Caution with Co2 PFD's...

Ed L.

Ed L.

Well-known member
Supporter
Thinking about a fatality locally then reading Chief Pauly's accident reports and now Cody's Salt Lake incident. I thought I'd bring this up.

Last weekend while deer hunting I was wearing a Co2 inflatable life preserver (I won't mention the brand since I believe they all work the same). When we pulled up to shore my partner got out of the boat and tied off. I was moving things around so I could get out of the boat without stepping on anything. When I moved a coat I wasn't wearing I heard a clunk on the floor of the boat. I looked down and found the the Co2 cartridge was sitting on the floor of the boat. On further examination I found that the keeper that secures the Co2 cartridge in the lifevest was broken. Now technically I'm illegal if I were to be stopped by a CO not to mention I had no life preserver at that point. I use this as an excuse as it was a bluebird day with no chance of bad weather but I should have gone back to the ramp and gotten another life jacket out of the Jeep. I don't keep a spare cartridge assembly in the boat (which I should) but after seeing how fragile this system is I've gone back to my float coat. One of the guys in the local accident drown. They found him floating upside down. The reason they found him so fast was he was wearing neoprene waders but no life jacket and it's presumed he couldn't keep his head above water. I know a lot of you use these types of PFD's so before you go out again just take a minute to check the cartridge and carry a spare replacement assembly in your boat box.
 
Ed,
The cartridge in my vest also dropped onto the deck of my boat, just this week in fact. I simply screwed it back in and it should be good to go, at least for the design on my mechanism. I’ve told myself to get in the habit of checking the cartridge periodically. How often is still in question but they do need checked from time to time.

BTW If you ever find yourself with a non-working cartridge, and no spare or other PFD, I think if you go ahead and manually inflate your vest, then continue to wear it in its inflated state, I think you are legal. I could be wrong but that is my understanding. Maybe Darren P could provide an answer from the Coast Guards view?
 
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I went into the basement and checked my inflatable PFD after reading your comment. My cartridge was loose. Gotta buy a spare again, don't know where I put it. I worked for a boat towing service and almost fell overboard hooking up a tow [one man operation]. Went out and bought the next morning.
Will be buying a new PFD for the duck boat. Looking for a really large one to go over my hunting jacket and waders. Any ideas where to find one? I'm a 3xl, probably need a 5xl so it's wearable.
 
Dave,

Duh...It never dawned on me to pull out the tube and inflate it myself. To many years wearing a standard vest I suppose.

The firing mechanism on mine has green plastic wedge with a very small dia pin that fits into a red plastic piece. As I understand the design, this keeps the pull cord in a position to prohibit accidental firing. Anyway the green piece was gone and I didn't find it in the boat when I screwed the cartridge back in. That's the reason I decided to chuck this thing and go back to my float coat. I questioned the design when I assemblied the cartridge for the first time.
 
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Ed,

Good advice. I just checked both mine and my buddy's and both are tight. I always have a spare PFD with me so if I don't happen to have the inflatable on I would still be legal. Something else to think about when CO2 cartridges are concerned - the early Stearns inflatables used a cartridge with a much smaller neck and thread than the current ones. I caught the anchor line on the one I had and it inflated - went to Cabelas to get a replacement cartridge only to find out they were no longer made. Cabelas gave me full credit on a new inflatable.
 
There is a Safety Alert regarding Mustang Inflatable PFD's.
http://www.uscgboating.org/assets/1/workflow_staging/News/577.PDF


Inflatable Lifejackets
  • Inflatable lifejackets may be more comfortable to wear.
  • The best lifejacket is the one you will wear.
  • Inflatable lifejackets require the user to pay careful attention to the condition of the device.
  • Inflatable lifejackets must have a full cylinder and all status indicators on the inflator must be green, or the device is NOT serviceable, and does NOT satisfy the requirement to carry lifejackets.
  • Coast Guard Approved Inflatable lifejacket's are authorized for use on recreational boats by person at least 16 years of age.
http://www.uscgboating.org/safety/default.aspx
 
There is a Safety Alert regarding Mustang Inflatable PFD's.
http://www.uscgboating.org/...staging/News/577.PDF


Inflatable Lifejackets
  • Inflatable lifejackets may be more comfortable to wear.
  • The best lifejacket is the one you will wear.
  • Inflatable lifejackets require the user to pay careful attention to the condition of the device.
  • Inflatable lifejackets must have a full cylinder and all status indicators on the inflator must be green, or the device is NOT serviceable, and does NOT satisfy the requirement to carry lifejackets.
  • Coast Guard Approved Inflatable lifejacket's are authorized for use on recreational boats by person at least 16 years of age.

http://www.uscgboating.org/safety/default.aspx
Click to expand...

Darren,
First understand that this is a legitimate question and I am not just being argumentative. Given the information you provided with no further clarifications, it would seem that the very second one deployed his or her inflatable vest; one would be in violation as the vest would no longer have a full cartridge. The contents of the cartridge would now be in the vest.
Can you provide any further information?
 
If you have to deploy it, I dont think you need to worry about semantics!!!!
Just make sure you replace the cartridge before you use it again.
 
Guys another good training thing to do is to put all you hunting gear on that you normally wear during the season, and on a hot summer day get in the water and "test" yourself on how you can move around, have someone there to help you if you need it.

One thing we found on the inflatable vests is that when blown up they really restrict your movement and some make it almost impossible to self rescue yourself back into the boat due to their size.

I have pulled more dead hunters, rafters and other victims out of the water over my 30 year career. Many more than I ever care to remember,

one thing they all had in common was none of them had a life jacket on.
_______________________________________________________________

Fred
 
HuntinDave,
Sorry not sure I understand the question. For it to count for the carriage requirement the inflatable PFD must be servicable and have a full cylinder in the green. You can wear it deflated as long as its in the green. If you are wearing it inflated then it would count as a PFD also just like wearing a regular type III PFD. I believe if it was inflated then you deflate it, you would need to replace the cylinder soon as possible for it to again count toward the carriage requirments. I just copied how it is written in the safety brochure. I recommend carrying extra cylinders just in case as a backup and so this does not become an issue if stopped by a marine officer.
 
If you are wearing it inflated then it would count as a PFD also just like wearing a regular type III PFD.
Click to expand...


I may be wrong but I believe this is the jest of the question. If operating a recreational boat with an inflatable PFD in the inflated state WOULD satisfy the carriage requirement.

Thanks for the clarification. It may not have answered Dave's question but it did answer my question.
 
Another thing to think about if you wear an inflatable PFD in Northern climates is Charles law.
The volume of compressed gas at a lower temp will not provide the same boyancy as in hot summer months. So a test is full gear during the summer may provide acceptable floatation. However, during very cold winter months that floation may not be enough.
 
[font=Verdana,Arial,Helvetica]In Reply To[/font]
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If you are wearing it inflated then it would count as a PFD also just like wearing a regular type III PFD.
Click to expand...


I may be wrong but I believe this is the jest of the question. If operating a recreational boat with an inflatable PFD in the inflated state WOULD satisfy the carriage requirement.

Thanks for the clarification. It may not have answered Dave's question but it did answer my question.

Take care,

Ed L.

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Darren,

Yes this answers my question. It is also what I was trying to say in regards to wearing it in the inflated state. One ideally carries spare cartridges but sometimes you get caught unprepared.
 
Another thing to think about if you wear an inflatable PFD in Northern climates is Charles law.
The volume of compressed gas at a lower temp will not provide the same boyancy as in hot summer months. So a test is full gear during the summer may provide acceptable floatation. However, during very cold winter months that floation may not be enough.
Click to expand...

Yep...Let's hope these manufacturers calculated in a hevty safety factor when they sized the Co2 canisters and bladders. Mine says...Minimum of 22.5 lbs. of buoyancy. Fits adults over 80 lbs. Fits chest up to 52''. USCG approved/Type V with Type III performance. I don't really want to do the math.
 
John,
Not sure if Charles is in effect here as long as the bladder is completely filled. Since cartridge CO2 mass remains constant and the bladder displaces the same water volume (water density is actually higher in the cold) buoyancy should still be the same or slightly higher, even if the resulting badder pressure is lower. Now if the badder doesn't fill all the way in the cold then yes, buoyancy is lost.

Any one fired one off in subfreezing temps?

Scott
 
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