Differences Between a Lifejacket and Swim Vest

Differences Between a Lifejacket and Swim Vest

If you have kids in the house, you summertime is when kids love to have fun in the water, be it the pool or the beach. You would be looking into some floatation devices. With so many names literally ‘floating’ around, it does get a bit confusing which one is the right for you to make a purchase. Life jackets are probably the best floatation device that you can lay your hands-on, and it works well if you are frequently a lot of water-based activities, especially natural water bodies. It helps to keep your head above water in case of any emergency like situation, and you will not be in danger of drowning. The life jacket comes in various sizes, and you can pick the one that fits you snugly. There is a need to wear life jackets especially when you are in deep open waters when you perform such activities

All About Best Life Jacket

Underage children have to wear them by default when in a watercraft as well. You can shop for life jackets but sure to see the certification before purchase. A good life jacket is expensive but provides you with the best safety during emergencies and can save your life or the life of your loved one. The life jacket comes with an instructional pamphlet giving the directions as to how to wear them in case of an emergency. There is a complete guide for the user to know other water safety concerns that have to be followed.

Life jackets come in two kinds type I and type II. The type II are bulkier, and they are for the non-swimmers and kids who aren’t comfortable being water, people are venturing in deep waters alone. The bulkiness attributes to keeping the person afloat for a long time in any waters. Because of this, it can be uncomfortable for movement and may feel weighed down for adventure sports. The other category is lightweight and most adventure sport loving people would prefer it as it is a form fit and lighter and helps for easy movement. But doesn’t provide as much protection as the one above.

All About Swim Vest

A swim vest is a swimming aid and helps a beginner to learn to float on water while learning to swim. It helps to keep the child’s head above water at all times. You can find swim vests in varying sizes and colours so that they are attractive for the kids to pick and use. These vests are made of neoprene material, so the user doesn’t feel cold, and the buoyancy is maintained. There is a strap that is put in-between the legs to secure the wearer after it is zipped up at the front.

Differences Between Life Jacket & Swim Vest

  • A life jacket gets used for all age groups, provided each one buys the right size and fit.
  • A life jacket is for proper safety gear and used in emergencies
  • These are expensive and last long.
  • These don’t need to be inflated.
  • They have to certified by various standards before they are sold
  • Mostly used for safety purposes
  • The swim vest is used mostly for children with a certain age and weight.
  • A swim vest is a swimming aid 
  • They are cheaper and can tear easily.
  • These have to be inflated
  • These need not be certified.
  • Mostly used for recreational purposes

There must be a clear focus on water safety at all times by parents and make sure that floatation devices are used at all times, and with small children, there has to be adult supervision.

How to Clean & Sanitize Your Life Jacket

How to Clean & Sanitize Your Life Jacket

When you return from a fishing trip or take it by boat for a lazy Sunday, no one likes to do the tedious stuff. No one wants fishing rods, beer coolers, tackle boxes, or bags full of sunscreen, hats, food, and other essentials. It always feels that there is much more to deal with when water returns from there. Nevertheless, we do this to keep everything clean, organized, and ready to rock for the next sea walk. But do you know the exact time when you cleaned your life jacket?

Do you know that our Life jackets are one of the essential pieces of equipment on your boat? These jackets save many people’s life. By keeping them promptly accessible and actualizing their utilization, you are ensuring everybody on board your boat. Sadly, singular buoyancy gadgets are regularly not given the regard they require on dry land that they get on the water. Now, if you think that, why should you clean & sanitize your life jackets, especially kids life jacket. So let me clear you that It is one of the most important & regular for several reasons

Why You Need To Clean a Life Jacket

  • Mould and Mildew: when your jackets have been stowed away wet, you can see mould and mildew on your life jackets. If you do not allow them to dry thoroughly, you will deal with the slightest dirt.
  • Dirt and Grime: It is quite obvious to get in specks of dust of mud, sand, or your child’s melty ice cream sandwich when you’re outdoors. And these are the reasons for those life jackets that are going to get messy fast.
  • Smell: In addition to mildew and mould odour, a variety of odours will destroy your lifetime. Smoke, saltwater, beer, perfume, and fish are just some of the things that will be washed away in your jacket.

Wear a dirty, smelly life jacket during a beautiful day on the water feels very awkward for you and your passengers. So these are the reasons that clarify why you should clean these jackets?

Steps To Clean a Life Jacket

Scrubbing: You should use this method when you want to remove mould, mildew, from your jackets, or want to remove pesky stains. Follow below steps for scrubbing:

  • Always Scrub your life jacket with a soft bristle brush to remove most mildew, mould, and stains. 
  • Take hydrogen peroxide and mix it with water. Now pour this mixture on the spots directly. Soak the life jacket under sunlight for about one hrs. 
  • After properly soaking your life jacket, brush it again with and rinse it off.
  • Hang the life jacket(s) where direct sunlight is coming, & they will be able to dry completely.

Steps To Sanitize a Life Jacket 

This is another option for sanitizing life jackets, But this method requires more time than the previous one. It would help if you had a strong arm, and an area you don’t mind getting a little wet. In this method, bring your life jackets to a place where you can clean them comfortably, throw a coal tar down, and work.

  • Take a bucket of soap and water mixture to add some liquid laundry detergent into the mix, place all your life jackets on the cover. You should use the cover or the tarp to protect the fabric of the life jackets.
  • After clean one side twice of the life jackets, flip them over onto the backside and brush it down a couple of times too. If you apply this way, each side of life jackets will be clean. 
  • Remember one thing that you have to soak for about thirty minutes before you turn it back over for another, though quicker, scrub. 
  • Now scrub them two to four times, rinse off with clean water to remove any traces of soap. Now hang them up to dry, in the direct sunlight. 

How To Choose the Right Size Life Jacket – Why Size Matters

How To Choose the Right Size Life Jacket – Why Size Matters

Life jackets are so much more useful for people who are into water sports, and there are several professions wherein you would require one. Safety is the primary concern; it would be disastrous to venture out into the water without having safety apparel. Life jackets are also known as life vests, are personal floatation devices that allow the wearer to stay afloat in case of emergency. The life jacket helps keep the person afloat in an upright position so that they can keep their head above water and be able to breathe. Learn more about how do you size a life jacket.

How to Pick the Right Size?

When a person goes to buy a life jacket, he has to try it on and see that it fits well because one size fits policy doesn’t work here. There are different sizes for various ages and body types. You could go in for chest measurements, and with those specifications, you can pick a right-sized life jacket for your self. The best way to test whether the size of the life jacket is just right for you is to see if you can place three fingers in the gap between the shoulder and the vest. If it is possible, then the vest is too large for you.

There are different kinds of vests depending on what you would be doing when wearing them. Life Jackets for water sports, you will find the there are special life vests known as the competition vests. Competition vests or jackets are lightweight and form-fitting. They are made flexible so that the person can make easy movements when wearing them and not get weighed down by them. They will float you in case of an emergency event but doesn’t guarantee your head above water, which is why the coast guards do not approve it. Here is more information on how do you size a life jacket.

A normal life jacket is bulkier and is approved by the coast guards; it keeps the wearer in an upright position as well as the head above the water. Though nylon is the most used material and is cheaper for the bulk of what life jackets that are found in the market are made of. There is another kind that is made from neoprene, which is lightweight, and it is also used to make wetsuits. Vests made from this material are softer and form fit well and hence allow the wearer more mobility. It is warmer than nylon, though it is pricer than nylon vests and are mostly used as Fishing Life Jacket

What are Life Jackets Made Of?

Life jackets are made from nylon fabric, closed-cell foam, non-corrosive plastic zippers, and snaps strapping and reflective tape. Each product is quality controlled because it is a safety product, and the person’s life is dependent on that. Hence high manufacturing standards along with procuring high-end raw materials for making them as it passes through a lot of quality assessments before it sold in the market. The life jackets undergo a rigorous manufacturing process; there are definite steps that are followed to make one great life jacket

  • Creating markers for the jacket
  • Preparing the nylon to be put on the vest
  • Cutting the pattern that gives the right fit
  • Cutting the foam to the right size to go into the vest.
  • Finally, assembling the pieces and giving it the required shape.
  • The finishing touches are then provided to make it seamless
  • When the vest is done, it is sent for quality control.

If you don’t pick the right size, there is a danger that you may slip out of one when inflated, and it won’t serve the purpose.

Life Jacket Buying Guide – How to Buy Best life Jacket

Life Jacket Buying Guide – How to Buy Best life Jacket

Life jackets can play a crucial role when you are planning to have a weekend at the water park or are planning to have a weekend trip to a place where you can enjoy water sports. The life jackets won’t only help you to feel less worried about the safety of the family members, but they will also let you enjoy water sports more freely. So, if you were looking to get involved in the water sports, then we will suggest you to buy the reliable life jackets for yourself and your family to make the trip safe and enjoyable than ever before.

For the buyers who haven’t purchased the life jackets before and are new to the water sports, buying a perfect life jacket may be a tough nut to crack. So, here, in this article, we will talk about every single detail that you should know as a buyer about the life jackets. By going through the article, you will be able to make a good decision and buy the best in class life jackets for your family. So, let’s get started and know more about the life jacket that is specially designed for water sports.

How to Buy Best Life Jacket

Life jackets are often ignored by those users who consider them as confident water animals and do not feel that anything can happen to them while they are in the water. However, belief us guys, water bodies are amongst the most unpredictable things in the world and even if you are comfortable in the water, you should ignore the safety precautions to avoid any emergency. 

The life jackets are available in different shapes, sizes, and types that can help you choose the most perfect one according to your needs and confidence while you are in the water. There are several other essentials that you should be looking for while planning a water adventure trip, but if we talk about the most essential one, then it would be none other than the life jackets. The life jackets have been the best way to save lives in the past many decades and thus they are considered as a must-have for every enthusiast who is planning a water adventure. 

So, if you were also making plans with your friends or family to go a wild weekend with lots of water sports and adventure on, we will suggest you buy a reliable life jacket that perfectly fits you and have durable material that can deal with the pressure and serve you for many years without any performance issue. 

Choose Right Material for the Best Durability & Performance

Material is an important aspect while choosing the right life jacket. Make sure that you choose a perfect material that is not only comfortable enough to wear for hours but also is durable enough to deal with the pressure and hold you safely. 

The Nylon and polypropylene are the two most reliable and most talked-about materials used in the life jackets for water sports. So, choose the one accordingly and buy the best one for yourself. Just make sure to check the durability and comfort of the life jackets’ material to be assured of best value. You can either look for them in the user reviews or check them personally if you are planning to buy the life jackets from the local store. In all, choosing the right material for the life jacket can help you a lot in getting best-in-class safety. 

Get the Right Fit – Child Life Jacket Sizes & Adult Life Jacket Sizes

The first and the most important thing that you should be looking for while buying the life jacket for your family is the right fit. Yes, you heard it right, the life jackets are available in different sizes and to ensure the safety, you should choose the right size according to the weight and height of the persons who are going to wear it. 

Generally, both the kids and adult life jackets are labelled as small, medium and large. IT is essential that you choose the right one according to the weight of the person which is labelled by the company on the product’s packaging. In case the product you are planning to buy doesn’t specify the size, we will suggest you check for the manufacturer’s website or the online reviews to get an idea of the size and specifications. 

By choosing the right size of the jacket, you can be assured of getting a perfect fit and you will be able to move freely while you are in an emergency situation. So, instead of choosing any life jacket according to the budget and reviews, make sure that you keep the size in mind to get the best fit and better safety.

Along with the different sizes, some manufacturers also provide users with universal sized life jackets for both kids and adults. The thing that you need to consider while buying the universally sized jackets is the quality of the jackets and the straps and the weight range the jacket can hold.  In other words, if you were looking to buy the life jacket for yourself or for your family, make sure that the product you have shortlisted fits perfectly without any slight flaw.

Types of Life Jackets

The next big thing that you should care about while purchasing a new life jacket for yourself is the type of jacket you are planning to buy. The life jackets have been categorized into different categories and as a buyer, you should be well aware of these types and what are the specific field they are used for. So, here’s a brief overview of the different types of life jacket popular in the market. Just go through them, and know the differences so that you can make the right decision and choose the most suitable life jacket for yourself.

  • Type I: Off-Shore Life Jacket

The first type, or the type I life jacket, is dedicated to off-shore water sports and are perfect for the buyers who are into fishing, racing or just normal calm boating. This type of jacket provides great support to the users and do not restrict the movement while they are in the water. So, if you were looking for a normal life jacket that you can wear while fishing, the type I Offshore life jackets would be an ideal product for you.  here is Best Life Jackets for Fishing

  • Type II: Near-Shore Buoyancy Vest

For those buyers who are looking for nearshore adventures like skiing and others, this type of life jackets will be a perfect buy. With the perfect design and lightweight build quality, these are a great option for water sports lovers. here is Best Life Jacket for Jet Skis

  • Type III: Flotation Aid

For those buyers who aren’t too confident to swim efficiently and need some assistance, the Type 3 of life jackets can be the best choice. Known as the flotation aid, these jackets help the users to float in water without any issues. So, if you were looking for such a life jacket that can help you overcome the fear of water, this type of water life jacket will be an ideal deal for you. 

  • Type IV: Throwable Device

As the name depicts, these life-saving devices can be thrown from a boat or by a rescue team to help the user floating in the water. These jackets are usually attached to the rope and are perfect for fishing and kayaking adventures. 

  • Type V PFD: Specialty Use Device

For the buyers who are looking for the best in class protection from the nearshore water sports, the PFD: Speciality Use devices are great to rely on. With great comfort and perfect safety, these are the best solution to get perfect safety for near inland adventures that you want to enjoy with your family and friends.  So, these were the five different kinds of life jackets that you can buy for your next water sports adventure. Choose the perfect one according to your needs an stay safe during the water sports. 

The Best Value for Money Options

Lastly, make sure to choose the best value for money options available in the market. As a popular sport, water sports is getting immensely popular among the enthusiasts and if you were looking to buy the best jacket for yourself, then you will have to choose from a wide range of products and brands. So, make sure that you choose the product that offers complete safety and has great features to make it a worthy buy for the price. Make sure to choose the life jacket that is perfect for you and worth every penny. 

You can do this by choosing a good brand or the product with the best user reviews. By doing so, you will be able to choose the best life-saving jacket for you that is great to have and is comfortable enough to wear for hours.  SO, this was brief information that you should know as a buyer before purchasing the life jacket for yourself or for your loved ones. Keep the above-discussed points in mind, and find the most suitable life jacket available in the market.