I had a funny incident with a SOSpender auto-inflate. I wore it while
riding out a hurricane at a dock in North Carolina. As you can
imagine, the rain was pretty intense at times. I was concerned that
the vest would inflate while I was working on the deck and get in my
way. That never occurred. But after the hurricane passed over, I
took off the vest and laid it on a piece of plastic on a bunk.
Apparently I inadvertently laid it somewhat upside down. Within a few
minutes the water still on the cloth cover of the unit ran down and
under the flap protecting the activator and POOF, fully inflated. :-)

The only other experience was when my brother was sailing with me and
fell overboard (he swears that I was trying to drown him).
Fortunately, the vest automatically inflated very quickly.

Does anyone know of any advisory or instructions that recommend that
the dissolvable bobbin (that makes the auto-inflator work) be replaced
after a period of time? Or should the CO2 bottle be removed and the
mechanism be exercised to be sure it will work smoothly? The cost of
rearming makes it too expensive to actually try out the units and
waste the bobbin and the CO2 bottle.

The SOSpenders are so comfortable, I often wear them when I am just
working on the boat at the dock. Especially when there is no one else
around. When I am sailing I require everyone on board to wear them
whenever they are on deck. I sure would not want to discover even a
10 percent failure rate the hard way.

Lee Huddleston
s/v Truelove
lying Sea Gate Marina
Beaufort, NC