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Any recommendadtions on a light and comfortable USCG approved PFD in XL?

When my kids on on the boat they are better about wearing their kiddie PFD's if Mommy & Daddy are wearing them too.

I wear the SOSPENDERS.which may have a different name now but is an automatic inflatable PFD (only counts as one if you are wearing it) very comfortable and comes in regular and long...you can also get these with a safety harness rating that allows you to clip onto a life line....usually available on ebay or at boat shows for a discount. (If you get one of these don't let the kids pull the manual tab as the recharge kit is about 28 bucks.

Costco has/had a really nice jacket, very soft and wearable, but they are moving into Christmas stuff now so you might have trouble finding one

The West Marine branded WEST MARINE Coastal Automatic Inflatable Life Vests work well and are very small and light. They sit a little high on your chest but they're small and stay out of the way. They auto-inflate in the water. They're about $129 each.

Matt

The first season we had NICEAFT, we purchased six self inflatable vests. They were "West Marine by SOSPENDERS". Seven boating seasons later, and we still have them, and use them everytime we are on the boat. If we had to do it again, we would, but only would purchase four. We will never have six persons on our M. These vest are great! They are also adjustable to fit from small to large adults.
Ray

I use a Revere type V manually inflatable life vest. It has a built-in harness that can be attached to a tether. I have a tether, but I've never used it because I've been lucky enough to avoid severe weather. Its really quite comfortable. It accomodates chest sizes ranging from 30" to 52". The Admiral uses a West Marine auto-inflatable model. Its a bit lighter.

There's a rule on our boat that everyone must wear a pfd whenever we leave the dock, no exceptions.

Wifes is Auto.... Mine is Manual ...we carry 2 for kids ..1 for dog and 4 for adults, that are Cabelas Typical PFDs.. 2 Typical's get tossed in the dink for inter harbor / marina travel..

I just purchaesde 2 manual inflatables from Defender. They are very light and comfortable and on a killer close out sale of $68 each. Also purchased two spare recharge gas cyclinders for around $10 each. http://www.defender.com/product.jsp?pat ... id=1449424

Gez yer guys must be Loaded, I use noodles bought from the Dollar store

J

Bass Pro Shop has them for $75.

http://www.basspro.com/Bass-Pro-Shops-M ... 3/-1657797

dca81 wrote:I just purchaesde 2 manual inflatables from Defender. They are very light and comfortable and on a killer close out sale of $68 each. Also purchased two spare recharge gas cyclinders for around $10 each. http://www.defender.com/product.jsp?pat ... id=1449424

We have 3 inflatable PFD'x and that is only because when we returned to the boat this spring one had gone off in our absence that we had bought from Cabela's and only had one recharge kit for it and didn't like being out on the water without a spare. So we bought another...

http://www.westmarine.com/webapp/wcs/st ... sNum=11115

...for Ruth that is a little better and more comfortable for Ruth since she wears it all the time when in the cockpit. Hers are auto-inflate. We had also bought a manual inflate for me from WM for about $70, but I usually use an older style non-inflatable the times I wear one.

After visiting about 4 different West Marines on the trip we finally had 2 extra cartridge kits for the West Marine PFD's, but could never find one for the PFD we had bought from Cabela's. We will have to order that now. It is crazy how many different recharge kits they have.

My advice is if you can find a couple for whatever you have pick them up and if you can't order them,

Sum

Our Endeavour 37

Our Trips to Utah, Idaho, Canada, Florida

Our MacGregor S Pages

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We use the West Marine storebrand alto inflatable suspender style lifevest. Like Sumner, one of ours also ejected while we were away from the boat. It is supposed to be splashproof so I'm not sure what happened. It took several stops before we could find a place with the correct kit. Overall we like the vest and feel it is fine for nearshore ventures.

We also have the manual style belt lifevest. We bought this at Bass Pro shop. We use these in the dinghy. They are very easy to stow away under the spray skirt or put in our backpack when we are ashore. We have also warned the ease during light sailing versus the above.

I have no desire to ever go back to the orange traditional style lifevest. I would only want to have one of the inflatable kinds.

We also have the West Marine Coastal Automatic Inflatable Life Vests and like them. For us, much more wearable and comfortable than a full regular vest. We have had two discharges for unknown reasons, but suspect it may have been from excessive heat during storage. You may find other quality products out there for a better price. We caught these on sale so had not done a lot of price shopping for them.

This is the one I wear...



http://www.cabelas.com/product/Cabelas- ... _l=Unknown

when I do, which is not very often, even though I should be wearing one more than I do. It looks a little bulky, but for me feels real good. It has the mesh at the top and is designed to have a lot of freedom of movement for fishing which I'm not doing. I also like the pockets.

I wouldn't want to wear it all the time or in real hot weather, but in warm, cool or cold it feels real good. If you don't want an inflatable one and want one with a lot of movement this one might be for you. If I'm in a situation where I feel I need protection I kind of like it as I don't worry about will it inflate or will I remember how to inflate it. I don't wear one much on the Mac, but always, well almost always, in the inflatable.

I can't find the WM manual inflate one we got for me. It was about $70 on sale. Probably on sale as maybe it was being discontinued I need to get in the habit of using this one more,

Sum

Our Endeavour 37

Our Trips to Utah, Idaho, Canada, Florida

Our MacGregor S Pages

Mac-Venture Links

And it's on sale for $20 - very nice.

Sumner wrote:This is the one I wear...



http://www.cabelas.com/product/Cabelas- ... _l=Unknown

when I do, which is not very often, even though I should be wearing one more than I do. It looks a little bulky, but for me feels real good. It has the mesh at the top and is designed to have a lot of freedom of movement for fishing which I'm not doing. I also like the pockets.

I wouldn't want to wear it all the time or in real hot weather, but in warm, cool or cold it feels real good. If you don't want an inflatable one and want one with a lot of movement this one might be for you. If I'm in a situation where I feel I need protection I kind of like it as I don't worry about will it inflate or will I remember how to inflate it. I don't wear one much on the Mac, but always, well almost always, in the inflatable.

I can't find the WM manual inflate one we got for me. It was about $70 on sale. Probably on sale as maybe it was being discontinued I need to get in the habit of using this one more,

Sum

Our Endeavour 37

Our Trips to Utah, Idaho, Canada, Florida

Our MacGregor S Pages

Mac-Venture Links

Highlander wrote:Gez yer guys must be Loaded, I use noodles bought from the Dollar store

J

OK being serious I have two inflatables one auto, one manual & all my PFD have an attached fox type whistle & flashing LED Strobe light auto activated that can also be manualy controlled to save the battery

J