Christmas and New Years festivities are over and naturally we are all desperate to get the boats back in the water or go sailing with friends. Over the winter our lifejacket and that of friends, has been slung in a cupboard or dry room and forgotten about till now. It may even be covered in all the Christmas decorations and unwanted presents and will certainly need a once over for the new season.
Whether you have your own lifejacket or you use a friends when you go on their boat, it is important that you know how to check them properly. The first rule with lifejackets is that they are only any good if you wear them. The second rule is that there is no point wearing them if they won’t work!
There are many different styles of lifejackets and all of them should get serviced professionally once a year. However, what is the state of the lifejacket you were just handed? Or, has the lifejacket ever been serviced?
We should all carry out our own checks when given a new lifejacket or carry out the same checks monthly on our own. It’s simple to do, here’s how:
Firstly, check the lifejacket all over for signs of wear and tear. It should be in good condition with no obvious holes or fraying. It should look reliable. Make sure all the reflective strips are in place and that the strong points that would used for lifting you out of the water are in tact. If there is a crotch strap fitted, check this too.
Secondly, undo the velcro or zip around the life jacket,checking that it is in good condition as you go, and unfold the bladder inside. Make a note of how the bladder is folded as you will have to put it back.
Then, so that you don’t set it off, unscrew the metal cylinder that holds the compressed gas from its fixing. Don’t worry that you will set it off, it is designed to be unscrewed easily. Once you have it free, check that the screw end doesn’t have a hole in it. It is normal to often see a depression in the end but that is fine so long as the bottle isn’t pierced. Like the rest of the lifejacket, the bottle should look reliable. If it is rusted, pitted or otherwise corroded then it needs to be replaced.
Next move on to the firing mechanism. This assembly is designed pierce the bottle in an emergency. These are either manual or automatic and you need to know which one you have.
Both versions will have a little plastic clip in them which will stop the lifejacket being fired during normal wear. If it isn’t there then one should be added. This is cheap and easy to do so you don’t have to buy a new lifejacket. The other thing that will be attached is the pull cord. While the gas bottle is disconnected, give the cord a pull to make sure it moves freely and that the pin could pierce the bottle when required.
Auto firing lifejackets will look slightly different. There will either be an elongated section or a yellow Hammer assembly. They will either contain a salt tablet or a hydrostatic valve. This tablet or element in the Hammar unit is designed to dissolve when in the water and the valve is designed to fire a spring. Once dissolved, the mechanism is free to fire as it is the salt tablet that holds the pin at bay. If you can see the tablet (not all are visible) it will have serrations on the surface. If not, it will need to be replaced like the plastic tags.
There may be a window on the lifejacket that shows different colours. Usually red for danger and green for safe. These are indicators for the bottle and trigger. Make sure these are showing as safe.
Other fittings on the lifejacket may include a whistle and a light. If these are present, check they work properly. The light may only be activated when in water and can be checked by holding the contacts on your tongue or another wet surface. Otherwise, it may have an on/off button.
Some life jackets will have a spray hood. Like the rest of the checks, this should look reliable and be free from damage.
Finally check the bladder. This can be done quickly by blowing into the manual inflation mouth piece. A better check but subject to time is to blow the bladder up completely and either leave it overnight or hold it under fresh clean water. This will check to see that the bladder will retain the air long enough for you to be rescued. There should be a pointed end on the cap of the mouth piece with which you can deflate the bladder when you are done.
That’s all the checks complete and now you need to reattach the bottle and fold the bladder back into its compartment where I hope it will never be needed. Make sure you fold it as it was and don’t be tempted to roll it up. The folds allow it to inflate properly and burst the zip or velcro. Be careful if it is a zip closure as you don’t want to pinch the bladder as you do it up.
That’s it. I hope you have a safe season. Please like our page and Get Lost!
