By Daria Blackwell Your PFD (Personal Flotation Device) is your lifeline when you need it most. Yet, it’s surprising how few people treat them with the kind of respect a piece of gear that’s expected to save your life under the worst of conditions deserves. The least you can do is give it a little care and maintenance from time to time and now, during the off-season, is when most of us should be thinking about doing just that.
PFDs, especially the inherently buoyant ones (i.e., not inflatable) are often tossed in a locker after use, exposing them to dirt, abrasion, moisture, and mildew. Lifejackets, especially inflatables, should never be stored under anything heavy, oily, or wet. Heavy objects can damage the sensitive mechanisms, compress or damage the fibers, and make the PFDs difficult to retrieve. Oil, if it spills on the PFD, can change the buoyancy. Moisture can expose the fabric to mildew and can degrade the automatic inflation mechanism, not only causing a potential problem for inflation when you need it, but also causing the PFD to inflate when you don’t want it to, which we learned first hand!
As all sailors on the East Coast know, we had a particularly wet spring this year. Of course, that doesn’t stop my husband and me from going off cruising. This year, the torrential relentless rain wreaked havoc on our foul weather and safety gear. One time, we were so wet at the end of our weekend cruise that we just took everything off, including our inflatable PFDs, hung it all in the wet locker (i.e., head), and went home to warm up and dry off. Unfortunately, we inadvertently closed the door to the head when we left.
When we came back aboard, we found everything semi-dry but mildewed
—and the PFDs inflated. One was still fully inflated and one partially, causing us to wonder if the latter one was leaky. We tested them first by manually inflating to capacity and waiting overnight to make sure that there were no leaks in the bladders. Luckily there didn’t seem to be. When I went to replace the cartridges, I noticed the bobbins virtually melted. A couple of replacement pins and CO2 cartridges later, and we were back in business. Now, we make sure we dry them off with towels and hang them in the center of the cabin, and so far so good.
We routinely replace the bobbins and pins on our SOSpenders at least once a season. Seeing the condition of the bobbins that melted made me realize just how vital this is. It’s so easy to do, and it will preserve the expensive CO2 canisters much longer. Plus, if you disarm the firing device during the replacement (you have to remove it anyway), it gives you a chance to inflate the PFD manually with the oral tube supplied with most inflatables to check for leaks and test comfort and fit. If you find a leak, make sure to send the jacket in to an authorized service dealer.
Repacking an inflatable vest correctly is essential to minimize abrasion later. If you lost the repacking instructions supplied with the PFD, contact the manufacturer to get a replacement sent to you. Before repacking, be sure the vest is thoroughly dry and completely deflated. To deflate it, you can use a pencil or pen to push open the valve while you push the air out by squeezing relentlessly.
Remember, no amount of care is too much when it comes to looking after a piece of equipment that can save your life when you least expect it.
About the author: Daria Blackwell is a member of the American Yacht Club in RyeNYwhere she and her husband, Alex, are co-webmasters of the website www.americanyc.com. They both contribute to local sailing publications and their work has appeared in eUSsailing and WindCheck. The Blackwells are consummate cruisers who log approximately 1,500 miles a season on their Frers 41 sloop, Espresso
.
If you'd like to contribute to Our Readers Write section, please send your submissions to submit@sailnet.com.
Connect with Facebook
