how often!

I know inflatable life vest have been beat to death on here, I ALWAYS wear a life vest, but in the summer they are HOT. I have a ski vest , but not USCG approved.There is the belt flotation system that requires manual activation. How often do you test the inflatable flotation system? Yearly, every 6 months or just look at the clear view window, how easy do they activate. Little water, sumursion or some other accident. An activation system is about $27.00 bucks. Not a lot to save a life. Anyone have any thoughts or comments. Thanks.....crappie1133

I have never owned a inflatable and I must say I am not really impressed with them. I to always wear my ski type vest when on the water. I fish a lot by myself so if the baot is moving it is on my body and the connections are made. I may or may not take it off when I stop. Depends on the conditions and the traffic.

i have the manual inflate...and ive often wondered if this thing still works as i put it on each time...ive had this one 4 or 5 yrs...and to test it a person would have to pull on the manual trigger to find out..and that would cost 25 or so...i think its time for a new one...any suggestions please..my health isnt very good and i know i could not get in a boat if i fell into the water...thanks guys

I tested mine after 5 years and it worked fine.

I have used one for about 5 years and it is the automatic/manual type. Mine will only inflate automatically if submerged in water. I have worn it in damp conditions and rain before and it has never deployed. I check the window to see if the green or red is showing. If red you must re arm it which is about 29 dollars. It turned red about a year ago and I went ahead and re armed it and keep and extra re arm kit in the boat just in case because we do fish out of town sometimes. I now have one for my wife who is my tournament partner and we love them because they are so comfortable. We purchased ours at BPS during the spring when they put stuff like that on sale. Make sure when buying that you get one that says it has 35 lbs.of buoyancy.

I bought one this past year because I mostly fish by myself and it would be tough to get back into my boat. With my old one I went by the rule when the big motor is running my vest is on but got concerned about maybe falling out while trolling. I have the Auto/Manual BPS vest. The manual says to test the bladder every year and you can do that by manually blowing it up and leaving it overnight to see if any air leaks out. The cartridge blowup I might test every 4 or 5 years.

Even if you tested it once a year your life is worth more than $30 bucks.

I have them and wear them all the time in the boat moving or not. They are so comfortable I forget I have it on. I have found myself driving back home with it still on.
Those activators are dated with an expiration date printed on them.
Replace if after the date on them. If you buy replacements always check that date to make sure they are going to expire soon.

I have only had one deploy without being in the water. That on was in a storage area and got wet from rain. It did not deploy until I laid it out in the sun to dry out. Came back to boat a while later and it had deployed. Good part about that was the cartridge was about to expire so at least I got a "Test" out of it and a reminder to RE-arm.

US Coast Guard reg. says an inflatable vest is NOT counted when checking your boat on water UNLESS you have it on. So wear it any time you're on your boat, they're light weight and comfortable.

I wear mine all the time. I fish alone a lot and I don't want to take a chance. I fish the Mississippi River for cats and the current can be wicked. For those who are worried about getting back in your boat put a ladder on the back. I have had to use it once and it was a life saver. I have a Seaark and there is no way I could get over the side and climbing up the motor at 62 and fat is not an option either. :yikes