Old life-jackets with kapok filling or cotton straps are unsafe and likely to fail when used, warned Maritime New Zealand’s General Manager Maritime Compliance, Kenny Crawford, noting that these old life-jackets should be replaced as soon as possible with modern foam-filled or inflatable life-jackets.
These life-jackets are decades old and have not been made since the 1980s. However, an unknown number are still being used. Kapok is a cotton-like fluff that is no longer used in life-jackets, because it naturally losses buoyancy over time and if it gets wet it will absorb water and pull you down, explained Mr. Crawford.
Cotton straps rot over time, even if the life-jacket is not used, and will tear or break off the life-jacket. The life-jacket will come off in the water. If one of these life-jackets has been used in the past and floated then, it should still be replaced as soon as possible and destroyed. It will have deteriorated and might not float now. Even if these life-jackets are in their original packaging, have never been used and look in perfect condition replace them and destroy them. They are too old and are unsafe.
Mr Crawford added these old life-jackets complied with international rules when they were manufactured, and many of them have the old standards “S” logo on them. However, they no longer comply with the modern New Zealand standard for life-jackets.
Boaties would originally have bought the life-jackets new in the 1980s and even earlier.
They will have been used in summers and stored over winters again and again. They may have been passed down in families and to friends or sold second-hand. They are turning up on Trade Me and at the ‘Old4New’ life-jacket upgrades that are funded by Maritime NZ and run by Coastguard in summer.
On Maritime NZ’s advice, Trade Me has removed several old life-jackets from auctions and will continue to do so as more are posted for sale. It will also send safety information to sellers when any life-jackets, old or new, are posted for sale.
Maritime NZ, Coastguard NZ and their Safer Boating Forum partners are spreading information about these unsafe life-jackets through their communities to boaties.
“Now is a great time to ‘check, replace, destroy’ old life-jackets before the weather improves and boaties start getting back out on the water.If you have this message, pass it on. Tell your family and tell a friend.