Waterbuoy

[rotrax]

Hi, just purchased a "Waterbuoy" from Youboat in Gosport. It is an illuminated balloon that your keys-or other things up to 1kg. you dont want to lose in the oggin- are attatched. When activated by being submerged it inflates and illuminates so your precious keys/other valubles can be recovered. It has a three year warranty,for the Waterbuoy only,no consequential claim for what you had fixed to it is allowed. Firstly I dont think that would hold up under the sale of goods act. Things must be fit for the purpose and of satisfactory quality. BUT-how would you claim if it failed? It could concievably be swept away by a 5kt. tide and be beond recovery. Would the supplier take your word for it? It seems a very grey area-any comments from the accrued knowledge on this forum?

 

[Rigger Mortice]

If the supplier doesn't take your word for it you take him to Court and the court decides. If it believes you, you win.
Personally, I much prefer to use a lanyard which is attached to me or the boat.

 

[Ex-SolentBoy]

Hi, just purchased a "Waterbuoy" from Youboat in Gosport. It is an illuminated balloon that your keys-or other things up to 1kg. you dont want to lose in the oggin- are attatched. When activated by being submerged it inflates and illuminates so your precious keys/other valubles can be recovered. It has a three year warranty,for the Waterbuoy only,no consequential claim for what you had fixed to it is allowed. Firstly I dont think that would hold up under the sale of goods act. Things must be fit for the purpose and of satisfactory quality. BUT-how would you claim if it failed? I could concievably be swept away by a 5kt. tide and be beond recovery. Would the supplier take your word for it? It seems a very grey area-any comments from the accrued knowledge on this forum?

Surely if the tide sweeps you away you will not be able to claim

 

[Mikechappers]

Lift up to 1kg.... from what depth, with a balloon.

Sounds like B-----ks to me

 

[Bav34]

One of the most memorable forum arguments here ... ignore the Trader poll

 

[sarabande]

a cause dear to Gludy's heart

 

[Mikechappers]

One of the most memorable forum arguments here ... ignore the Trader poll

Jeeze.....its compulsive reading after the first page

 

[rotrax]

Surely if the tide sweeps you away you will not be able to claim

OOPS! Now corrected-thanks.

 

[rotrax]

Lift up to 1kg.... from what depth, with a balloon.

Sounds like B-----ks to me

You and Gludy both!

 

[rotrax]

Having just read the whole post after the Dragons Den demo I am glad I was unaware of the strong feelings generated by the "WATERBUOY". I'm glad its only keys on mine........... I was only- tongue in cheek- asking about a warranty claim on something that would have dissapeared if you needed to make one. I sincerly hope this thread doesnt go the same way!

 

[RichardS]

Just read the previous Waterbuoy thread (I bought one a couple of years ago) and I am amazed at some posters convoluted arguments.

Anyone who has ever had children will have surely played with a balloon or a beach ball in a swimming pool and will know the huge amount of force which it takes to push or pull the balloon completely under the water. A set of keys would be absolutely trivial and I have no difficulty envisaging a 1kg lead weight or even greater on the end.

Richard

 

[nigelmercier]

A set of keys would be absolutely trivial ...

Which is why a champagne cork is more than sufficient, and brings back happy memories of the day we launched the boat when we bought her.

 

[Evadne]

Just read the previous Waterbuoy thread (I bought one a couple of years ago) and I am amazed at some posters convoluted arguments.

Anyone who has ever had children will have surely played with a balloon or a beach ball in a swimming pool and will know the huge amount of force which it takes to push or pull the balloon completely under the water. A set of keys would be absolutely trivial and I have no difficulty envisaging a 1kg lead weight or even greater on the end.

Richard

I've not read the quoted thread, but you are talking about balloon inflated at atmospheric pressure, not under water, where pressure goes up by one atmosphere per decimetre. So if you drop the keyring into 10m of water, and it inflates to its working pressure it will inflate to half the volume, and only lift half the weight. Depends on how much your keys weigh I suppose

 

[gjgm]

One of the most memorable forum arguments here ... ignore the Trader poll

Not even Gludy thought of this possible dilemma: (Amazon)
dropped my keys over the side of my boat. after a delay that was long enough to lose sight of them, the balloon eventually inflated and floated up to the surface, inbetween my boat and pontoon. As i moved over to where the balloon was the boat shifted, crushing the balloon against the pontoon. It burst and sank

And the guy was blaming Waterbouy for that !!

 

[Enya]

I have had 2 waterbuoys and my biggest problem with them was that they went off without being submerged, once in my pocket in the dinghy and once when I laid it on the foredeck. I am not too sure I shall be investing again.

 

[Didi]

Jeeze.....its compulsive reading after the first page

That thread is a hoot!

From the Waterbuoy website - it appears now his biggest market is balloons with integral lights - apparently Tesco sells them and he secured a contract with Walmart in August this year. He has made £millions no doubt. Good for him. I wonder if he had anyone grilling him about projected flight elevations and MTBFs

 

[VicMallows]

One of the sailing mags promised me a free one with a subscription .....which never arrived. Can't remember which .... but will assume it was the one which does NOT belong to IPC.

Vic

 

[KRG]

They do actually inflate when damp as I found out when I left my keys in the cockpit and it rained. I was given it as a present from my daughter. It did make us laugh though as it resembled a flashing boob. It went on flashing for ages so we stuffed in a locker and it was still going the next day.

 

[William_H]

Warranty

I realise OP has tongue in cheek. However "Fit for Purpose" must be taken very carefully. The device is designed to save valuable small items. However you must take into consideration how it is intended this should happen. It is a buoyancy device for valuables not a turn key solution to valuables safety.
"Fit For purpose." You might try to sue a car maker because the car did not take you to places you wanted to go. (through snow water or up mountains) You are expected to understand the limitations of the design.
So sure you could claim warranty on a car or a Waterbuoy if it had a failure and it clearly did not function as intended, but not necessarily because it did not provide an outcome you hoped for. No I won't be buying a Waterbuoy. A float is good enough for my keys. Note here be careful you don't put too many keys on floats. The keys might make it all sink.I have seen it happen. olewill

 

[rotrax]

I realise OP has tongue in cheek. However "Fit for Purpose" must be taken very carefully. The device is designed to save valuable small items. However you must take into consideration how it is intended this should happen. It is a buoyancy device for valuables not a turn key solution to valuables safety.
"Fit For purpose." You might try to sue a car maker because the car did not take you to places you wanted to go. (through snow water or up mountains) You are expected to understand the limitations of the design.
So sure you could claim warranty on a car or a Waterbuoy if it had a failure and it clearly did not function as intended, but not necessarily because it did not provide an outcome you hoped for. No I won't be buying a Waterbuoy. A float is good enough for my keys. Note here be careful you don't put too many keys on floats. The keys might make it all sink.I have seen it happen. olewill

How perceptive of you! My tongue was so far in my cheek it was poking out my ear! The real question of course is how the supplier would react if you went back and said "I had my Iphone on a Waterbuoy in a waterproof cover. It fell in and the Waterbuoy did not work-it sank and did not float".