Automatic inflatable life vest

[John McLaughlin]

I am looking at buying an inflatable life vest and am looking for recommendations. Will predominantly use in bays in site of land to include the Chesapeake bay.
Thank you

 

[Bennie]

John what you are looking for is a PFD with "type II" abilities. This is good for your bays, inlets, canals, etc., where rescue will be rather quick. However please know that type II PFDs are not for an unconscious person in the water and are not made to "self-right" a man over board.

Additionally most automatic PFDs use what's called a "bobbin", which when saturated in water deploy your PFD. This means that this kind of PFD is not made for water sports. You'll usually see these in use on sailboats or when traveling larger bodies of water. (My family uses them when we're boating in the Gulf of Mexico.)

As for name brand it's your choice. Personally I found a great online deal at Cabellas and buy my rearming kits from Amazon.

Most importantly make sure those wearing these PFDs know how to don them, use them, and their limitations.

Hope this helps sir.

 

[zipper]

We use these on the Beneteau as @Bennie says, not for water sports. We bought ours at West Marine during a sale. We have a store 20 mins. away.These are not cheap. We have two automatic and another, the bottom one, that is convertable to manual. WEST MARINE Coastal Automatic Inflatable Life Jacket | West Marine
The red kill switch lanyard is for the dinghy OB.





The Offshore has a belt/D-rings that you can clip your self to a tether on the boat when it get rough.

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[Lake_Spray]

I am looking at buying an inflatable life vest and am looking for recommendations. Will predominantly use in bays in site of land to include the Chesapeake bay.
Thank you

I wear this inflatable full time anytime I'm the driver, or if something dicey is going on. It's comfortable enough that I forget I have it on--I've even almost jumped in the water, triggering it. I don't have any brand loyalty. I think I had a gift card and a coupon in this case which brough the price down to a point my wife wouldn't nag me about it... I like that some manufacturers label their inflatables as "inland", "inshore", "coastal", etc. to help you understand the sort of use case they're designed for. The rearming kits need to be periodically replaced on these (mine is every other year) whether they seem to need it or not so follow manufacturers directions. Consider it in the total cost of ownership.

 

[Bluewater272]

I keep a pair of West Marine inshores on board, to put on if it gets dicey but mostly for passengers who may be a little leery of boats, but to make them not feel so out of place being the only one in a PFD.

Unfortunately somehow over the winter both of mine inflated while stored in the boat. Need to pick up some rearming kits.

 

[biglar155]

The Cadillac of inflatables: Inflatable PFDs

What's your life worth?

Mustangs are extremely comfortable for kids (from the users I've talked to). So if you have a kiddo that you just can't seem to find a proper fit for at the local Costco, you might want to at least check them out for that.

Don't take this as criticism or judgement. Based on MY life-jacket collection, my entire family's life is worth roughly the price of ONE Mustang life-vest. I could - and should - do better.

"Ya pays ya money and ya takes ya chances" as the guy at the 50/50 raffle always says.

Here's a little tidbit for you: According to the Coast Guard's 2017 Recreational Boating Statistics, there were 449 drowning deaths in 2017 (#1 cause of death). 370 of those were not wearing life jackets.

Therefore, the rule on my boat is "Thou Shalt Weary Thy Life Jacket."

Oh, you're an "adult" huh? That just means it's going to be harder for me to fish you out of the water. I've got a janky lower back and you're heavy. Put it on or take pictures from the dock. It's your choice.

 

[Bennie]

The rearming kits need to be periodically replaced on these

Absolutely correct. The yellow bobbin that disolves in water and releases the CO2 is only good for 3 years. You need to replace these on a good schedule otherwise they will dry rot, crack and you'll find a deployed PFD on your vessel.
(I know because this just happened to me.)

If you do keep these kind of PFDs on your boat make damn sure they're in good shape. (Ie: armed) Because, with my experience, the water authorities are not fans of deployed, or non-armed PFDs on your boat.

 

[John McLaughlin]

Mustang Elite Automatic Inflatable PFD is the one I was thinking of buying not because i am afraid of being thrown from the boat but for a more mundane reason. As I have grown older I find it more challenging to get in an out of my rowing skiff and I am concern that I might hit my head on the dock or piling and I thought this might give me the best protection. also Overton is offering me 40% off since i have not bought anything from them in awhile

 

[Liveto99]

It sucks getting old.
Youth is wasted on the young.

I fell out of my boat this winter backing out of the slip, I reached over to push off a dock behind me and poof! I was in the water still can’t believe it. And boat was in reverse and kept pushing on the dock complete and udder shit show in like 2 seconds. Early morning I was going for a ride no one else was upif I had hit my head I would be dead.
And the safety lanyard was still clipped to the t top support because had not pulled out yet and was getting dock lines and such.

 

[John McLaughlin]

@Liveto99
First let me say I am glad you were not seriously hurt.
For the most part many of us do not realize how quickly a situation can go south, my self included especially when we believe we are in a safe environment.
It sounds like you normally hook you kill switch to your vest. I must admit I never do however will begin now after reading your post.

I also wonder how many others are out there that do not use their kill switch and why. I would love to see a poll on this.

 

[AJack]

There's another thread about the kill switch, I posted this video below. They were not expecting it and stated that they had years of boating experience.

 

[Liveto99]

When I’m alone 10 percent of the time on this boat, never before in my life on others I have had,
Truth hurts, when I look at it and think about it I hook it up. But not often. I put a longer spring coil that I clip to.
But of course I should all the time.

 

[John McLaughlin]

I put a longer spring coil that I clip to.
That is one of my concerns it seems that the length is to short for moving around the boat and of course when the engine kicks off you no longer have steering control.

 

[Frank Marshall]

Don't mean to advertise, but I installed Fell Marine MOB for flexibility and safety after kicking knocked overboard by my trusty dog.