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I am looking for an inflatable pfd that when not in use can be left on the boat in my driveway under canvas cover. I live in central Florida where is get hot and the humidity is high. I have read of several that apparently inflate under those conditions. is this a common issue?
I don't know for sure but I can tell you this much .
if a guy sees you jerking fish and hammers down on his rig to get to ya ……
and some spray comes over the top of his bow and sets of his blow up vest ….
its like an uppercut when you aint quite ready to fight from the way it looked to me ….and ….
it will bought blow you right out of the boat for sure ! :Rofl
Yes, it is quite common here in Louisiana.
I've been using the inflatable type for around five years. Never had one inflate. Keep them in my truck or either on the boat.
Some of the older models would actually inflate with high humidity. Now the part that sets them off has been changed and are designed to have to be submerged in water for so many seconds to set them off. I leave mine in boat locker all the time and haven’t had a problem so far.
I have used the type that has to be submerged for several years now with no problems. If they happen to get a little wet I just let them dry out before putting them away in the compartment.
Cray probably has the answer. I bought three a few years ago and over a two year period, all three went off. They were all in the dry box of a garaged boat.
There are two types of automatic inflation that I know about.
One being a water soluble pill that will allow for inflation. These are the ones that generally inflate prematurely due to humidity and/or heat. These are usually the cheaper version also.
The second being a hydrostatic release that relies on the pressure of water to activate. These models are less likely to activate prematurely, but usually more expensive. If you go with this type, be sure to check the activation depth, because you don’t want one that takes a lot to activate. Some of the commercial life raft releases require ~3 feet. I think most life jackets activate at less than 6”.
Get a mustang HST.. no problems.. been using them for about 8 yrs now in FL....
just replace the cartridge on yours; it will not auto-inflate again w/o changing the other part that senses water...
you will have to pull manually to inflate