PFD Storage

[Traveler 45C]

I keep my PFD’s stored in these large Ziploc’s:http://www.ziploc.com/?p=b8
One bag can hold 3 Type I’s. They stay clean and I can grab a bunch at a time if I need to. Nothing is stored on top of them and they are accessible in an emergency.

Are there any CG Reg’s against using these for storage?

 

[SKYCHENEY]

There may be. We were boarded by the CG in the Hampton Rhodes area in 1984. At the time they couldn't find anything to write us up on since it was a brand new boat that we were taking home from the factory(I think they just like the looks of it and wanted a tour ). However, we were severely scolded for having the PFD's in the original plastic wrappers.

 

[thoward]

we were severely scolded for having the PFD's in the original plastic wrappers.

Last year with the local patrol we were told to take them out of the wrap.

 

[Capt.Erich]

IMHO, I don't see how keeping them in a plastic bag or the origional wrapping is any different that putting them in a zip up white bag labled "Life Preservers" that you buy at West. In the end, they end up as an after thought and covered with mildew. My experience with the CG is that the PO's (Petty Officers) don't always know the rules and will interpret on the fly.

 

[Jaxfishgyd]

No one ever said the rules were logical....

But when I attended SeaSchool for my Capts license in the 80's they made a big deal over making sure the PFD's were not wrapped.

But having them out of the wrapper and put into a "PFD bag" that holds 6 is any less time consuming I was told....

A FMC officer I asked some years ago said "If the person has to open the wrapper and then has to figure out how to put it on, it could put his life in danger."

If the captain does not explain to his people on not only WHERE the PFDs are located but HOW to put them on............

 

[StratPlan61]

The key here is 'readily accessable'. A zip lock bag should be as good as the white zip-around 6-PFD storage bags I use, marked Life Preservers, sold everywhere. I think if the PFD is still wrapped up in original packaging, many will interpret that as 'not readily accessable'.

Bear'
1984 61' MY Strategic Plan

 

[Trojan]

The words, readily available, are the key words. You can wrap and STORE anyway you like. BUT you must have a life jacket unwrapped and fitted within reach of every person on board. Not just a bunch laying in a pile on the sofa. Been there been ripped. I store in the square vinyl bags. My kids all have there names on there jackets. So I don't need to refit each time. The admiral and mine are suspended over the lower station. Its a pain, but if you don't do it you can be fined.


BILL

 

[MikeP]

I get a CG inspection every year - the only requirement I have ever heard is that there be enough for the number of persons on board. Mine are stowed loosely (not in a package) in a storage box on the flybridge. There are others in the port side aft cabinet in the salon. So far no CG person has ever suggested they be "more accesible."

I was boarded once and they didn't even ask about life jackets. Just looked around and then left saying everything looked fine. Only question they asked was "Are there any firearms on board?" When I said "yes," they asked where they were and if they were loaded. "In the closet in the aft stateroom." and "Yes." were my answers. They unloaded them, suggesting it was unsafe to carry them loaded, but left the unloaded rounds on the stateroom cabinet so it only took about a minute to reload them!

 

[SKYCHENEY]

What good is an unloaded gun? That's almost as useless as an empty beer bottle.

 

[Boss Lady]

"The strongest reason for people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government."
-- Thomas Jefferson


"By calling attention to 'a well regulated militia', the 'security' of the nation, and the right of each citizen 'to keep and bear arms', our founding fathers recognized the essentially civilian nature of our economy. Although it is extremely unlikely that the fears of governmental tyranny which gave rise to the Second Amendment will ever be a major danger to our nation, the Amendment still remains an important declaration of our basic civilian-military relationships, in which every citizen must be ready to participate in the defense of his country. For that reason, I believe the Second Amendment will always be important."
-- Senator John F. Kennedy, 1960

"The conclusion is thus inescapable that the history, concept, and wording of the second amendment to the Constitution of the United States, as well as its interpretation by every major commentator and court in the first half-century after its ratification, indicates that what is protected is an individual right of a private citizen to own and carry firearms in a peaceful manner."
-- Report of the Subcommittee on the Constitution of the Committee on the Judiciary, United States Senate, 97th Congress, Second Session, Feb 1982

"In America, freedom and justice have always come from the ballot box, the jury box, and when that fails, the cartridge box."
-- Steve Symms, US Senator from Idaho, 1990

 

[Trojan]

Of course its your boat and you can do as you like. But if the life jackets are not readily available and fitted they can fine you. What good is a Life jacket in a bag, mixed with all the other sizes, unfitted, in the same room as the fire, or at the other end of the boat or to someone that can't climb a ladder to the fly bridge. How much time will you have to get to the Life jackets, sort them and fit them, when YOU are trying to save your ship or your guest. I have guest of all ages and physical qualifications. When life jackets are needed, they are needed now. How do you think that person on board that can't swim or swim, will feel when you tell him we may be sinking or the boat might be on fire and I can't get to the life jackets and what good is that gun if you can't get to it? Just a little thought. Emergencies don't wait for you. They happen now. I had 11 people on board in 8 to 10 ft seas in my 37ft Egg when I struck an object and punched a 6 X 12 hole in the bow. I was quite busy trying to slow the in-jest of water, start the pumps, 7 of them and tell the guest to find a life jacket and get it on. I was tooooooo busy trying to save the ship, call the Coast Guard, take time to give them all the info they needed, watch the guest, keep the engines running, check the water depth in the boat, check the guy standing on the pillow and life jacket covering the hole. Luckily I was only 8 miles from port and running 1/4 mile parallel to shore. I could have just beached it. But I chose to make a run for it. We did make it. But I learned a lot that day in just 30 minutes. Only one person had a life jacket on. The one person that could not swim.


BILL