Thread: Inflatable life vests

Yep, he said he woke up on the bottom of the lake in 10 ft of water. That would of been a rude awakening!

Never had to test mine, I am hopeing that it works with all the clothes worn in cold weather.

Best to check the expiration date on the activation bobbin in the vest each spring before going out. They have to be replaced every 2 or 3 years. If worn under clothing they don't work correctly.

They can inflate on their own if that bobbin gets too old. I know from experience.

Originally Posted by kazualobzerver

Always been a vocal proponent, this has me questioning.

Cox and New were launched into the 52-degree water, but their inflatable PFDs did not deploy and they quickly dropped to the bottom as both were wearing their foul-weather bibs and extra layers of clothing.

“Neither of our life jackets went off and I think that’s probably a good thing,” he said. “We went to the bottom. If we were wearing regular jackets, it would’ve kept us toward the surface and there’s no telling what would’ve happened when that boat went over us. It was crazy.”

No different than a seat belt in the car and helmets on motorcycles. There are those rare incidents that not having them or them not working is a blessing. The other 99.999% of the time it's good to have them in proper condition, properly installed and working.
i would say never wear them under clothing as the balast needs to have room to expand.
DRFish told me a story about his friend that had his on under his waders when his vest got just wet enough to deploy. That puts a lot of compression on the chest and could cause someone to panic. In his circumstance it turned out to be hilarious.

Were they under power with the big motor when they went overboard?

Read it on Facebook, during a Bass fishing tournament a guy and his judge or whatever you call him where thrown out of the boat when it did a 180 doing 50mph.

Being a owner of a Mustang Inflatable myself I find its hard to find a rearm kit that has a good date on it especially at Bass Pro! So after a call to Mustang last Friday, they told me that their expiration date is 5 years out after they leave the factory. So Mustang set me up with a location on the east coast to call. I called the guy on Monday and after I told him of my problems of finding a good date on one he wouldn't sell me one until he went back and doubled checked the date first! Even with shipping they were cheaper than Bass Pro!

Also I called the Missouri State Water Patrol office in Jefferson City, MO on Monday and talked with one of the supervisors up there! I won't mention any names on here. I asked if the water patrol ever checked the expiration date on the tube of inflatables? Nope they only checked the green light! Fact is the supervisor of the Missouri State Water Patrol I talked with didn't even realize that there was a expiration date on the tube. He even stated to me that after he was getting off the phone with me he was going out and checking to see what the expiration date on his state issued inflatable!

Now this is 3/31/15 and my light is still green on mine and the expiration date is sometime in 2011! But I haven't been out in the boat either. I won't go out until I have mine rearmed with a current date tube!

Found it weird neither of them deployed the Marshall or Cox's. Lucky no one was hurt. I always wear my normal vest on plane. Amazes me how many people run around truman at high speeds without one on.

Ok so I have never done it since 2008 when I purchased it. Heck the Light was still Green! But the yellow cap said it was out of date on 2011! The tube was also still green too.




From what I understand the thing will inflate when water hits the yellow tube on the yellow cap. Now that I have a old one I might go play with it and see what it does!