Your thoughts on inflatable PDFs

[poopdeckpappy]

Originally Posted by arf145

Just for the record, I think it's PFD, for Personal Flotation Device, rather than PDF.

[CapTim]

lol, indeed.. damn internets anyway

[davidpm]

Originally Posted by CapTim

I put on a 'normal' vest-type PDF over the top of the inflatable.

Wow that sounds scary. When the inflatable inflates under the secured vest pdf how will it get to full size without compressing your lungs and/or making it impossible to use your arms.

I'm sure you know what you are doing but have you actually tried this combination with a couple strong friends around in the pool.

We have tested normal inflatables and they severely restrict your ability to swim once inflated all by themselves.

[rgscpat]

PFD - portable document format
PFD - personal flotation device (though the US Coast Guard might get back to calling it a life preserver one of these days). "Float coats" are great PFDs for cold weather.

Poop decks - more associated with old-timey wooden sailing ships, aftmost deck and above quarterdeck and (upper) gun deck, bordered by taffrail (aft) and break to quarterdeck forward. Pretty much out of fashion for the last couple of centuries.

Inflatables -- not approved for children in USA or for use in white-water sports, great otherwise, manufacturers will specify replacement intervals for activation mechanisms on auto-inflatables. There is potential for the CO2 cartridge to become partially unscrewed and loose in many designs, so this should be checked fairly often. Otherwise, inflatables are great.

[lydanynom]

Originally Posted by mdbee

I think you may need to reassess your opinion of him: "someone with great knowledge".

Maybe the great knowledge is in the field of beekeeping or the art of carving little heads out of apples.

[jjablonowski]

My choice:

Manual inflation - I want the option to be able to disentangle myself or clamber up a swim ladder without interference from a couple of balloons. Or, alternately, pop the CO2 cartridge if I decide to.

Built-in harness - A sailing condition that calls for putting on a harness is exactly the same one that calls for a life vest. And a harness with built-in buoyancy isn't much more restrictive than a harness without.
Further, once you don the vest/harness, clipping onto a tether is quick and easy, and sometimes seconds count, as in the case of the deadly sudden squall here in the western Sound four weeks ago.

(Aside: I recently read somewhere -- Sail, Cruising World, ? -- that the Coast Guard is phasing out use of the term "PFD" in favor of the jargon-less "life vest" or "life jacket.")

[sailingfool]

Originally Posted by jjablonowski

My choice:

Manual inflation - I want the option to be able to disentangle myself or clamber up a swim ladder without interference from a couple of balloons. Or, alternately, pop the CO2 cartridge if I decide to.

Built-in harness - A sailing condition that calls for putting on a harness is exactly the same one that calls for a life vest. And a harness with built-in buoyancy isn't much more restrictive than a harness without.
Further, once you don the vest/harness, clipping onto a tether is quick and easy, and sometimes seconds count, as in the case of the deadly sudden squall here in the western Sound four weeks ago.

(Aside: I recently read somewhere -- Sail, Cruising World, ? -- that the Coast Guard is phasing out use of the term "PFD" in favor of the jargon-less "life vest" or "life jacket.")

The only life vest that provides comparable service to a good inflatable is a type 1...have you ever spent 2-3 hours on a rough day wearing a type 1? Pretty uncomfortable and limiting.

There's plenty of news reports around about the unconscious sailor going overboard and his/her life being saved by the auto-inflating feature.

Buy a good auto inflatable and wear it always. Period. Skip the harness option, for cost and weight reasons, unless you sail short-handed or offshore.

[niebur]

Originally Posted by davidpm

Wow that sounds scary. When the inflatable inflates under the secured vest pdf how will it get to full size without compressing your lungs and/or making it impossible to use your arms.

I'm sure you know what you are doing but have you actually tried this combination with a couple strong friends around in the pool.

We have tested normal inflatables and they severely restrict your ability to swim once inflated all by themselves.

Don't even TRY this in the pool. A constricted self-inflating vest can crush your rib cage and puncture your lungs.

You will die even if you do this in the pool.

Great way to win a Darwin Award!

[Nautichthys]

Originally Posted by musicmanontheseas

They said that the contents in the CO2 breakdown the materials of the PDF once it is used and therefore the PDF wasn't any good any more once it was used.

Your friend might have gotten this idea from the early non-coast guard approved inflatables. Some of them were garbage with poorly sealed bladders that tended to rot out just sitting around. This rot had nothing to do with CO2. Sounds like a rumour a manufacturer would try to start.

[jcalvinmarks]

Originally Posted by jjablonowski

(Aside: I recently read somewhere -- Sail, Cruising World, ? -- that the Coast Guard is phasing out use of the term "PFD" in favor of the jargon-less "life vest" or "life jacket.")

Can we similarly abolish the acronym "PWC" and make jetski a common noun, like xerox? It grates my ears to hear radio commercials for insurance try to fit that acronym in like it's a normal part of everyday speech.

Or better yet, can we just abolish jetskis altogether?

I realized over the winter what a risk I was taking by single-handing my boat with the autopilot set without a PFD. It's a small inland lake, so it's never more than a mile to the nearest shore, but I'm not a real strong swimmer. And during the winter there's really not much of anyone out on the lake; maybe a few die-hard anglers. And so if I was to fall overboard without a PFD on (which is, so far, the norm for me), there would be no chance of catching the boat, because it's not going to round up and stop for me. And in all likelihood, I would die of a combination of hypothermia and drowning before anyone even knew what happened.

A grim thought, to be sure, so I'm now considering an inflatable PFD, thinking that it would at least allow me to struggle to shore without drowning. Not much to do about the hypothermia angle. Except not to fall overboard in the first place.