Rescue balloon Beacon. Interesting...

[HappyMdRSailor]

Originally Posted by captlloyd

If I were setting in a life raft I would sure like to have one.

I'm in complete agreement Lloyd!

[boatman61]

Many years back I had the idea of a self inflating balloon tucked into the collar of lifejackets.. when you went over the LJ would auto inflate as normal then a couple of minutes later the balloon would auto inflate and stream out a thin 5 metre line with a breaking strain of 500lbs..
The idea being a luminous yellow globe the size of a Bean Bag seat is 100% more visible than a head bobbing in waves.. also it would make retrievals easier and less risky for the MOB.. just close to hook the balloon and haul the casualty in to a safe part of the boat for the lift out.
Could not raise much interest tho..

[dennismenace111]

Originally Posted by olepedersen

FOUR years ago jn florida straight at night, I changed course for a flashing lite
that I thought was somebody in trouble,when I got near they were sailing with their strobe on to be safe, if I see a flashing lite i stay on course.

Kind of like driving with your flashers on in a rainstorm here in FLorida....

[Symphony]

I did it -- $32 to try it and support a small inventor is a good deed for the day.

[Franziska]

Boatman61 awesome idea. Maybe suggest it to the guys making avalanche airbags for skiers. Could be a step into a new market (boating) for them.

www.ladyrover.jimdo.com

[contrail]

Originally Posted by boatman61

Many years back I had the idea of a self inflating balloon tucked into the collar of lifejackets.. when you went over the LJ would auto inflate as normal then a couple of minutes later the balloon would auto inflate and stream out a thin 5 metre line with a breaking strain of 500lbs..
The idea being a luminous yellow globe the size of a Bean Bag seat is 100% more visible than a head bobbing in waves.. also it would make retrievals easier and less risky for the MOB.. just close to hook the balloon and haul the casualty in to a safe part of the boat for the lift out.
Could not raise much interest tho..

Boatie, I actually saw a similar device marketed about 30 years ago! I don't know who made it, but I was living in the SF bay area at the time. The balloon was attached to ones life vest or clothing and would inflate when submersed. I think it only went up about 150 feet, in a calm It was actually silver in color, and the coating was supposed to be radar reflective as well as light reflective. The idea was that you could easily find it with a search light (although it's altitude would vary with the wind, so that might not be perfect), and you could also find it with radar. I thought hard about it for a year (funds were tight) and then went back to buy one but there were none and I have occasionally searched, but found none since. it seemed like a wonderful idea and a sure seller. Maybe there were some operational issues which kept the idea from succeeding, but I would think that with modern materials and the ever increasing emphasis on safety something could be devised and successfully marketed.

[boatman61]

Well... I've put it out there so who knows.. maybe a wealthy CF member wants to get wealthier and will take it up.. I'm to old to be arsed anymore...

[jongleur]

I like the idea.

[RaymondR]

Toroidal balloon with multi faceted reflective coating to flash in sun or search light, and rotation inducing OD, permag on OD and induction coil in tail, LED flasher, conductive tether antenna with inertia wheel SOS radio signal generator etc. I'm sure that if we let our imaginations run wild we could do better than short term signalling gadgets.

[Franziska]

Keep it light.Lifejackets are heavy enough.
Even if the balloon reaches only a few meters it will make it easier to spot someone floating.

www.ladyrover.jimdo.com

[HappyMdRSailor]

Originally Posted by boatman61

Many years back I had the idea of a self inflating balloon tucked into the collar of lifejackets.. when you went over the LJ would auto inflate as normal then a couple of minutes later the balloon would auto inflate and stream out a thin 5 metre line with a breaking strain of 500lbs..
The idea being a luminous yellow globe the size of a Bean Bag seat is 100% more visible than a head bobbing in waves.. also it would make retrievals easier and less risky for the MOB.. just close to hook the balloon and haul the casualty in to a safe part of the boat for the lift out.
Could not raise much interest tho..

Absolutely brilliant idea boaty!

[MarkJ]

The ad is a bit light on details.
The facebook page shows the internals.

[Edited this post because I made a few incorrect assumptions. No real detail in the description]

I like the idea, but want to see it work first.


Sent from a stupid phone that replaces words with weird stuff.

[maxingout]

Rescue kites and balloons work for me. Unfortunately, I already have two Go Bags that are full.

It's hard to get all the stuff in the Go Bags.

[boatman61]

Originally Posted by maxingout

Rescue kites and balloons work for me. Unfortunately, I already have two Go Bags that are full.

It's hard to get all the stuff in the Go Bags.

That's the beauty of my design/idea.. your already wearing it..
Matters not that its in the air or wind blown just above the water.. its primary use is for MOB situations like the lady lost recently in the N Pacific where tho they had the beacon giving an approximate position she'd still have been very hard to spot in the dark and the sea's whereas the balloon would be spotted very quickly and valuable time saved.

[Symphony]

Rescue balloon didn't get enough backers. All indiegogo money refunded. Too bad.


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