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Advice needed: Choosing a VHF hand held and a floatation vest

Fparry

Member II
I am currently getting ready for the coming season by taking inventory of my gear. This year I would like to add a couple of important important to my inventory. The first would be two inflatable live vests. The second would be a hand held floatable VHF radio. I have done some on line research on the vests and I am totally confused as to which models would be best suited for my needs. I sail on Lake Ontario in NY state. I rarely go out in bad weather but on the Great Lakes it is easy to get caught. I plan on taking three or four extended cruises of three or four day duration in the coming year. I like the mustang vests but cannot decide which one would be best for me. I have some thoughts on auto inflation vs manual inflation but have no real experience to guide me. If any of you own a vest and would like to enlighten me I would appreciate it.

The VHS radio I was looking at is a Icom M36 and again I am fairly clueless concerning the market for these devises. This unit falls within my budgeted price range but again I would appreciate some real life feed back as to what units are being used, why you chose them, what features are deemed important, and what to stay away from.

Your help will certainly be appreciated.
 

clp

Member III
Last year I came in the need for a small hand-held, and jumped on a Standard HX280S. It was cheap, (Jamestown was selling it at $89.99 at the time), and I almost considered it disposable. Negative. That little radio has turned out to be a winner. It lacks some features of "higher-end" radios, the GPS etc, but for a basic radio, I love the little thing. The battery seems to last forever, and for 5 watts, it's nasty loud.
My buds here at the marina bought one, and they'll tear the shop down, pushing other radios out of the way to get to it. It's the only radio that they have that will talk across to the island, where their sister marina is located.
I'm not what you'd call real gentle on equipment. I'm on and off different boats a lot of days, and I've dropped it, rolled it around in my ditch bag, poured coffee on it, kicked it around in the floorboard of my truck, and like the energizer bunny,......

tick,tick,tick..

Oh, one more thing. I've been a ham radio operator for years, have owned a hundred H.T.'s, Yaesu, Icom, Motorola, etc, I've drug 'em through the mud and the blood. Had my share of "dogs". I don't recommend a radio lightly.
 
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Steve A

Member II
hand held vhf

I've been using a standard horizon model HX850S for about 6 years now. Good unit, floats, gps readout, good battery life( lasts three days w/o charging if I run it for 8 hours/day. Dual channel watch is real handy too.
 

Loren Beach

O34 - Portland, OR
Senior Moderator
Blogs Author
We have a non-floating SH handheld. Works great and we keep it out in the rain in the cockpit. Seems to go for weeks on one charge - albeit with intermittent use.

Several years ago I bought a Mustang hydrostatic-release vest/harness for each of us.
The older "pill type" probably work fine (and those had the harness, too) but after having one go off inside the boat from accumulated dampness (we guess... it was always stored dry) we changed to the newer technology.

Loren

ps: addendum.... on the virtue of harness-type vests, I have done offshore deliveries for three decades and we always clip in to a jack-line or a pad eye in the cockpit if it's: 1) night, 2) rough, or 3) leaving the cockpit to go on deck for any reason.
 
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Frank Langer

1984 Ericson 30+, Nanaimo, BC
Good replies so far. When I shopped for a handheld VHF, I wanted one that was small, light, comfortable in my hand, with easily readable and useable screen and dials and could float. I think most of the handhelds now being sold meet these criteria, so it wouldn't be hard to find one at a good price.

Regarding the inflatable, try it on for comfort because some of them chafe in certain areas on the neck or don't feel comfortable, and that's an individual thing. I think automatic inflation is important if you get hit by the boom before you fall overboard and get knocked unconscious, or hit yourself on the hull as you fall into the water (hope that never happens, but it could :0). Some come with harness, some without, so it's worth thinking about whether you would clip yourself on in your sailing conditions--ie. is your boat set up for that with jack lines, do you have a tether, do you sail in those conditions, etc.

The West Marine catalogue and web site have good "Advisor" write ups on both items, and may be worth checking.

Frank
 

Fparry

Member II
I think automatic inflation is important if you get hit by the boom before you fall overboard and get knocked unconscious, or hit yourself on the hull as you fall into the water
This is the precise reason I am considering auto-inflation. I sail by myself often.
 

eknebel

Member III
The BEST vest is one you will wear...

The agreement with the Admiral is that I always wear an pfd when alone. I use the $100 inflatables using the "lifesaver lozenge" trigger. They are light and comfortable, try different makes on to see which is the most comfortable.
I found these not to go off by themselves just by humidity if you adhere to the expiration date stamped onto the side of the dis-solvable lozenge. The hydrostatics are an improvement, but almost at double the cost, but worth it if you will be in heavy weather, since the non-hydrostatics will go off. I have been known to disable the automatic inflation when I have my harness on in heavy weather(excellent recommendation by Loren). Better to have one to trigger manually, than one that has gone off.
 

exoduse35

Sustaining Member
I use and love my Floatech (spelling?) jacket. Got them at a show about 5 years back, and later saw them at W/M for a while. like was said earlier "the best one is one you will wear. They break down from a fowl weather jacket to a vest and then to just the inflateable. A vest must be the outermost layer, so having it built into the jacket (which is made to expand and open upon inflation) makes it convinient to put it on without even thinking about it. Haven't seen them around lately though. Edd
 

McGinnis

Member II
For the VHF; I like ones that float, have a AA battery pack and get a decent review. You're bound to drop it in the water at one point or another. My M-24 flew out of the dinghy at Catalina Island and was only located again because it was floating upside down with a red blinking light.

The simple auto inflate life jacket wins my vote. I have a separate harness that sits under with no discomfort and comes out when needed. A harness/life jacket combo seemed a bit bulky and less likely to be worn in the dinghy or warmer weather.


+1 on getting on that you'll wear!
 

toddster

Curator of Broken Parts
Blogs Author
I have a WM-branded handheld VHF that I rarely use onboard the ericson, since I got the remote station for the main VHF installed in the cockpit. I do use it on the dinghy or the hobie cat, in which case it lives on a 4-foot lanyard secured to the cat bag. It gets wet and banged around and works fine.

However, if I were to buy one today, I would look at one of the combination VHF/GPS units that is encapsulated for use by scuba divers.
- compact, so that it can live in your life vest comfortably and be there when you need it
- In a MOB situation (scuba diving is always a MOB situation) you can DSC ping the boat to let them know where to pick you up. I have had a couple of episodes over the years where there was some doubt whether they were ever going to find me. Oh well, it's a good day to float to Canada :0
- dual-use boat toy, scuba toy :)
 

windjunkee

Member III
I have an ICOM handheld. It works (though I never quite know which end to speak into) and it holds a charge for a long time. Don't remember how much it cost when I bought it.

On PFD's, I have a Spinlock Deckvest. It is comfortable and relatively light. Its one I can wear for long periods. As for features, it has everything that you want - integrated thigh straps, spray hood, auto and manual inflate, easy adjustment. The auto inflate is also intelligent (allegedly) in that it is not supposed to inflate if you get hit in the chest with a wave (I've seen that happen more than once with the cheaper vests) It even has a dvd that comes with it to show you how to use it. I've worn it across the pacific and I also race solo so I appreciate the pocket it has for my P-EPIRB. It has an integrated harness as well.
The downside is that it costs $400 (I got it in a package with a 3 hook tether and re-arm kit) which is not quite double the cost of a West Marine or Stearns Offshore vest with harness. The value of a good lifevest cannot be understated. Remember the saga of the Low Speed Chase? The skipper had a PFD on a waist strap that he never put on or inflated when he was washed overboard. His body was found with the PFD still nicely stashed in its handy carrying pouch on his waist.)

Jim McCone
Voice of Reason, E-32-2 Hull #134
Redondo Beach, CA
 

u079721

Contributing Partner
My criteria for a set up for a season of single handing included an inflatable with integrated harness and hydrostatic automatic trigger. Pretty sure you can buy those in the US now, but years ago I had to special order from the UK. I also suggest a model with a crotch strap if possible. To the belt of this I added first a pouch with a waterproof handheld, the type that takes AAs, tethered to the belt. Also tethered to the belt were a safety whistle, a knife, and a combination strobe/flashlight. Finally be sure to use a tether for the harness that allows release under load at your end (but it's still good to have the knife as a back up).
 

brianb00

O - 34
Life Jacket use in recent Farallon's race tragedy

You might want to review the language from the accident report of Low Speed Chase that went aground off San Francisco with loss of life.

All survivors wore auto inflatable category 2, USCG approved, 33lb buoyancy vests with harnesses. One victim had an inflatable belt pack but it was self inflatable and was witnessed to have not inflated. Another victim wore a type 1 Cat 3 foam type vest. All survivors reported the inflatable vests were difficult to deal with as they floated above the head, made it difficult to breath, and nearly impossible to swim in.

The panel recommended the use of aforementioned jacket type with thigh/crotch straps to help with the jacket floating high around the head.

Regarding your VHF choice. I am not sure of your goals, but I have asked USCG SAR officers, at a variety of seminars, about carrying hand held VHF's versus a PLB/EPIRB. The response has been consistent, the PLB is the device of choice to launch a SAR effort and this is in a area where USCG antenna are positioned on very high peaks with full view of the local waters.

Best luck,
Brian
 

Fparry

Member II
I am considering a Spinlock Deck Vest 5d 170N for my life jacket choice. It meets nearly all criteria as listed in the responses. Although it is more expensive ($379) than anything else out there the features (beacon, tether clip, spray hood, crotch straps, knife, etc.) and construction quality as listed seem to me to make it worth the extra money. If any of you have any first hand experience with Spinlock I would appreciate hearing from you.

As far as the VHF is concerned I am leaning towards the Standard Horizon HX851. I understand the argument for a PLB but as I rarely travel far from the south shore of Lake Ontario an item such as a PLB or EPIRB which does not offer non emergency communication capability does not seem feasible as far as cost is concerned. If I were regularly crossing the lake or venturing into the ocean perhaps such an investment would make more sense. Am I on course here concerning the radio's or am I missing something? I quite often do.
 
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