I have never bothered wearing one, but I am going to start. I don't see many folks wearing them but I thought I'd start a thread where people with some experience of them could express themselves.

The Sospenders World Class Classic Automatic has caught my eye. Has anyone any personal experience of how comfortable this is? Is it cumbersome?

I spent about an hour yesterday perched on the bow of the Queen Tessa trying to get a wreck anchor properly positioned, then freed for re-positioning, then more re-positioning,etc. By 1 pm it was blowing and began getting rough. I didn't come close to falling, but if I had the water temp was about 41 and the current was pretty strong.

Chalk it up to old age--I am 60--but my thoughts turned towards the wisdom of wearing a PFD...

Any feedback would be appreciated.

I know a good bit about hese things. I'm in the Coast Guard and have used them quite a bit. They are comfortable to wear and safe. There is one important thing you need to know about these though. If they aren't physically on your body, then they don't count as a life jacket on your boat. Expl: If you have 4 people on your boat, 2 are wearing in inflatable, 2 aren't, you get a ticket for not having 2 life jackets. The regulations state that they must be worn to count. This is something you need to tell your friends when they are on the boat with you, unless you plan to carry a few normal style L Js onboard for that same reason. Some may not like to wear them. Just food for thought. As far as working, I've jumped in the water with in full uniform, popped right open, brought me back to the surface, and worked fine. They have a manual blow tube to keep it inflated. They are not good for swimming around, have throwables for that. These type can get plenty spendy if you pop them off too much. Roughly, $10 to $25 per recharge kit. You will also want to keep a couple of charge kits onboard as spares, in a dry place. You need to check them out frequently, if the disolving water tab is turning colors, it has been exposed to moisture, water is what set them off. You can figure.

Anyway, I hope this gives you enough of insight to make the right decision. They are good, but expensive to maintain. I just bought 6 new vest type instead and for a 1/3 of the cost.

Donnie

I wear the sospenders and find them very comfortable. I have used them twice. Once I was fly fishing the Shenandoah river in Harpers Ferry and slipped into the river off a rock covered with moss. The current was very swift and I credit the life jacket with saving my life. The second time was in Crab Creek when I fell off my son's boat. That wasn't as dangerous as the Harpers Ferry incident, but it still felt good when that thing inflated. I am older also and not as strong a swimmer as I once was. I think everyone should wear them, however, young and old. It is a requirement on my boat.

I carry one of these onboard my boat along with my Type I jackets. The self inflatables are not recommended for those who cannot swim (obvious reasons as in what if it doesn't inflate and you have to blow it up??).

I use it at night and when I am by myself.

Your statement concerns me in that you seem to be worried about falling in 41 degree water. First if the inflatable doesn't inflate automatically after falling in 41 degree water, you may not be able to blow it up as gasp reflex might get you or a heart attack (not picking on your age as I am older than you ) depending on your physical health. You may not even know that you are more subject to a heart attack than others and this could happen at 35 years old.

What concerns me here in addition to the wearing of a PFD is your going into cold water. Water removes body heat about 25 times faster than wind chill. Forty one degree water doesn't allow you much of a life expectancy without proper attire. This cold water apparel could be anything from a wet suit to a dry suit to an exposure suit to a full blown survival suit like the commercial fishermen have on their trawlers.

Although the following link is aimed at the canoe and kayak community it would serve everyone that goes out in a boat into cold water well to read this article at this link.

http://www.nrsweb.com/hypothermia.asp?tn=132

or this one..........

http://www.enter.net/~skimmer/coldwater.html

or this one on Gasp Reflex. Although again it speaks of kayakers this will happen to boaters who accidentally go overboard into cold water also.

http://www.atlantickayaktours.com/Pages/Ex...ldwater-2.shtml

So, yes the self inflatable is okay for swimmers, but I would not use it in cold water environments because if it fails to operate and I go into shock due to gasp reflex, then I'm more than likely a dead man.

Yes, I kayak all year around and wear protective clothing in the kayak and in my Wellcraft W/A cuddy.

Hope this answers your question.

Sandtiger has got an excellent point. This water is still easily cold enough to kill you in a relatively short amount of time, without sometype of survival suit. Even with a good life jacket, depending on your size, age and health, 40 degree water will kill you in 40 minutes to a couple of hours. Thats not counting the inherent risk of shocking your body into a heart attack. As one of my Rescue Swimmer buddies here in Elizabeth City says. When you cold water fish you are agreeing to put yourself on a small, some times very small, island surrounded by death.
Without a life jacket, you'll lose the ability to swim in less than 10 minutes because your body automaticly restricts the blood flow to your limbs in an attempt to maintain core temperature. So your going to drown long before you have a chance to die of hypothermia.
As always it depends on where you are and what your are doing. Fishing the bay or chasing the fleet stiper fishing the 40 minutes to 2 hours might be all you need for another boat or us in the Coast Guard to get to you. But Offshore Wreck fishing you might want to think about investing in survival suits to give you that time you need to hold on till help gets there. The Heavy duty "Gumby" survival suits can keep you alive for 10's of hours.

Either way if you go into this water without a life jacket, your in a world of hurt without out much time.

I forgot one thing....
Alot of times its about managing your risk. Bulky Type I life Jackets are designed of offshore use and have a destinct advantage in that they are designed to keep your face mostly out of water even when you are unconsious, but they are almost all too cumbersome to where comfortably while actually fishing.
Losing consiousness is a real possiblity while suffering from Hypothermia.

On the other hand there are a lot of well made fishing style life jackets that are designed to be fairly comfortable while fishing, but they won't help keep you face up if you go black out. Then again It will do you a lot more good to have a lifejacket on when you go over than to have it stuck up in the hold because its too cumbersome to wear "before" you have a problem.

Its a trade off, that you have to think about and decide for yourself

I can't thank you guys enough for all the info. I wondered if folks might consider such a topic on the wimpy side and because of that shy away from comments, but obviously many of you have carefully thought through the subject.

The thing about fishermen and hunters is that they are used to paying close attention to detail, even very small detail, and that is what makes a site like this so useful. There are more than a few good hearts among em' too. Thanks again, fellas...

Automatic life vest

They look nice but I like to have a place to put my mini epirb and flares. If you go over and don't make it back into a boat it won't do you alot of good if they don't know you are there.

All the comments about cold water are spot on. I should have clarified - during the summer I wear sospenders. During the winter I wear a Mustang Survival Suit, both jacket and trousers.

I wear the automatic suspender type vest in the winter while striper fishing. My boat is pretty small with low gunwales. I probably should wear a gumby suit but don't. I was thinking of buying the Mustang Bomber jacket that is also rated as a type III PFD (http://www.landfallnavigation.com/smj6214.html) but I figured the vest gave me more protection since in this area the air temp can flucuate between below freezing in the morning to 50-60 degrees in the afternoon and I usually end up taking layers off such as my jacket etc. If I had just the jacket I would probably end up taking it off and its of no use sitting in the hold. Maybe next year I'll have both. We use the Mustang jackets at work and they keep you pretty warm and aren't to cumbersome. I figure if I go in, someone on the boat will get me out fast as I usually never go out alone.

I just got the vest this year and haven't fished with it in the summer yet. Haven't decided if I'm gonna wear it in the summer.

71 Whaler,
Anytype of insulated thermal clothes that are made out of materials that can provide protection when wet will be better than jumping in the water in just your birthday suit. Mustang suits can be a good compromise because they can be just like wearing any other insulated coveralls. A Mustang suit will give some extra time for surem but not hours and hours. The Gumby suits we talked about really are designed for emergency survival. You can even still get them on (with some experienced effort) while already in the water, but once they are on about all you are going to be able to do is to bob around like a big old Gumby. Hence the name.
NOTE: Our rescue swimmers Have a saying about what we wear underneath our"dry" suits for flying. "COTTON KILLS" Cotton is NOT one of those materials that will work well once wet. In fact we aren't allowed to even wear cotton T-shits between our skin and our insulated liners because it will get wet from our sweat and then start lowering our body temperature. So When it comes to going into the water you don't want Cotton thermals or any type of cotton undwear between your skin and your insulated clothing. Once wet, Cotton will only make your colder.

I wear a long sleeved 0.5 mm capalene shirt under my wet suit just because of the issue on cotton as noted above.

I am the son who has the boat he fell off of (haha) I have a mustang automatic inflatable, it is very comfortable, I dont even know its on. I have never used it but I always wear it.

I have worked on or around boats from the age of 19 (retired Navy) and I have pulled a few dead people out of the water /// never recovered a dead body that had a PFD on.

Thanks for the info on cotton. Never knew that. Yeah I should of clarified on the gumby suit. I'm familar with them as we have to occasionaly don them on abandon ship drills when I go out on research cruises. Not much manueverability in them. Its fun watching someone try and put one on for the first time. Bad choice of words on my part. Next year I'll probably buy a Mustang jacket and then use the auto inflatible whenever I take the jacket off.

This was a good topic to start. I remember last year someone posting about how they were headed out striper fishing and their buddy fell off when the boat hit a wake. Luckily they noticed after a minute or two and turned around and got him out of the water and back to the dock. He said his clothes got real heavy, real fast.

Smilingg, don't be afraid to ask a question, no one on this site is going to ridicule you or anyone else for a lack of knowledge. Safety questions especially are always a good idea. Personally I prefer the Offshore Jackets equipped with flares, a strobe, mirror and dye pack. The main problem, as Andy mentioned, is they are bulky and hard to move around in. One answer to that is to store them where they are easy to get at from the deck and will pop free if the boat goes down. I always thought that if you have to go in the cabin and root around in a cabinet or locker to get a life jacket you're in trouble. Another is most captains seem to be hesitant to tell the crew to put on jackets in a potentially dangerous situation. Just remember that as the operator of the vessel, you are responsible for the lives and safety of everyone on board. And as crew or a passenger, don't be afraid to ask for one, particularly in cold water or if you are not a strong swimmer. Most small boat fishermen, especially if you fish offshore, will face a situation where the conditions exceed their experience and/or the capabilities of their craft. By keeping a clear head and minimizing the risk you can see everyone safely to the dock. Tight lines.

Wow! I didn't catch the cold water thing. Good catch and discusion. In addition to my vest I also have a float coat, mustang survival suit , and a dry suit (keeps you warm, but still have to wear a floatation device). It is very important to dress accordingly. You have to be prepared, because you never know how the weather is going to change on the water. The h20 temp will remain consistant though. My thought is, if you dress to the water temp, you should be fine. Don't be fooled by a nice 75degree air temp day, the water temp is still in the 40s and 50s. If you go in and are not prepared, you will know it rather quikly. Key is, be smart, know the weather, know conditions, know your area, and know your boat. Don't just decide to go out on your boat without checking on at least a few of these, mostly weather and boat. This would help us CG guys out and reduce the number of casualties to all.

fair winds and following sea to my fellow members.

An incident I was sort of involved with (before the fact) that happened recently concerning cold water and even though this was involving kayaking, it still applies to cold water boating.......... especially if you go in.

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A couple of weeks ago a friend of mine from work was talking to me about getting a kayak. He asked what style I had and such and from that I offered him a paddling trip. We decided on yesterday afternoon. The weather was nice and warm, but I insisted he wear a wet suit. Since he also water-skis quite a but he agreed that he would need to wear his wet suit. As it turned out the water temp on my depth finder was about 58 degrees and considering the sensor is inside the kayak it may have been a couple of degrees off (on the warm side).

Hang in here with me now.

We went paddling and had a great time going from Tide Mill Rd ramp to Route 17 and back. He paddled the 12 footer to Rt 17 and paddled my 14 footer back. When we got back to the ramp there was a man and his wife putting their kayaks in the water so we waited for them to get ready and launch just sort of sitting back in our yaks and watching the process.

As the man got in his sit inside kayak (SIK), a Wilderness System Tsunami 140, and I saw he had on a pair of shorts, a pull-over shirt, sneakers, and a hat. I felt compelled to comment that I was surprised that he had no wet suit on (cold water protection). He said that he had had the kayaks a long time and that he had never had a need for a wet suit because he had never fallen out of his kayak (where's the logic?).

He and his wife headed up the Poquoson River close to shore and we retrieved our yaks and went home.

I have another friend (his name is Gary) at work who is on the USCG Auxiliary and he lives along the river. Today Gary says to me that a kayaker spilled over just off the shoreline from his house yesterday and fortunately it turns out that the man was in about three feet of water.

I described the guy I spoke to yesterday and it turns out it was the same guy (I described yak and his truck). Gary has no small boat to get the guy and is not about to go into cold water and have two victims. Long story short, this guy was able to get to shore with quite a bit of difficulty and Gary's wife (also USCGA) got to the guy first with a blanket.

Now this guy was in the water no more than about 5 minutes. They got him to Mary Immaculate Hospital ER and it turns out his body core temperature was at 95 degrees!!! This was even after a 10 to 15 minute ride in a warm car with a blanket around him!

This guy is very lucky he was not out in the middle of the river or even in deeper water. His comment to Gary and his wife was that upon hitting the water he felt almost immediately sapped of all his strength!

I would guess so with cotton shorts and a cotton shirt and no cold water protection! I am going to bet he either will not go out in cold water again or will buy a wet suit or a dry suit. Fortunately, his wife wasn't there at the time and in trying help him got in trouble herself in her cotton sweat suit.

Be careful out there in the cold water this time of year and don't let the warm air lure you into a trip without protection.

years ago I went white water rafting on the upper Gauley in W.VA. Summertime trip, air temps in the 90's. The outfitter was renting insulated wet suits, everyone thought they were nuts and just wanted to pad the bottom line. I was the first one thrown into the river, will never forget the body shock of hitting 41 degree water. All rational thought and motor skills left like right now. I learned the lesson of air temp. don't mean squat, but what you might get into does. Can't be too safe.

frazoo