Safety First! And be wary of dark water

[DeepseekerADS]

Friday night I'd dreamed of wading to a dark spot and stepping into it and going way down, struggling to get to the surface. Premonition?

Yesterday (Saturday) Indian Steve and I were looking at the water at an old river swim hole. We looked out from the bank, and very clearly about 10 feet out it was black water of unknown depth.

On the way to find the spot we stopped at a small flea market, and Steve pointed out a Guide Series 24G Automatic inflatable vest with pull cord for $10. The cartridge had been used. Steve said he had one, and I should buy that. So, I did and ordered a cartridge last night.

I have never even considered the need for one! The whole experience was a pretty heavy revelation. I have to thank Steve for knowing what the heck he's doing! I'm a trainee I guess

I haven't looked at prices for new ones. But I would seriously advise anyone wading unknown water to be wearing one. Sometimes the gear we lug would suddenly take us to the bottom.

Keep the faith, and be safe.

Sometimes it's really DEEP.......

 

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[OBN]

Been preaching that for years, anytime you go to unfamiliar hunting spots wear a manual inflate vest. You don't want the auto inflate for they will go off in the water automatically. The Manual one you can inflate by blowing it up with the tube before you go out or just yanking the cord. Several years ago we went night hunting on the boat, got to the spot at lowtide, anchored and went into hunt. 4 hours later going back to the boat was a true test for everyone except me. The tide had came in and in order to get back to the boat you had to swim with your equipment. Me I just blew up my vest and waddled along with everything, scoop, sifter, detector.

To this day I still wear a vest if I have not hunted the place a few times..

Good Advice DSA!!

 

[aquanut]

I bought two at a cost of $400. One for me and one for my wife. They're automatic. When I tipped my Kayak to get out, the damn thing inflated and got stuck in the side panel. Had to wait a month for it to deflate enough to pull it out! It's about $27 dollars for a replacement mechanism. That ones still hanging.

 

[DeepseekerADS]

Received my cartridge yesterday - paid $33 for it. Steve said he gets his for about $12 off eBay. Geez, I could have nabbed 3 for about the price of one. I did the simple thing, looked up the vest model number and came up with a link for the cartridge. At least I have one now. But, I'll be a little wiser with my money on that in the future.

 

[gamiller]

OBN points out that he uses a manual inflate model. This seems like the way to go automatic inflate would be impractical for our use. In case you haven't considered that. Oops sorry I just reread OBN post and he did mention it.