Larry, read that section again on PFD's. I think you'll find a couple of
exceptions.
a) if your chest is greater than 54 inches
b) an infant.

Infant survival time in the water is very short as they get hypothermia very
very quickly.
So, the best idea is not to let them get in the water. That being said, you
can stay home
in your house or you can live life to the fullest. Everybodies gotta die
sometime, and
tragedies happen...That's life, so to speak.

Jeff

"Larry W4CSC" wrote in message
...
Stephen Trapani wrote in
:

Well, we're talking about defended infants, defended by good parents
doing their job as best they can. No one was asking for help with
unattended infants.

Defended? Strapped in a carrier, strapped to the boat? "Go down with the
ship" is it? Someone bragged about this in this thread.

You really think the percentage of infants killed per activity is more
on boats than in cars? I'm guessing cars are *way* more dangerous, eg,
result in way more serious injuries and deaths per amount of
participants.

Hmm....millions of infants ride in cars/trucks/SUVs every day. How many
ride in boats....tops....100?

Another problem someone mentioned was the PFD problem. Our law says:

"All boats must have at least one Type I, II, III or V
personal flotation device that is U.S. Coast Guard-
approved, wearable and of the proper size for each
person onboard. Sizing for PFDs is based on body
weight and chest size.
. South Carolina law requires all children under 12 years of
age to wear a U.S. Coast Guard-approved Type I, II, III or
V PFD while on board a Class A (less than 16 ft. long)
boat or PWC. The PFD must be fastened and of the
proper size for the child."

Moot point...no baby PFD, no baby on a boat. The smallest CG-approved PFD
I've seen from Wally World or Waste Marine looks to be made for a kid of
3-
5?

http://www.nodakoutdoors.com/valleyoutdoors25.php
Here's a webpage from a North Dakota game warden who's laws are more
strict
than South Carolina's with some really great ideas like:
"If you don't have a PFD that fits your child, or it's too hot for them to
wear it, stay on shore."
The boat ran aground because someone was not paying attention. The poor
kid was in a carseat, not a PFD as required. Do carseats float UPRIGHT?
Interesting to test....in the worst waves and wakes you boat in?

The article says:
"Upon arrival I found two young parents tending to a newborn baby who
didn't have any type of PFD. The baby was in a car seat and thankfully all
was fine, aside from the boat, which came to rest up a steep wooded
incline, indicating a lack of attention while operating the vessel. I
still
to this day think of how haunting the memory would've been had the car
seat
been jolted out of the boat and into the lake.

For several years I checked boats and watercraft and was continually
disappointed in
compliance with PFD laws, especially the one that applies to children.

While only youngsters 10 and under must be wearing a Coast Guard approved
PFD
while in a boat, the common response was, "I couldn't find one that fits,"
or "it was too hot to put them in a PFD." While politely replying that the
law requires youngsters to wear PFDs, I was always reminded of what could
have happened if that baby in the carseat had accidentally wound up in the
lake."

The big boat lobby in SC has this requirement limited to only boats UNDER
SIXTEEN FEET that the kid has to have a PFD on under 12:
From the SCDNR rules manual:
"South Carolina law requires all children under 12 years of
age to wear a U.S. Coast Guard-approved Type I, II, III or
V PFD while on board a Class A (less than 16 ft. long)
boat or PWC. The PFD must be fastened and of the
proper size for the child."

If the 6-year-old who can't swim is standing on the bow of the 32' bubble
boat without a PFD on, the big boat lobby says that's OK. We can't
prosecute the parents, in SC, because the baby was strapped in the car
seat
which was secured to the port cockpit seating and went down when the boat
broached or pitchpoled or flipped over in the 40' Cigarette Boat going,
legally, 102 mph across the harbor.

We have a long history, by the way, of not prosecuting people with money
in
SC....

They'd be covered if they had a baby PFD stowed away in a plastic bag in
the quarter berth.

http://www.stearnsinc.com/NC_Product...tegoryID=45350
18
Cheap Stearns vest for small child...I doubt the straps will keep a BABY
in
it.

http://www.mustangsurvival.com/produ...uct.php?id=397
This one from Mustang Survival fits chests 18 to 20". How big around are
little babies 5 days old? They don't look that big when they pop out of
Mom.

Here's an INFLATABLE!
http://www.storesonline.com/site/405...uct/999-773260
Comes in a convenient airline seat storage pouch for the quarter berth.
"Under 35 pounds". Does that mean 14 lbs 9 oz? That's "Under 35 pounds",
isn't it? Will the baby be able to pull the ripcord? It gets dumber and
dumber. The FAA did some good. I suspect the reason for this being on
the
market is the TSO forced airlines to change to new, improved child vests
so
they dumped this on the market to unload them.

equipped.com has an interesting website that resulted in testing with
infants to see what worked or not:
http://www.equipped.com/avvests.htm#kidvest
I like the idea of the Hoover FV-2000 ($185-225) which is a CAPSULE that
not only protect the infant from breathing in water but isolates him from
the hypothermia that's killing Mom and Dad in their life jackets. They
mention some shortfalls but it's a great idea. The airlines are much more
afraid of the babys' lawyers than daddy is on his boat.

Let's send the CG inspectors around to all the posters with babies aboard
to see if they actually DO have a baby PFD I had a hard time finding on
the
net, putting it on the baby to see how it fits and what his/her survival
chances are and write their sorry asses up when they produce the 7-year-
old's cutesy life vest with the Mickey Mouse and CG labels that have no
chance of saving the poor baby.....whos head slips easily through the big
hole.

What's on YOUR boat, eh?