Personal Flotation Devices

Reading the rulebook for Illinois, and i'm sure it's the same for almost every state is that you have to have the same amount of PFD's as people on the boat at all times. Now with some of these pontoons being able to hold 15 people at once....where the heck do you put all these PFD's????? I know this summer we're going to have a group vacation where there may be 11-13 people. My boat can hold 15 but i'd rather not have my entire storage be life-vests. Anybody have a solution or find a better way to store multiple PFD's and not take up so much space??

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I don't know of any way around that other than keeping what you normally need and removing the extras when you don't.

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rig up a cargo net to ur bimini, something like this:

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The standard type II life jackets don't take up much space and stack nicely so they store under a couple of the seats.

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Wow that's actually not too bad of an idea benny.....yeah I'm probably going to go buy the type II and store as many as I can in the back L shaped seats. Can't really think of any other secret storage place.....I know one person that puts them in his gas tank compartment and just never ever uses those, probably not the best ones to use but hey if they work in life threatening situations I guess it's not a bad idea.

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You not only have to have all the PFD's onboard, but they must be within easy reach and be correctly sized for everyone. The kids have to wear them, so that helps with some of the space issues.

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Our boat seats 12, so I bought 12 of the cheapo (about $7.00) at Wal Mart. bought 3 laundry bags (about $2.00) and put 4 in each. Put in just as many as we need. Ditto with kids sand toys. Those draw string mesh laundry bags work well. Have a lockable locker on the dock. Got good ski type vests for the Grand Kids, wife and I.

Good Luck!

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Since someone mentioned kids... We did some tests on three different ones in our pool last year with our 3 year old. The ski-vest type did not keep him from flipping face down in the water and he struggled to stay upright the whole time it was on. Too much head vs body weight. No fun and not safe. The type with the collar behind the head did well at keeping his head out of the water and not face down. Too well in fact. He spent the entire time with that one on floating on back and struggling in vain to turn over or get upright. Safe, but not much fun again. The third type was one of the Floateez types with the arm floats and chest float. With this one he can move fairly freely and it does a great job keeping his head out of the water as long as he does not intentionally or accidentally lean too far forwards without lifting his head back. I would not trust this one to keep an unconscious child's face out of the water, but for general use without restricting fun it was the best we found. The style with the collar I would say is the best for making sure the child's face does not go under no matter what. Older kids will be best with the traditional orange vest or ski-vest types. Just something to consider with any youngsters you may have aboard.

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I would hope that the PFD's are not in a storage space when 15 people are on board, just my 2 cents. On my boat I always have one extra vest and don't count my cushions. I'm so anal that I won't even power up the motor until they are all on and buckled.

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Whats your experience with the PFD's that have the CO2 bottle. ( The self infilating type or pull string type ). You need to screw them in all the way which makes a hole so the air can be released. So how long will the bottle last before the air leaks out. What do you do with yours, let it sit without screwing it in or??

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You make the adults wear the PFD's too at all times Bill??? Man that would get annoying when i'm doing my beer curls lol

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Capt Sully said:

Whats your experience with the PFD's that have the CO2 bottle. ( The self infilating type or pull string type ). You need to screw them in all the way which makes a hole so the air can be released. So how long will the bottle last before the air leaks out. What do you do with yours, let it sit without screwing it in or??

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My wife and I both have these and wear them constantly. However, for the not-to-frequent boat passenger, someone will invariably pull the rip-cord and you will now have a useless device and have to replace the cylinder. Not a good idea for kids that can't keep their inquisitive fingers off stuff. Some of those also have moisture sensors and will pop if they get wet such as when a person gets tossed overboard and is unconscious. They are great devices, but need to be handled carefully.

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Cubbyblue22 said:

You make the adults wear the PFD's too at all times Bill??? Man that would get annoying when i'm doing my beer curls lol

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I was thinking the same thing, Cubby. Seems a bit extreme on a party barge.

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Cubbyblue22 said:

You make the adults wear the PFD's too at all times Bill??? Man that would get annoying when i'm doing my beer curls lol

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When the boat is under power. If I'm anchored in a cove "NO". I'll be drinking one with you.

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lncoop said:

I was thinking the same thing, Cubby. Seems a bit extreme on a party barge.

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Only while under powered. Party barge, makes me remember when I was a lifeguard at a private country club, pretty sure I went in the water more at adult parties than I did when the kids were there. But the tips were great.

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but they must be within easy reach and be correctly sized for everyone.

I believe the wording is readily available. Doesn't mean within arms reach, but also doesn't mean in a mesh bag under a seat when 15 folks are involved, either. And most states require inflatables to be worn in order to be counted in the required number of PFDs
on board..

The party barge stuff is a hoot. Great thinking here, what could poshibly happen that would caush PDFs to be needed (hic) ... :facepalm:

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Outsider said:

but they must be within easy reach and be correctly sized for everyone.

I believe the wording is readily available. Doesn't mean within arms reach, but also doesn't mean in a mesh bag under a seat when 15 folks are involved, either. And most states require inflatables to be worn in order to be counted in the required number of PFDs
on board..

The party barge stuff is a hoot. Great thinking here, what could poshibly happen that would caush PDFs to be needed (hic) ... :facepalm:

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I've never used a PDF on my party barge. In fact, I don't even have Adobe on my party barge. However, the PFDs on my party barge are usually under a seat and everyone knows where they are and how to extract and deploy them if necessary. The kids wear theirs whenever we are under way because that's the law. I understand your implication that people on a party barge must be "partying" because they're on a party barge, but you're painting with a very broad brush.

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but you're painting with a very broad brush.

Maybe it's because I boat on some pretty populated waters. Sorry, some how lemonade didn't come immediate to mind ... :facepalm:

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I'm a bit surprised that everyone has their rules about wearing a PFD when underway pretty much alike, but several also mention drinking while boating. Not sure about where yall are, but the man don't take kindly to the boat operator doing any drinking here. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE to tie one fairly often, just not when I'm responsible for the safety of others on the water. I do my summer fishing at night so I am waiting to launch while others are coming in from a day on the water and I see it a lot. Some guy yelling at his wife about her backing the trailer in wrong because he is too drunk to get the boat on it. Another time I saw a guy flop right off the bow of his boat into the river trying to hook up the strap. And the two drunken idiots that were miles from the ramp they launched from in a 12ft jon boat with a 5hp motor and no gas that I towed in because the were trying to paddle against the tide in the main channel. They pounded one beer after another the whole tow. Oh, and lets not forget the middle aged woman standing on the bow of a pontoon coming in with a beer in her hand. She managed to slurr out " Yall need to hurry up and get the f**k out of our way!" just before her husband clanged a pontoon against the dock, narrowly missing the other boats lined up waiting on their trailers. Sorry, if this is off topic and a bit of a rant, but it's a peeve of mine. Just keep in mind that along with making sure your life jackets and other safety gear are in order you should also make sure nobody has "too" good of a time out there as a part of being a responsible captain.

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You're absolutely right, NF. I've seen those disgusting sights (although they've been blessedly rare around here.) My point was that a party barge shouldn't be summarily defined as a boat on which everyone gets drunk and makes fools of themselves. In my experience that assumption is rarely accurate. YMMV.