Life jackets.........who uses em.

[Captain PartyMarty]

Always wear mine when I am alone on the water. My kids have to put them on when we get out of the car at the dock. I do try and make it a rule that if the kids are wearing them I am too. Come to think of it I have a Mustang inflatable and I don't even notice when I am wearing it so really there is no reason not to wear it all the time.

 

[reelfast]

before REELFAST leaves her slip, all on board are wearing their self inflate mustangs, no exceptions (i carry 4 on board). everyone wears them until we tie off and end the day, no exceptions. the leading cause of drownings, and men are the most frequently involved, is peeing over the side, not rough conditions. given the water temps we deal with, your first response on hitting the water is the infamous 'cold water gasp'. yep, all of that water is headed into your system as the autonomic reflex hits you. do as you choose, you don't stand much of chance hitting our cold waters without an inflatable on at all times.

 

[seadna]

before REELFAST leaves her slip, all on board are wearing their self inflate mustangs, no exceptions (i carry 4 on board). everyone wears them until we tie off and end the day, no exceptions. the leading cause of drownings, and men are the most frequently involved, is peeing over the side, not rough conditions. given the water temps we deal with, your first response on hitting the water is the infamous 'cold water gasp'. yep, all of that water is headed into your system as the autonomic reflex hits you. do as you choose, you don't stand much of chance hitting our cold waters without an inflatable on at all times.

I have a similar policy on my boat. Everyone wears self-inflating life vests at all times. Many, many accidents are just that - ACCIDENTS. They weren't planned for and often occur when the weather isn't that bad. Someone slips while attempting to net a fish, someone slips while peeing over the side, someone slips while going forward to grab fender or line etc. It's not uncommon for someone to fall and bang their head on the way over and as been pointed out already, the cold shock from hitting the water can do strange things to you. PFD's only work IF YOU HAVE THEM ON.

Sure there are some situations that are higher risk than others but it's the unexpected that you need to be ready for. We keep some Mustang float coats and bibs on board but the only PFD's I keep on board are inflatables. I do this since they don't count as part of the equipment on board unless they are worn and that makes it easier for me to convince my passengers to put them on - e.g. I tell them that with the equipment on board, it's the law. With std. foam pfd's, it was me asking people to wear them and some would whine about how "they never had a problem on their boat...." With the inflatables, it's the coast guard that requires they be worn. When it's a coast guard requirement that people wear them, they don't complain.

 

[bee15]

7dont pull that cord to in flate if you capsize you dont want to float up and be trapped under the boat

 

[Degree of Freedom]

As I'm often the only one on board competent in operating a boat (questionable at times ), I try to remember to put my auto-inflate vest on as I'm not sure how long it would take for the incompetents to turn around and pick me up.
My 4 year old gives me **** if I'm not waring one, so I try to remember to stick it on before his lecture starts

 

[jeffywestcoast]

i have four flotation vest's onboard in arms reach at all times, but i have to admitt the only time i wear one is when i am fishing by myself, should probably look into a inflatable i guess, i think anyone fishing by themselves should definitely wear one, if you fall off the back well fishing by yourself its pretty unlikely that the boat will circle back for you..(just sayin)... Also if fishing offshore i think attaching one of them blinky lights might be a good idea.

 

[Rockfish]

Don’t always wear floatation but most of the time I do and I never go out in the boat alone and more recently have started teaching others who don’t know, how to run the boat in an emergency.

In the winter I wear a full one piece floatation suit but it is way too hot on most summer days and even some winter ones. On semi warm days it is a floater coat or floater vest and on dead calm very hot days try to force myself to wear the mustang inflatable but must confess there are times I wear nothing – need to work on that.

Also adding things to the floatation gear. Have a whistle and a small pen size flare launcher and a few small flares in a waterproof pouch, (from my back packing days) and a dye marker to be seen from the air. Now that I am thinking about it; should get a strobe light and small waterproof floating radio with built in GPS/DSC.

 

[Kildonan]

When I forget to put mine on, my kid is on me like a pitbull. LOL She ALWAYS puts hers on, first thing she does as soon as we get to the launch.

I have an inflatable, at first it I hated it but, now I am just used to wearing it, it's no big deal.

 

[Degree of Freedom]

On a related matter...I've got one of these at home (bought the wrong one). If anyone's in Nanaimo and wants it, it's yours (if I like you...free, if not...6 pack of Lucky ) Sorry for the hijack but as I'm giving it away I figured the forum police wouldn't mind.
http://www.mustangsurvival.com/recreational/ma7202?division=recreation&country=23

 

[trophywife]

Horse collar type are the coast guard approved "lifejacket" TC mandatory for guiding!!

 

[Bows Up]

Always wear the old school Mustang life jacket. Started fishing the chuck in a 12' then 14' tin boat and wearing it was less of a PITA then having it laying around waiting to trip me. Three kids and " I wear one , you wear one" was easiest path. Pockets are handy for stuff and it has the hi-vis stripes on it. Current tin boat is 18' and still wear one, just used to it, I guess.

I'm going to put my handheld radio in the shoulder pocket this year as I can feel Murphy's law laughing at me if I go overboard and my ICOM is in my dash.

 

[casper5280]

Great Post Sculpin. I only wear mine when kids are on board or the weather is $hitty or I'm fishing alone. My own is a full floater suit with strobe light and whistle and handheld VHF. Afte reading these posts will add dye can and flares to it now. All the other life jackets have whistles and strobe lights on them too. Trophywife is right about the key hole life vest, it is the only Transport Canada Coast Guard approved life jacket.

 

[pescador]

I wear my inflatable PFD off shore, in rough weather, and, when I am solo always. On hot days, with others in the boat, I may pull it off at times. On cooler days I pull out the Mustang floater jacket always. BTW, West Marine has just come out with a new CCG certified inflatable pfd for $ 139. Its smaller than the Mustang version and appears to be lighter. Hell of a deal as most Mustangs are in the $180-279 range if I recall right depending on version.

 

[fishyboy99]

Hi Folks,

Just a heads up about the key hole vest, Transport Canada changed its under 15tonne regulations back in November of 2011 regarding inflatable collars. They are now approved for passenger carrying vessels, but they must have a minimum of 100 N of buoyancy plus a few other requirements (size of vessel can determine if applicable, colour, thermal, etc). The main thing that is that they are not approved unless worn at all times on the vessel and they are only good for Near Coastal Voyage Class 2 waters (25 nautical miles from shore). Here is the link to the updated bulletin, dated October 2012. www.tc.gc.ca/eng/marinesafety/bulletins-2012-06-eng.htm

If you are an employee working on the water, regulations do differ, but a the minimum, you are required by WCB to have a floatation device on while working (some exceptions can apply).

The most important addition to the life jacket, in our opinion, is having a PLB EPIRB attached to it, most have strobes and are good for 25hrs of run time. We have ones that are smaller than my iPhone, quite light in weight, and easy to deploy. You barely notice them when you are wearing the inflatable.

This is a great thread and hope that more people will switch to wearing them. I still see other operators, both single boat and ones that are much larger than us, not enforcing the guests or employees to wear them.

Regards,

Fishyboy

 

[fshnfnatic]

Good thread for sure. Wear my Mustang floater suit during the winter months,and cooler,foggy type summer days. I'll
generally not wear anything if it's a nice, calm,hot sunny day. Just don't like the bulky,conventional style lifejackets.
After reading through this thread,I think it's high time I bucked up and purchased an inflatable PFD. Funny,I just started
wearing a bike helmet this year as well. You know what they say,"too fast old:too late smart.

 

[Lank Thompson]

Good thread for sure. Wear my Mustang floater suit during the winter months,and cooler,foggy type summer days. I'll
generally not wear anything if it's a nice, calm,hot sunny day. Just don't like the bulky,conventional style lifejackets.
After reading through this thread,I think it's high time I bucked up and purchased an inflatable PFD. Funny,I just started
wearing a bike helmet this year as well. You know what they say,"too fast old:too late smart.

Pretty much the same here until I bought the inflatable. We did a lot of river canoeing so I got the manual version but may upgrade to the water pressure activated version. Chances are it got violent if you are pitched out of an 18' boat so the auto is a good thing.

 

[Seafever]

There are people that fall over the gunnels while taking a whiz.......but I think it's because often they are drunk while they're taking a whiz.

 

[Time]

Mustang auto-inflate on the water.
Mustang floater coat for the cooler days.
Mustang manual inflate fly fishing vest for wading the river.
And getting better at actually wearing them.

 

[Time]

There are people that fall over the gunnels while taking a whiz.......but I think it's because often they are drunk while they're taking a whiz.

Not necessarily, as a non-drinking boat i've been jarred to stumbling by an unseen bow wave while engaged in an overboard offload.
That's one of the reasons for always using a bucket, then dumping it overboard.
The other reason being I got tired of cleaning the yellow fibreglass.

 

[Tsquared]

before REELFAST leaves her slip, all on board are wearing their self inflate mustangs, no exceptions (i carry 4 on board). everyone wears them until we tie off and end the day, no exceptions. the leading cause of drownings, and men are the most frequently involved, is peeing over the side, not rough conditions. given the water temps we deal with, your first response on hitting the water is the infamous 'cold water gasp'. yep, all of that water is headed into your system as the autonomic reflex hits you. do as you choose, you don't stand much of chance hitting our cold waters without an inflatable on at all times.

I get that "cold water gasp" EVERY time I have to pee over the side.
T2