygc said:
Yes. LSJs do not need an annual service, and Crewsaver do not suggest they have one.
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I think crewsaver may disagree with you there...

"We recommend that all Crewsaver inflatable Lifejackets are serviced annually by our approved Crewsaver Service Station, detailed below"

and on the previous page from that link:

"All Crewsaver Lifejackets must be serviced by an approved Crewsaver service station.
You must service your Lifejacket annually"


I fully disagree with your claim that leak testing does not require calibrated equipment. I have been trained as a Lifejacket Servicing operative and the equipment required to pressure test a lifejacket to ensure that it will perform as per the manufacturers intentions is indeed "fancy".
 
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FishyInverness. OK. It depends which bit of the Crewsaver website you look at. One page says check it yourself and tells you about inspection - and about returning it to Crewsaver if there's something wrong, one page advises you to send it to an approved service centre for a service annually. One page says you must send it to one of the approved service centres annually. One page says blow it up and leave it for 24 hours, you say put it on a test rig. Crewsaver say rearm it yourself, sell you the kit and give instructions on how to do it - including the Hammar kit. Funny that they don't then say how vital it is that you send the LSJ you've just rearmed to a trained LSO so that he can test it on a pressure testing rig - since the Hammar head fits into a big hole in the LSJ. I hadn't realised how inconsistent Crewsaver's web site is - thanks for telling me.

I'll carry on checking the LSJs myself.
 
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andygc said:
Indeed

From the Crewsaver web site orally = by mouth. It's a good way of ensuring that you do not over-inflate the jacket - few people have enough puff to rupture a serviceable lifejacket bladder.
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Whatever Crewsaver say I would still use a dry method of inflation. The feature in PBO on servicing LJs stated use a pump. Obviously don't inflate to a higher pressure than the CO2 cartridge does - which is quite high.
 
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