Life Vest Jacket – The Ultimate FAQ Guide

Welcome to the most efficient FAQ guide of life vest jacket!

Following guide for life vest jacket can help you in checking for the qualities to see in a life vest jacket, keep you updated about the uses, advantages and disadvantages of the life vests, and answer many of your common questions that might arise in your mind when you are planning to buy a life vest.

The maintenance, working, and lifespan of the life vest jacket are all explained in the following guide.

A life vest jacket is a type of personal floatation device. It is a type of floatation suit that provides buoyancy aid to keep the user afloat on the surface of the water.

It has found equal use among children as well as adults. Their basic function is to provide some support to people in waters so that people feel comfortable and safe while being in big water bodies.

It is a suit in the form of a vest that is worn above the clothes to keep him from drowning or any other water disaster.

Figure 1: A Life Vest Jacket

A life vest jacket works by adding some extra pounds to the body of the wearer. The material used in the vests is specialized to add buoyancy to the wearer. Buoyancy keeps the air trapped into the jackets to keep you afloat.

The air or material filled in the life vest gives an overall lower density to the body than that of water. Due to the density difference, the body keeps on floating on the surface of the water.

Life vest jackets never guarantee 100% safety, but it multiplies the chances of survival many times. However, if you are trained to use the life vest, and you know how to tackle emergencies, then it can be a good option.

A life vest jacket can help you reach the seashore faster, but it cannot save your life from the tsunami.

Normally, human beings and some other animals cannot bear the pressure and the flow of tsunami. The only way to survive a sea storm or tsunami is that you stay as distant from the beach as possible.

A life vest can save you from limb losses that might occur due to the extreme pressure and the debris of the tsunami. But a life vest can only give a little protection from getting crushed due to the tsunami.

Figure 2: Life Vest Use in Extreme Waves

The life span of a life vest is not fixed like any other routine use item. However, the manufacturers say that the average lifespan of a life vest jacket is ten years if it is kept properly.

The bruises, cuts, wear and tear can really reduce the lifespan of a life vest, and the proper care and maintenance can improve the life span of a life vest.

The use of a life vest jacket in rough water conditions like very cold water can also be a factor in reducing its life.

However, if you use your life vest jacket with complete care and make sure that it dries before you store it in a place, it can be used for ten consecutive years without demanding any repairs.

Figure 3: A Life Vest Jacket

Basically, a life vest jacket is designed to make you stay safe from mishaps while you’re in the water. Its main purpose is to keep you floating on the surface so that you do not drown.

A life vest is not only used for floatation purposes, but there are many other uses as well. It can help in swimming, kayaking, boating and other water sports.

The life vest keeps the face in the upside position even if the user becomes unconscious due to some reasons. The mouth, nostrils, ears and eyes are safe and out of the water so the unconscious user can be rescued.

Although it prevents you from drowning, the major use is the easy rescue of an unconscious person.

Figure 4: Saving An Unconscious Person With Life Vest

A person wearing a life vest can drown in the water. However, this only happens if there are very rough conditions of water and if the life vest jacket was not checked before going on board. Even if there is even a small puncture in the life vest jacket, it might cause the drowning of a person.

Moreover, the rough weather conditions and extremely cold water or strainers can make a person drown even if he is wearing a life vest jacket.

Life vest jackets do not guarantee complete safety, but they only turn the odds in your favour. They improve the chances of your survival. If the wearer panics due to the fear of water or any other reason, he might also get drowned.

Figure 5: Saving a Drowning Person with Life Vest

A life jacket and a life vest both are types of personal floatation devices.

• A life jacket keeps your face turn in the face-up position with supporting your back, but a life vest does not support the back.
• Life jackets are usually more buoyant than life vests.
• The turning over the capability of life vests is less, but it is more comfortable than life jackets.
• Life jackets cover the whole body of the user, whereas life vests mostly cover only the chest area and neck.
• Life vests allow more breathing to the wearer than the life jackets due to less coverage of the body.

Figure 6: A Life Jacket V/S A Life Vest

Children under the age of 13 are required to wear a life vest jacket at every condition.

Children, as compared to adults, are not able to take care of themselves so, life vest jackets must be exactly their size and fit.

Children on the deck of the boat or the ones that are not in the enclosed cabins should not be allowed to sit without a life vest jacket.

Children must wear them to ensure safety even when they are in small water bodies like an ordinary swimming pool or in big water bodies like the ocean.

Figure 7: A child Wearing Life Vest

A life vest can keep you safe in the sea when you are boating, kayaking or swimming. Any water sports can be played in a safe place if you are using life vests.

When you are in big water bodies, you have to be very careful because there are more chances of drowning. It adds extra weight and keeps you afloat, and hence you do not drown.

When it comes to the children, they must be dealt with care when you are in oceans. A life vest never lets the mouth, head and nostrils let go into the water. So, they remain safe even when they are swimming directly into the water.

When you are on some sea vehicles, a life vest can increase the chances of your survival in case of any disaster or mishap.

Figure 8: A Life Vest in Sea

• It should be a perfect fit and the exact size of the user.
• It must have the stamp of approval by the Cost-Guard.
• The condition of the life jacket must be serviceable and appreciable.
• It should not be hard to wear and should be comfortable.
• It should keep your chin and shoulder above water and should be leakage-proof.

Figure 9: An Ideal Life Jacket

If you do not panic and stay calm, you can survive and keep floating with a life vest jacket for at least three days.

For this time limit to work, your life vest jacket has to be in a very good state. The holes, ruptures, bruises and other minor or major damages can reduce this time. Even a little puncture might get you in a problematic situation.

It can be helpful because it helps in reaching the shore easily. The person can remain afloat and safe until he gains enough energy to swim again.

Figure 10: Life Vest Use in Floating

Yes, there are some disadvantages to wearing life vest jackets. Here are some of them.

Thickness:

A major problem associated with the life vests is that they have some extra bulk and respective material because they are used to keep you floating over the surface.

It can cause sweating and irritation on the skin. The thick material can cause arrests. If the material is low quality, it can be more problematic.

Hot:

The life vest jackets are to be worn over the whole body. They might be problematic for some people during the hot summer season because they can they do not let your body breathe on its own.

So, there can be quite warm, and some people might not like it.

High price:

One of the biggest disadvantages is that the initial cost of the life vest is very high. It can be a really expensive thing to invest your money into.

For many people, a life vest is just a luxury, so they avoid spending so much money on this. Moreover, if once you forget to dry it out completely and some water-logging occurs, it might get wasted.

The life vest jackets are standard personal floatation devices. They have the following advantages.

Low maintenance:

The life vest jackets do not require any high maintenance. If it is not in use even for a long time, all they require is a clean and dry place of storage.

Life jackets need to be dried properly in the sunlight. When you have to store them, make sure that they are completely dried and cool. A single drop of water might be the reason for fungus and can destroy your jacket.

Buoyancy:

The most important thing in a life vest jacket is its buoyancy. It keeps you floating on the surface of the water.

The life vest jackets have been designed with inherent buoyancy. It means that when you enter the water, they are already inflated in order to give you complete protection against any danger.

All you have to do is to wear it properly, and then the jacket provides you with floatation. It can even help in the survival of unconscious people.

Wide range of use:

The life vest jackets have a versatile range of use. They can be used for many other purposes as well.

They are used for a variety of water sports. They are used for swimming, paddling, fishing and even water skiing. Once you buy a good quality life vest jacket, you can enjoy its uses in a variety of places.

Figure 11: A Properly Maintained Life Vest Jacket

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According to the law, life vest jackets are a must to be worn when you are on a boat if you are on a deck or in an enclosed cabin.

Especially the children under the age of 13 years are very strictly ordered to wear their life jacket whether they are on board or involved in a water sport or travelling on any water body.

For adults, it is suggested that they must be wearing a properly maintained Coast Guard-approved life jacket when they are on board, especially when they are outside the enclosed cabin or when they are on the deck.

Figure 12: Life Vest Jacket for Kayaking

Most of the times, life vest jackets are not recommended for people who do not know how to swim.

But certain modern life vest jackets have been designed in such a way that they keep you floating on the surface of the water even when you are in extremely tough conditions.

So, some people wear life vests even if they are non-swimmers.

It might also help them in learning how to swim without panicking in the water. It reduces the mental stress of being in water unaided.

Figure 13: Swimming with Life Vest

Yes, a life vest has the ability to keep an unconscious person afloat, making his survival and rescue easy.

If due to any reasons, the person becomes pressured and might also get panicked. The life vest has special buoyancy aid that can keep an unconscious person afloat.

The life vest can turn the face-up position, and also, his legs and hands are kept on the surface of the water. It can help in the indication of an unconscious person to the people on the shore or on the boat.

You can save an unconscious person from drowning as long as he stays on the surface.

Figure 14: Life Vest on An Unconscious Person

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• A life jacket should be neither too loose nor it should be too tight.
• It should be of the exact size of the user. The chest size and the neck size should be perfect.
• It should not let water get into the clothes and must keep your chest and neck area safe.
• It should allow easy movement to the hands, feet and chin.
• It should be helpful in swimming, kayaking and boating.

Figure 15: Perfectly Fit Life Vest

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Life vest jackets never expire. Expiry dates are not a thing for life vests. A life vest is a personal floatation device that can go for a very long time without expiring if it is maintained and checked properly.

The life vest jackets never stop working, but their function might be suppressed if they are repaired, altered and amended multiple times.

By the expiry of a floatation device, we mean that its ability to add extra pounds to the user fails. The material of the life vest no longer has its same buoyancy.

Figure 16: An Expired Life Vest Jacket

No, a life vest jacket never works according to the weight of the user. It has nothing to do with the user’s weight.

A life vest adds extra pounds to the normal weight of the user. The life vest must be selected according to the chest size and the perfect fitting.

It should neither be too loose nor too loose. It should be comfortable enough to let you move your hands and face properly.

The life vest jackets are a very easy personal floatation device to maintain. They do not require very high maintenance. Instead, they can be kept in a very in very good condition even at low maintenance.

They do not demand proper care or any extra time even when they are not in use.

The only thing needed to maintain a life vest jacket is that it must be completely and properly dried out in the sun before storage.

It should be cooled down properly, and the user should make sure that there is not even a single drop of water in the life vest jacket to avoid moulds,

They do not require any kind of high maintenance. Just keep a check on any kind of wear and tear or puncture in the life vest jacket.

Figure 17: A properly maintained life vest

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Moulds and mildews often appear on the life vests. This is pure because of the lack of care and attention towards proper maintenance.

If the life vests are not dried properly before keeping them in storage for a long time, the water logging might cause algae or moulds to grow onto them.

Mould on the life vest might cause irritation on the skin, and they are not suitable for use. In the long terms, the moulded life vests expire quickly.

Moulds can be easily removed from the life vests at home. Before you wash them away, make sure that you have removed all the spores from the dry vest.

Soak the life vest for at least 36 hours. Scrub the moulds off with the help of a soft brush and a cleaning solution. The cleaning solution contains 500ml of salt in four litres of water.

Figure 18: Molds on the side of Life Vest

The life vest jackets need to be replaced when they expire. The expiry of the life vest is indicated when it stops giving lift and buoyancy to the wearer.

The life vest should be replaced immediately if you are no longer comfortable with it while being in the water.

The device might stop working depending upon various factors. The life vest stops working after a couple of years if itis not taken care of, but if it is taken care of, it might surprise you with its life.

Check for any leakage, cuts, bruises or moulds in the life vest and immediately replace it if you find one.

Any problems in the gas cartridge or the straps can also be a sign that you need to replace your life vest.