Quote:
Originally Posted by Top-Water
If you can float you have a chance of saving yourself.
Some cold water PFD information here.
http://www.coldwatersafety.org/PFDsCanAndCant.html
http://www.go2marine.com/category/12...kets-pfds.html
I wonder if any of the snowmobile clothing manufactures have ever thought of making (fashionable/sport-related) clothing designed to float in the event of an emergency. I spent close to thousand dollars last fall on extreme cold water fishing clothes for myself and my son. Regretfully in light of recent events I never gave it a second thought about if it would keep me afloat.
I thought that an inflatable life jacket that uses (CO2) would be a possible comfortable alternative if you wanted an extra measure of safety out on the ice. Surprisingly they are not recommended because of the way the (CO2) inflates them in cold weather.
Somewhat noteworthy is that in Pennsylvania from November 1st through April 30th while underway or at anchor on boats less than 16 feet in length or any canoe or kayak, cold weather life jacket wear is mandatory. (I realize this is about boats) but it's very much related to cold water safety. |
Interesting tid bit - when I was in the Navy working the flight deck of an aircraft carrier we had to wear vests while on deck, they had a number of features to them but essentially they had a built in inflatable bladder that had a lanyard fired CO2 cartridge to fill it should it be needed. Interestingly enough we were supposed to be replacing those on a regular basis, I seem to recall every 6 months.... I replaced mine far more often. Every time I did I'd test fire the old cartridge to see if it actually worked. The failure rate was pretty high, I'd estimate about 30% of the time nada. Thankfully they had a built in manual air tube you could blow it up if needed, that assumes you are still conscience after falling 50+ feet into the water. Thank God for the safety nets that lined the flight deck, you'd be more likely to fall into one of those than hit the water!
I would never use something like this myself... but at the same time it would not make any sense for us to be out there on deck working with a full on bulky PFD either it'd just get in the way. I gotta believe that they have a better and more reliable inflation method by now... but that was only 20 years ago so who knows.