Inflatable vest inflated in hot car

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Walter Hobbs
Posts: 202
Joined: Sep 22nd, '14, 08:34
Location: CD 14,CD 27

Inflatable vest inflated in hot car

Post by Walter Hobbs »

Greetings,

Had my inflatable vest in my car in driveway. Surprised to find it had inflated when I opened car this AM. Car interior was very warm but not that hot. Outdoor temp was 80s. Do the vests get triggered by heat? Do I need to keep in in a cooler environment?
Walter R Hobbs
CD 14 hull # 535, Grin
CD 27 Hull # 35 Horizon Song
Lincoln, RI

"Attitude is the differance between ordeal and adventure."
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mgphl52
Posts: 1809
Joined: Feb 6th, '05, 14:15
Location: s/v KAYLA CD 28 #318
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Re: Inflatable vest inflated in hot car

Post by mgphl52 »

WOW!!! Just be glad it wasn't a life raft! :roll:
-michael & Toni CDSOA #789
s/v KAYLA CD28 #318
2012 FLSTC Heritage Classic
Niceville FL
+30° 30' 24.60", -86° 26' 32.10"
"Just because it worked, doesn't mean it works." -me
No shirt + No shorts = No problem!
Carl Thunberg
Posts: 1305
Joined: Nov 21st, '05, 08:20
Location: CD28 Cruiser "Loon" Poorhouse Cove, ME

Re: Inflatable vest inflated in hot car

Post by Carl Thunberg »

I could make up a BS story involving the ideal gas law like Tom Brady did, but . . .

My best guess, and it's only a guess, is that the salt tablet had been compromised by humidity and the heat was the triggering event that caused the salt tablet to disintegrate.
CDSOA Commodore - Member No. 725

"The more I expand the island of my knowledge, the more I expand the shoreline of my wonder"
Sir Isaac Newton
fmueller
Posts: 480
Joined: Mar 15th, '14, 08:25
Location: "Jerezana" CD 27

Re: Inflatable vest inflated in hot car

Post by fmueller »

Hey Walter. No idea why yours inflated, but at least you didn’t have it around your neck.

I had a Mustang brand vest/harness go off one morning just as I cleared the breakwater at RIYC motoring along blissfully one flat early morning. I flinched so hard that I had a sore back for a week. This particular vest just goes POW!! quite violently when it trips inflating more like an airbag. Turns out that the trip mechanism was in part a cheesy plastic pin prone the breaking just from flexing during normal wear. I called Mustang and they would not acknowledge the problem. Been using l’cheapo West Marine vests ever since.
Fred Mueller
Jerezana
CD 27 Narragansett Bay
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