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PFD When Underway

Posted: Thu Aug 18, 2016 8:59 pm
by Oldslowandugly
So today after a pretty good day of fishing I was tidying up the boat. I hear some kids yelling hello and I turned to see what was going on. There was a small bow rider, maybe 18 feet, going past. I counted 15 people on board! The front bow rider section had 5 kids crammed in there. The other 10 looked like the whole clan, mother-in-laws and all. No life jackets. I tried advising them and the grand poo-bah at the helm pretty much told me to get bent. They soon came back, as the jet motor could barely make headway with all that weight. Talk about oblivious. I just shook my head.

Re: PFD When Underway

Posted: Thu Aug 18, 2016 9:17 pm
by jimh
I only own five PFD's. And one throwable. That means we can't get underway with more than six people, unless someone brings their own PFD.

Recently I saw a big pontoon boat underway with over 20 people aboard. I wondered if the owner had 20 PFD's aboard.

A decent Type-I offshore PFD is at least $50. Compare at

http://www.westmarine.com/buy/west-mari ... P014001853

For a pontoon boat with 20 aboard, that would be $1,000 in PFD's and a lot of space to stow them.

Re: PFD When Underway

Posted: Thu Aug 18, 2016 10:06 pm
by Oldslowandugly
On my boat Rule #1 is- life jackets are worn at all times. You don't wear one- you stay home. If you don't like it- get your own boat and do as you wish. At least I supply comfortable type-3 vests as well as several type-4's for emergencies . My feeling is that you never hear about someone drowning who was wearing a life jacket. Worse, I shouldn't have to interrupt my drift to look for you when you fall in. With a life jacket you can mark time and I'll pick you up on the next drift. I may be over cautious, but when I see 15 people in a small boat, my skin crawls. I wonder how many of them could swim?

Re: PFD When Underway

Posted: Fri Aug 19, 2016 1:11 pm
by Masbama
I can't tell you how many times I've taken a rare day off to go fishing and the marine police stop by to do a check. Usually me and one other anchored and fishing. They go about their way then I see a scene like the one mentioned above.

Re: PFD When Underway

Posted: Fri Aug 19, 2016 7:55 pm
by Oldslowandugly
A lot of people just don't know that in New York kids under 12 must wear life jackets at all times. When advised of the law, out come the orange type 2's from their sealed plastic wrappers. Then I show them the comfortable type 3 I wear at all times and they are amazed.

Re: PFD When Underway

Posted: Sat Aug 20, 2016 9:36 am
by Wweez
Overloading is one of the most frequent causes of accidents. If nothing else, there are just too many people on board. It is crowded.
I had one 18 ft IO rated for 2000 lbs. it was good with 6, and tolerable with 8. There were seats for 10 and that would have been within the load weights. When things begin to go wrong, every one of the crew will be in the weong place.
But it was too crowded for any thing.

Re: PFD When Underway

Posted: Fri Aug 26, 2016 9:29 am
by Dutchman
I do vessel exams and sometimes we are at a ramp offering our services to check boats and possibly help educate people. I'm happy that 95% of the boat owners asked that have us do an exam know that they are probably up to par and want to know what might be wrong so they can take action correcting it,but I'm sad to say it is the 5% that need it most always say "no I'm fine" and then you see them later with no PFD's on kids or no nav lights working, etc.
We all know how important it is for younger kids to wear PFD's while boating, it does save lives as evidenced last week with the overturned boat on the IWC where the toddler/baby survived.

Re: PFD When Underway

Posted: Tue Aug 30, 2016 9:56 am
by Oldslowandugly
I can't wait for summer to end so all the rubberheads go home. Just yesterday I watched as a small Carolina Skiff was negotiating a Bascule bridge at 5mph. Suddenly a moron following behind him jumped up on plane and raced past him. The wake almost slammed the skiff into the bridge pilings. When the skiff cleared the bridge the guy came over to talk to me- clearly shaken. He said the moron even looked right at him as he blasted past. He drifted next to me a while until he relaxed enough to press on. We both agreed that a pocket sized torpedo would have been useful right about then!

Re: PFD When Underway

Posted: Mon Sep 26, 2016 3:10 pm
by MillieTheBoat
Lack of depth perception and peripheral vision are worse driving on the road at night. I can't imagine on the water with or without reflection of the stars/moon light. I tested out my Dauntless at 37 to 39-nautical-miles-per-hour on a calm sea during the day, and it still scares me thinking if I hit a log or something. I had PFD on and this was with an experience boater friend with me.

Re: PFD When Underway

Posted: Sat Oct 01, 2016 8:35 am
by cleep1700
PFD's uncomfortable but required on my 15.

Re: PFD When Underway

Posted: Sat Oct 01, 2016 10:28 am
by Jefecinco
The Admiral and I always wear an inflatable PFD. When fishing with friends I substitute a belt type inflatable. The inflatable PFDs are so comfortable we don't notice them. An additional safety device I often use is the ignition interrupt lanyard. I use the lanyard depending upon conditions. When boating alone I always use it.

Re: PFD When Underway

Posted: Sat Oct 01, 2016 11:50 am
by Masbama
The kill switch clip is a requirement in Alabama for certain size boats. Got a ticket for not having one clipped on. $250.00 fine back then. Thank goodness the judge was a friend of mine.

Re: PFD When Underway

Posted: Sat Oct 01, 2016 6:21 pm
by Jefecinco
Wow! $250 for that offense. The Coasties would simply have informed you of the problem. I was under the impression the law applied to jet skis, which it surely must, but was unaware that it included other craft.

What is the maximum size for the requirement?

Re: PFD When Underway

Posted: Tue Oct 04, 2016 10:57 am
by porthole
We use inflatable PFD's when transiting the inlet on less then perfectly flat days. But tend to take them off once we are set up for fishing.

The kill switch is always clipped for inlet transit and when ever I am moving at speed, when I remember to clip it.
I am waiting for the real world reports (over on THT) for the Fell Marine wireless engine kill device.

It is a bit pricey compared to an existing lanyard system already installed on boats, but I really like the features given I am out alone 90% of the time, and am not a very fast swimmer.

https://www.fellmarine.com/

Re: PFD When Underway

Posted: Tue Oct 04, 2016 12:03 pm
by jimh
Almost all the time I am operating the boat, there is another person aboard who is qualified and experienced at the helm on our boat. We do our best to avoid big seas. If we are in big seas, we will put on PFDs. If I am alone, I always clip on the safety lanyard and wear a PFD. We used to boat in shoulder season, with much colder temperatures, and I would wear my PFD for warmth. Lately we don't boat in the early Spring or late Fall. We have become really fair-weather boaters.

Almost all the time we are underway we have the weather canvas up. The helm position is surrounded by a tall fixed windshield, the frame for the weather canvas, usually the windshield canvas, and very often the side curtains, too. It would require an extraordinary motion on the boat to eject the helmsman into the sea from that location. For those reasons, I typically do not wear a PFD and do not have the lanyard clipped on when underway in good conditions. The crew is usually in the other pilot seat, with similar location relative to the fixed windshield and canvas.

The autonomously self-inflating PFDs are nice, but they can autonomously self-inflate at inappropriate times if they contact water.

Re: PFD When Underway

Posted: Wed Oct 05, 2016 11:22 am
by Dutchman
jimh wrote:The autonomously self-inflating PFDs are nice, but they can autonomously self-inflate at inappropriate times if they contact water.


True Jim but you can get one that doesn't have the automatic and therefore has a pull handle to inflate. The problem with those is that if you get thrown overboard you probably hit something and won't be able to initiate inflating.
back to the automatic ones I have sailed in some very rough Lake Michigan seas with heavy rain down pores and my automatic inflatable PDF's never set off by them selves. The enclosure of these modern PFD's mechanisms requires them to be completely submersed. I check mine every 2-3 seasons by jumping in the water and then replacing the cartridge.

Re: PFD When Underway

Posted: Wed Oct 05, 2016 11:28 am
by jimh
A PFD qualified to be TYPE-1 is best, but, as the Coast Guard points out, they are often not worn all the time when boating because of their discomfort. They say, "The safest PFD is the one you are willing to wear all the time." More at

https://www.uscg.mil/hq/cg5/cg5214/pfdselection.asp

Re: PFD When Underway

Posted: Wed Oct 05, 2016 11:34 am
by porthole
jimh wrote:"The safest PFD is the one you are willing to wear all the time."



And it needs to be worn properly. A PFD that is not buckled, tied or zipped is just another accessory.

Re: PFD When Underway

Posted: Thu Oct 06, 2016 10:50 pm
by Masbama
Jefecinco wrote:Wow! $250 for that offense. The Coasties would simply have informed you of the problem. I was under the impression the law applied to jet skis, which it surely must, but was unaware that it included other craft.

What is the maximum size for the requirement?

24 feet I believe. It was kind of a set up but it's a long story. Just lets say I'm not enamored with the local marine police.