Matt Colie wrote:
Bob,

Let's just allow that you are very correct about hypothermia.
Survival suits are standard issue during the late season here on the
Great Lakes. My personal opinion is that they will not save many lives
until they come up with a worksuit that is also a PFD and exposure suit.
If you are not wearing it when things go wrong, you will probably not
have time to put it on - ever.

Hi Matt:

Eureka...! Now I know what is going on..... Here is the
misunderstanding.
First, SURVIVAL SUITS do not exist anymore. They are called IMMERSION
SUITS. They are not intended for use other than leaving the boat for
the last time. They are also called Gumby Suits. Why are they called
IMMERSION SUITS? I think the word "survival" implied something. Believe
me after losing several friends over the last 30 years there is no such
thing as a SURVIVAL suit. The first two were my best friends from
highschool. One was a roommate at college. The orange makes it simper
for the USCG to find the bodies. Oh remind me to tell you about the
story when my brother inlaw and his buddy lost their boat in AK. The
friend washed up on shore first. My brother inlaw was just outside the
surf and got to watch his friend get munched by a bear. Ummm, a bit
rubber on the outside but tasty inside.

Here is my prefered PFD on cold water. There are USCG approved
WORKSUITS with a Type PFD V rateing. No mittens or booties. The
worksuits are NOT what we used to call survival suits (now immersion
suits) They look just like nylon coveralls only they have full closed
cell floatation as insulation. Plus the suits have an inflatable
(manual) pillow collar. This is what the coasties wear in OR AK
boarding parties. Or at least they use to.

My experience has been that, if your crew can find it, they can get your
body out of the water.

This is the beauty of the work suit. If on deck you the crew have a PFD
PLUS exposure protection.

I have it on very good authority that your
chances get very bad if your do not maintain your exposure to air.

Yes, water conducts heat (I can not remmber exactly) uhhh, help me out
here.. 4 times as fast as air? Keep you head and neck out of the water!


I have seen individuals that were to all outward appearance COLD and
DEAD come back to life when warmed up. That is not intended to suggest
that I think that this is a good idea.

Agreed. I think the kick starts are a bit rough.

On more than one occassion (it's called frost biting along the east
coast) I have ended up in water that also had sea ice in it. Yes, the
cold is debilitating, but the navy May West that I used to wear would
keep me afloat even in foul whether gear until the crash boat got there.

Yes, lots of volume for boyancy.

On one occasion, they were a little late. I was no help getting me
out of the water, they took me straight to the club house dock, loaded
me in a dock cart and dumped me next to the fireplace.

But, if I had not been at the surface when they did get there, they
might not have found me for quite a while longer.

But think of what a more comfortable experince you would have had in a
full length insulated worksuit bobbing about onyour back like a sea
otter.

Do a Google search and type in "STEARNS 1580 anti exposure coverall"
and see what happens.

What part of the county do you live? East coast?
Bob
Matt Colie



Bob wrote:
Paul Nightingale wrote:

This month's Pacific Yachting has an article on this. Seems if you have a
PFD that keeps you from breathing in a lot of water when you first go over
you might stand a chance.


Hi Paul:

I agree...." you might stand a chance...." I apologize if I sound like
a broken record here. I still have not heard anyone acknowledge or
mention water temperature here. I was in Seattle one year when the air
temp was 92 degrees F. So after only one beer and a burger my friend
and I jumped into the sound at a place called Shilshole (just west of
Ballard). While we were sweltering on the rocks when I hit that
beautiful crystal blue water....POW ! It took about 10 minutes and I
could barely haul out on a rock. That 55 degree water was Very
debilitating! That is why I say forget manual or auto. If in water
under 75 degrees I use an insulated Type V worksuit using a simple
harness. If I go over I do not want the added complications of
hypothermia during a retrieval.

So pleaes, please make PFD choices based on local conditions and use
not what some slick cataloge tells you.