Glad to hear of your survival. Have had a few dunks of my own - not a pleasant experience. Eventhough an accomplished swimmer, with gear on, and when unexpected - could spell dissaster quick. There was a discussion a while back about inflatables…I WEAR my auto-inflatable any time while in a boat, and sometimes in unfamiliar water. Not ready to “check out” just yet. Fortunately others around had the presence of mind to help and not to look the other way.
cya,
Mike K.
First and foremost, I’m glad you’re ok Gemrod. Second, he’s right folks, no waders in a boat. I use to duck hunt and heard of 3 guys duckhunting in a boat with waders on. I never knew what happened, but the boat capsized and sadly all 3 drowned. Their waders filled up with water and drug them under. One of them was supposedly still clutching a knife that he had used to try and cut his way out of the waders. Its a terrible story and one I hope will never be repeated. So ALWAYS wear your life jacket, and NEVER wear waders.
glad you’re ok Gemrod,
hNt
Gee I am glad you came out of that situation in one piece. Sorry to hear you lost some equipment, but that is better than losing your life.
This reminds me of a question I have wondered about for a long time, maybe someone could provide some insight.
I can’t swim a stroke and I always thought it might be a good idea to wear one of the self inflating PFD’s when I am fishing. My question is this, if I take a tumble and my waders fill up, will one of these vests keep me afloat?
After reading both the scary stories about what almost happened, it makes you think.
Chris
fly fishing fanatic here is a review of an inflatable vest by J. c. http://www.flyanglersonline.com/prorevw/stormyseas.php
Thank you I think I better go shopping!
I am sure I will have to do a web crawl to find one.
Chris
Kinda hate to throw this out there…may discourage someone from wearing a vest. I don’t think the waders weighed any different full of water than they did empty of water. As long as they are totally UNDER water. The water is the same on both sides of the boat…? The water weighs the same whether it is inside my waders or on the outside. It didn’t get heavier because it was inside my waders. It was even steven so to speak. BUT when I got on shore and OUT of the water it looked like…and felt like I had two elephant legs!
Therefore…I should NOT throw this out there because I don’t know for sure. I am sure I will try it someday just to know in my mind. I’m that way. But anyway…I think I could have swam to shore with the hip waders on. I seemed to have no trouble doing the side stroke and kicking…just not going anywhere. Maybe because I HAD full waders I wasn’t going anywhere? Another think I will have to try. I think it was because of the wind and the anchor stuck in the muc.
Soooooo…my “guess” is yes…I think the inflatable on demand PFD’s which I have never seen…I think they will hold you afloat even with hip waders on. Not going to go that far about chest waders.
I would like to find the kind where YOU have to pull the rip chord to get them to inflate. If you are wearing the self actuating kind I would think when it rains…if you don’t have it covered well enough it will go off. You will just have to wear it that way, or deflate it and install your spare co2 cartridge and start all over again. Remember the self actuated ones are activated by water.
Jim
Jim, I’m sorry to hear about the accident. Glad you are OK. You can replace stuff but we can’t replace you. Jim