Personal Flotation Devices
- Thread starter Rockfish
- Start date
The problem with this article is that PDF's are never going to save you from hypothermia,yes a life jacket could save your life,but if you are out in a boat and the water is cold as expressed in this article nothing but a full survival suit is going to give you any chance.
beemer
Well-Known Member
very few people actually die from hypothermia in our waters , most die from swimming failure. Think of a chicken leg being immersed into a bowl of icecubes the leg gets so stiff you lose your mobility . The same thing happens when you are thrown into the water without a pfd except the consequence is that you cannot keep your airway out of the water because of your lack of mobility and consequently drown.
As someone who had come very close to drowning several times in my life (not proud of my stupidity) please wear a pfd. It gives you that extra 10 minutes that will definitely make the difference.
beemer
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fshnfnatic
Well-Known Member
Well put,beemer,and the best advice you could ever give to anyone who spends any time at all on the water!
Well said Beemer. The 1-10-1 principle is a good one to know. You can get hypothermia in any of our waters if you are in there for long enough. The combination of the cold shock on your muscles and not wearing a life jacket can be deadly very fast. This is a great video here that we watched in our marine emergencies duties course. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J1xohI3B4Uc Be safe out there folks.
I cannot see the sense in buying a pfd in dark green or blue so when you fall overboard you blend into the water color,common sense says pfd should be fluorescent orange.
tains
Crew Member
casper5280
Crew Member
Yes, very good video really makes you think.
In case you weren't aware - most of the inflatable PFD's are high visibility bright yellow or orange on the air bladder. Most also have high vis reflective tape on them in several locations. So at least for inflatable PFD's, you can get a "stylish" color on the outside (or one on which the blood stains don't show too well) and still have the high visibility when you need it.
Here's a relevant chart. Note how you lose dexterity quickly but can survive for many minutes or even hours thereafter. This means that anything you can do which would benefit your survival but which requires dexterity MUST be done ASAP when you hit the water as you don't have a lot of time to accomplish such tasks.
Here's an alternate chart that provides estimated survival times vs temperature and for a range of insulating factors. A float coat adds considerable insulation to the core and float bibs do also. But simple things like tightening the cuffs and waist on your coat to keep the water from sloshing in and out can also help.
If you are using an inflatable PFD, make sure you check it regularly. Of the 5 on board our personal boat, 3 of the cartridges were well beyond their best before date. Should have been checked last year when we outfitted the new boat. Even worse, while checking some of the work ones a while ago, we found one that didn't even have a cartridge in it! That would have been a nice surprise for someone.
carpeweekend
Crew Member
Fantastic video. Very instructive and really shows the importance of a PFD in our frigid waters. Thanks. One very important point is that 99% of the time, what led you to end up in the water was avoidable with better judgement and training. Most accidents are very preventable.
It's pretty hard to go wrong with Mustang - I have these http://www.defender.com/product.jsp?path=-1|135|2290066|2290067&id=709273. I got a deal on them this winter - $148US with a free re-arm kit but you can find them at various places on line for around $180US. I would suggest that you try some on before you buy. Some feel better on than others and your really want one that is quite comfortable so you will wear it. Also, I find that if I cinch up the strap that goes around my mid-section, the PFDs are more comfortable as less of the weight is supported by my shoulders.
lets go back here a bit,first of all, if you read the original vancouver sun article the word hypothermia as the cause of death comes up several times,the author then goes on to talk about pfd's saving lives, that is why I posted my comments on a full survival suit is the only way to survive in cold water, now to the latest post guys, make sure that anything you buy has a Transport Canada/ Coast Guard approval tag. Anything made in the U.S. and not approved here in Canada is going to get you fined if you are checked. just beware. If it has english and french on it your probably ok
Here's the same vest in the transport Canada approved version and priced in CA$.
While the article does indicate that the ones who made it to shore died of hypothermia, with PFD's on it's entirely possible (likely?) that shore would have been reached more easily, less of the body would have been in water and they would have had a bit more insulation (much more depending on type of PFD) around the core. That may or may not have prevented hypothermia in these case. We'll never be able to do these experiments over, so we don't know. Regardless, the odd of survival are much higher if one wears a PFD.
While I agree that a survival suit will definitely increase the survival time in cold water, it's clear that it's not "the only way to survive in cold water" as unlike the deaths in the article, most cold water immersion deaths are not due to hypothermia. That was the point of several subsequent posts and the videos linked within.
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Few things to note here. The few cases that were in the original article where the people made it to shore but then died due to hypothermia is common. Its called post-rescue collapse and 20% of cold water immersion deaths occur during or within hours of rescue. Swimming has a massive impact on body heat loss. Sometimes, depending on the situation, floating and moving as little as possible is better than trying to swim to shore. If you or the person rescued has been in the water for a while and have become hypothermic never stand up or even sit up as this can cause fatal loss of blood pressure. Stay as horizontal as possible. Your body loses heat 25X faster in water than in air, so getting out of the water quickly or keeping part of your body out of the water helps dramatically. As stated in the video and the graphs on here even at 5 degree water temps you still have up to an hour or more before you become unconscious do to hypothermia. Of course you only get to that time frame if your wearing a floatation device. There are no sure fire ways to survive cold water immersion, all you are doing is increasing your odds of survival and rescue by wearing either a pfd or floater or immersion suit.
As for models to buy the mustang deluxe automatic pfd is what I will be purchasing here http://www.harbourchandler.ca/shopexd.asp?id=879 This is an offshore model tho, if you are mostly inshore the Mustang M.I.T auto have good reviews as well. Do your research and if most people say they are comfortable to wear than they probably are. If you can try them on for sure do that but reviews online are great if you cant. I also personally wouldn't buy anything but an auto as it covers you if you ever slip and hit your head and fall overboard. You cant pull a cord if your unconscious.
Another good video here, similar but not the same as the last one but goes into more depth on hypothermia and time in water etc. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lERB21G8ND0
As for models to buy the mustang deluxe automatic pfd is what I will be purchasing here http://www.harbourchandler.ca/shopexd.asp?id=879 This is an offshore model tho, if you are mostly inshore the Mustang M.I.T auto have good reviews as well. Do your research and if most people say they are comfortable to wear than they probably are. If you can try them on for sure do that but reviews online are great if you cant. I also personally wouldn't buy anything but an auto as it covers you if you ever slip and hit your head and fall overboard. You cant pull a cord if your unconscious.
Another good video here, similar but not the same as the last one but goes into more depth on hypothermia and time in water etc. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lERB21G8ND0
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