First off:

I'm deeply sorry about the Clement family loss. I just read some headlines about the loss of a young man, in a boating accident. I had the chance to fish with Pat on the Delta back in the day in the Western Classic, and man, just so sorry to hear about the loss, and the circumstances.

I'm 100% guilty of not wearing a vest and kill switch. I fish alone all the time, and often in places there isn't a lot of people around. I've always worn the traditional full vest style life jackets in tournaments. I need to have a life vest on every time that gas motor is on, with the kill switch hooked up...period.

I'm looking for input on the SOSpender type vest. They appear to be light weight and comfortable to the point of you wear it all day, with the gas motor on or not. I love TackleWarehouse, and if anyone has any suggestions about what model/type vest I should buy, please chime in:

http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/catpage-LFJKTS.html

Matt

Matt, check this
http://calfishing.com/dc/dcboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=2&topic_id=4801&mode=full&page=2

Amazing story.

Wow, good story. OK, automatic vest with lots of refills. I fish alone always, and 1/3 of the year, I've got a ton of cold weather gear on.

Its an awful truth, but, if you happen to get thrown out of your boat and knocked unconscious, you can't manually inflate your vest.

The two things I fear are:

Getting thrown out of my boat and being knocked unconscious
and
Falling in while fishing in heavy gear

The SOS with the automatic inflate appears to be the solution, and having refills to deal with mis fires that happen.

MP

I have a Mustang one and I like it. I'm a big guy (you know that Matt) and it fits me with no problems and it fits around my foul weather gear. No mishaps with it popping on me in heavy/constant rain so far (3+ years).

Matt, I'm like you I was very distrubed about Gary Dobyns wreck and now several others. I talked with Gary about this and gee he still reccomended the life vest and not one of the inflatables?? I wore an inflatable a few times and man they sure are comfortable. Much more so than the vests. I gotta start wearing something or I'll be a statistic before long.

Mike