PFD

[Shooter]

Cast your vote and tell us why.

[DiverQueen]

When I go out on the ice it's usually thick enough (If a 3/4 ton truck can do that, so can my F-150!!) and has too small of a hole to fit though!!!  It's that sport called Ice Fishing!  But now that I think about it, it's a good idea for the tender and any other non-diving individuals. 

[Shooter]

Your vote was 3, soon to be 5?  ;D Are you an ice diver?

[DiverQueen]

I will admit my son stuck his snow boot accidentally into an ice hole while we were fishing!!  He was young enough to not be so interested in fishing, and more into fidgeting!!!

[MNDiver]

Well, I wear one when doing surface support work, not when diving ;D ;D  In general I found they can be a pain in the tush, so I got an inflatable version that you can hardly tell you are wearing and an inherently buoyant "Cold water work suit" by Stearns that keeps me warm.  One or the other prevents my untimely death should I fall in/through the ice.  Since I do the PSD and a lifejacket is required in those settings, it has just become second nature. 

Shooter, you should get one for your dog....  My Lab ran up to the dive hole a few years ago, started skidding, went in and under the ice.  No one was suited up so I though she was a goner.  A dive buddy close to the hole laid down, shoved his arm/shoulder under the ice shelf, fished around a bit and pulled her up.  After a few hours in the heated truck, she was fine - but scared.  Doggie vest would have helped.

[DetectorGuy]

A few years ago I brought my wife, 5 year old daughter, and 10 year old niece out on Green Lake for an ice fishing contest. We were driving a 3/4 ton Dodge Hemi. My daughter had never been on the ice before and when we started driving out on the lake she asked, " shouldn't we be wearing life jackets?" I told her confidently, "No. That would be silly. The ice is 24" thick and there will be 600 other cars and trucks out on the lake and none of them will be wearing life jackets." She accepted my wisdom and never brought it up all day. We didn't catch a single fish and when the contest was done, everyone started the mass exodus off the lake. There were cars lined up single file from about the area where you and Art found the boat to the landing. There was about 4 inches of water on the tires of the cars in this line and I told the wife that this doesn't look so good. I told her that there is a smaller landing on the NW corner of the bay, and that we can skip the line to get off the lake, and just go there. We pulled out of the line and drove to this hidden landing. 30 other cars followed me like sheep. When I got to the second landing I saw that the ice had been broken up about 40 feet out from the landing and I stopped to get out and check out the ice quality. It looked like it refroze well and because there were pointy blocks refroze sticking up there, I would just drive around them and up the landing. At 30 feet from shore the front of my truck dropped about 3 feet. My wife started to swear like a sailor and the kids were screaming. I put it in 4 wheel and tried to back up with no luck. I launched forward and luckily it was only 3 feet deep. We drove through the ice to shore breaking ice as we went. After 5 minutes of panic we were on dry land with wet floor boards and surprisingly no body damage. My 5 year old daughter immediately told me again that we should have been wearing our life jackets. The other 29 vehicles watched me stick tree branches in the open water to mark it as dangerous, and they went back to the ice road.

Sometimes its better to be lucky than good.

Have a great and safe holiday, and I hope you all get that piece of dive gear that you have been wanting from Santa. John

[arcFlash]

I just want to add a lesson learned about the inflatable PFD's. I love them and always wear mine when on the water (not ice) but make sure you keep the belt part loose. I made mine a bit too snug and while goofing off one hot day tried mine and it inflates so much it pressed the air out of me and was to the point of choking. I now manualy inflate and adjust the belts so they are snug and then repack. A friend of ares in a real overboard had almost the same experience and took in some water while trying to breath.

[DiverQueen]

Do you prefer the Mustang Suspenders, SOSpenders or the basic Stearns Inflatable vest with the pull lever on the CO[sub]2[/sub] Cartridge?

I have a Stearns inflatable vest and finally got some cartidges for it....Yet to test it out!

[arcFlash]

I only have the Mustang but I would think they are mostly the same. I actually prefer my canoe style if I think there is a chance of rain or I may go over (sailing small wet boats). A normal PFD is more useful on small boats.  I've put it over my head in a small hail storm and I can use it a bunch of times without cost, and it's a handy seat cushion if the wind dies and you end up drifting for an hour waiting for it to come back. If you have an accident on the boat you can cannibalized one to make a splint and/or sling.

[grumpie]

Well through of planning. The problem with the inflatable is in cold weather or water the inflatable will not have as much lift.