Life Raft & Survival Equipment - Safety Gear Advice

I have a 22' CC and fish 1-2 times a month, 20-30 miles offshore. The two Ports I use are both well travelled, Port Canaveral and Ponce Inlet.

Currently, I have the following gear onboard:

5 basic orange lifejackets (the cheap ones - need to upgrade).
1 throw cushion
Fixed mount Icom VHF
Handheld SH VHF as backup
Lowrance GPS/FF
Garmin ETrex handheld as backup
Current dated flare kit still in package
Unmounted fire extinguisher

The first thing I want to work on is customizing a life jacket for myself. Attached would be the backup vhf & gps. I plan to attach a long piece of rope to it, to tie crew together or tie to the boat.

Next I want a PLB or EPIRB. Budget-wise, the PLB is more appealing.

Since everyone reading this part of the forum is interested in safety gear, I'm open to any and all suggestions.

I would recommend the following in order or priority. There is more you can add, but I see these items as bare minimum essentials.

1) Buy a PLB w/gps or EPIRB before heading offshore the next time. Consider it cheap security that will save your life. I have a FastFind PLB w/gps (very affordable).

2) Buy Type 1 life jackets for however many people you anticipate taking offshore. Revere makes a nice, comfortable Type 1 jacket at an affordable price.

3) Make sure your DCS (assuming your radio has this feature) is connected to your GPS and that you registered your radio, obtained and entered your MMSI # into your radio.

4) First-aid kit

5) Air Horn

6) Whistle (attach to pfd's)

7) 2 Bottles of water

8) A couple of trail bars

9) Distress flag

10) Strobe light and flashlight

11) Floating ditch bag to keep all of your emergency gear in.

Great suggestions Chris! Have the TYPE I vests on board so you are USCG compliant even if your not wearing a life jacket, but do yourself a favor and buy some inflatable PFD's. It will make you want to wear them. I have a whole laundry list of things to pack in a ditch bag that I suggest you cherry pick items from to pack a ditch bag that will fit your needs. Send me an e-mail at [email protected] and I'll send the list with pricing. If you stop in a Dollar Store sometime, you'll find good items to add to a ditch bag. Things like cheap gloves, hats or earmuffs non thirst provoking hard fruit candy, all kinds of stuff. EPIRBs and PLBs have come a long way so when you e-mail me let me know the kind of boating you do and I'll send specs and pricing on some recommendations. Thanks for the posts. Brian Kinsella

The two previous post are spot on. It may seem like a lot to pack, but it can be done very efficiently. The Type 1 vest are very important, if you ever go out alone an inflatable PFD is needed. I personally have a PLB that is registered with my offshore boat's info. I also keep rain gear and boots on board. Again, you can pack and store these efficiently with a little effort. It's cheap insurance.

Seaquest 2200BW F200
Nauticstar 1910 F115

Like you said, you have your boat name and color and length in your profile for your PLB. I think its great that you can update anytime free of charge, and like you said, in the comments section you can even put a little itinerary in there, like "Sailing on July 9 to the 11th along the coast of Maine". This is great so if they receive a signal from your beacon and pull up your profile the command center already have some general info to start their protocol of calling your emergency contacts. Free registration and free updating anytime. Great feature of a PLB! Thanks for the posts. Brian Kinsella