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Invest in the inflateable ones and wear it all the time, it is a small investment that can pay big rewards.

mshunter77 wrote:Invest in the inflateable ones and wear it all the time, it is a small investment that can pay big rewards.

+1

The newer inflateable vest are even more comfortable than the initial ones. Remember though that the inflateable vest don't count unless you are wearing it. Just having it in the boat doesn't count. Spend the extra for the auto inflate. The earlier models had problems with them inflating just because of the high humidity climate of Mississippi's Summers. Those have been fixed. Change the bobbin every year which is what makes the vest go off when that piece gets wet. It disolves which release the auto arming mechanism and inflates the vest. Think of it like an alka seltzer tablet that blocks the firing pin.

We have to wear our auto inflate pfd's anytime we are in our work boats. Kept me from getting drowned by a drunk one night in Lake Ferguson. As soon as we hit the water, it inflated. Once you get used to wearing it, it's really not a bother. Heck of a lot cooler than a big pfd with buckles.

We also had a drowning during duck season. Guy had his waders on. I don't want to go into details but he had almost gotten them off before he drowned. He was in about 17 FOW.

20 year old drowned down here on the coast this weekend. Was wade fishing and fell in a hole and I guess his waders filled up. Sad story.

People with inflatables. How sensitive are they to water? Meaning will they be ok if I put them inside a musty hatch in my boat and its parked in my garage in 300% MS humidity?

Yes. Mine stays either in the boat or truck. Heat and humidity never have affected mine. I am told the older ones had problems though.

deltadukman wrote:

matador1 wrote:I went through this last year during a check and the officer was lenient. What we do now is hang them from the center console bar and the bimini top frame so they are not only accessible but visible to the eye. I know that's harder on a small boat but not a bad habit to get into.

Kind of my question/point. Readily accessible leaves it up to officer discretion. I keep mine in a large livewell in front of my center console with nothing else rather than blowing around and out of the boat or buckled onto my bimini top. I can assure you I can get to them a lot quicker that way than unbuckling. Guy I talked to said the MDWFP officer said "Its US coast guard rules they have to be out". I am trying to find said rule. I've been boarded and or checked multiple times by the USCG in South Louisiana and none have said a word about having them out rather than in that console.

As someone who works in the maritime industry and has to know USCG rules and regs, I have never read that a PFD has to be,"out at all times". Yes. I know I am on a ship but the ACOE also has O/B's that we use for surveys, etc. They are stored on those boats but readily available.

Wingman wrote:Yes. Mine stays either in the boat or truck. Heat and humidity never have affected mine. I am told the older ones had problems though.

What model do you have, Rob?

Wingman wrote:Yes. Mine stays either in the boat or truck. Heat and humidity never have affected mine. I am told the older ones had problems though.

I had the older models and had two go off in the boat from Summer humidity when I first bought them. They have fixed those problems for the most part. I do replace the bobbin every year and you don't need to buy a complete rearm kit to do so. The bobbin alone runs $10-$15 where the rearm kit can run close to $75

Mustang MD3183

Checked tons of boats over the holiday weekend. One guy had to move all of his stuff off of the front hatch, open the lid, and then extract a tackle box that was the same size as the hatch hole to get to his PFD's. When he put them back he put all of the PFD's in there and the box on top of them. I suggested that as long as it took him to get everything out of the way and to the PFD's while he was being checked, that it would probably take much longer in an emergency. You could see the light bulb turn on in his head, so he rearranged things a bit.

Same experience I had with a GW, not Wingman. It's apparent why you guys do what you do, and it's not to write as many tickets as you can.

Wingman wrote:Mustang MD3183

Checked tons of boats over the holiday weekend. One guy had to move all of his stuff off of the front hatch, open the lid, and then extract a tackle box that was the same size as the hatch hole to get to his PFD's. When he put them back he put all of the PFD's in there and the box on top of them. I suggested that as long as it took him to get everything out of the way and to the PFD's while he was being checked, that it would probably take much longer in an emergency. You could see the light bulb turn on in his head, so he rearranged things a bit.