Chichester Yacht Club Magazine June 2018 | Page 22

This will help preserve your lifejacket. If the
corrosion is very serious, the chances are
that the corroded canister has damaged the
lifejacket, so take care when inspecting the
jacket, and if in doubt blow the lifejacket up
orally, and leave overnight to see if it stays
up.
As before, if it deflates, you need a new
lifejacket. If it looks like the lifejacket on the
previous page, it’s time to get a new one.
These are just a few of the pointers we took
away from our lifejacket check. However the
RNLI have a recommended maintenance
schedule. I am embarrassed to say I don’t
think I have ever followed this routine.
Also, you may not know this, but if you are
unfortunate enough to fall in the sea with
your lifejacket, you will eventually float with
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your feet facing the waves, which means the
waves will wash into your face. Knowing this,
I now think a spray hood is essential.
The RNLI offer free safety checks on any
boat. This is an offer we will certainly be
taking advantage of in the very near future.
The excellent Richard Hills, who did our
check for us, lives locally in Birdham and is
very happy to do boat safety checks .
He can be contacted on 07973 116080.
Please note that the lifejacket with a patch,
pictured on the previous page, had the patch
to cover up the branding of a previous
commercial owner, and so did not fail, but
the image makes a good illustration of the
point.