First, they are not SURVIVAL SUITS!

Gumby Suits yes, IMMERSION Suits yes........ In no way should you ever
use the word SURVIVAL in your description. I can give you six personal
reasons why they are not survival suits. Each reason had a name and a
family and each are very dead. Each relied on their "survival suit." At
best, an IMMERSION suit does two things.............. 1) immersion
suits delay the onset of death by a few minutes. And I do mean minutes.
If you think you are going to jump off a boat and frolic about otter
like for 6-8 hours in 55 degree water waiting for that eventual rescue
you are dead wrong. With an emphasis on DEAD! 2) immersion suits allow
the USCG to spot your body a bit easier. That is what you can expect
from an immersion suit. Nothing more.

To consider an immersion suit a piece of equipment to rely on for
saving your unlucky body or allow you to survive is simple stupidity.

Advice: Attend a USCG sponsored "Survival at Sea" seminar designed
for commercial fisherman or Charterboat operators. Or go to your local
community college and enroll in one of the STCW-95 classes. Get an
offshore life raft AND an immersion suit for everyone on board. Learn
how to use both. No, not from West Marine. And then practice every few
months donning suit and deploying raft.

Do not start whining about how much it cost. If you do not follow this
advice be sure that you inform every person on your boat when they
abandon your boat they will die in about 120 minutes. Also explaine to
them at the same time you are such a cheep ******* you would rather
save a few bucks than save a few lives.

The most useless thing to do is read the yachting / sailboat / west
marine / Pardy advice.
Back Bobbing