Offshoreonly.com - Life Jackets

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Quote:

Originally Posted by thirdchildhood (Post 4789362)

I will do that. There are lots of these on the market at all price points. Any recommendations for a performance application? Auto inflate feature is a must. There are Defender brand, Mustang brand and others on Amazon. I'm lost!

No recommendations, I have not had to test any yet,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

I have to do more research unless someone has a recommendation. The best ones are bulky and have sailing harnesses. The small ones wouldn't have a chance in hell of staying on. Only a couple come with leg straps. If I was in a poker run it would be lifelines for everyone but I'm not and i usually don't wear a jacket. If it gets rough on the Great Lakes then we put them on. Otherwise I take my chance, like biking without a helmet. I encourage passengers to wear a vest but they usually follow my lead and don't. Right now the Mustang Survival looks like the best bet.

I've kind of come to the conclusion that a good inflatable is nearly as bulky as a high performance life jacket and a small one will not do any good in a high speed crash. I think I'm giving up on the idea of inflatables and maybe we will wear our life jackets more when going fast.

We wear our mustangs every time. They do not have leg straps, our next ones will. Our boat isn't that fast, max of 104, but we run it hard almost every time out We wear our Lifelines during poker runs etc. Just my opinion, some sort of pfd is better than nothing.

Being tethered to a flipping or rolling boat just doesn't appeal to me. Seat belt I could do.

Quote:

Originally Posted by lake p.a.l. (Post 4789859)

What model do you wear?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Eddienel (Post 4789873)

Being tethered to a flipping or rolling boat just doesn't appeal to me. Seat belt I could do.

The tethering is only for sailboats to help keep one from going overboard. A seatbelt in a boat would lead to a broken neck.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Eddienel (Post 4789311)

I personally like the neoprene style fitted jackets that the ski and wake board guys wear. This is the jacket I use. Im definitely guilty of not wearing it but Im also not in a performance boat. When we were doing a lot of sailing in big water I would wear it because it is so comfortable. After awhile you didn't even notice it on. They are definitely not ocean rated but its better then nothing at all or a pair of blue jeans blown up tied around your chest.

https://www.obrien.com/o-brien-men-s...e/5637342017.p

When I was a lot younger I used to do some crazy things on the water and it wouldn't be uncommon for me to hit the water going 70+. I had on a neoprene jacket once and hit the water going way to fast. Fortunately for me when I finally stopped I was in shallow water and could stand up. The jacket I was wearing disintegrated and all that was left were the nylon straps and bits of neoprene. I found some jackets from Sea Doo that are impact rated to 100mph and coast guard certified. The problem is that I don't wear them enough and thought about getting the mustangs as well. I will say I was doing some prop testing in rough water and put my jacket on. I caught a wave just right and got to much air and the stern caught a wave and slammed the bow into the following wave and spun the boat sideways into the wave. I went from 75 to 0 instantly. I stayed in the boat, but I cracked a few ribs, and messed up my hip pretty good but that jacket helped cushion the blow.