West Marine PFD sale: good deal?

[Jerry Woodward]

West Marine has a one day only sale on the Coastal auto-inflate PFDs, normally $149 for $99.00. Admiral and I already have good Mustang PFDs with harnesses but these seem like a good buy for guests and Florida coastal cruising. Thoughts?

https://www.westmarine.com/buy/west-...cket--14832075

[Steadman Uhlich]

I looked at your linked PFD.

First I notice these things:

1. Only 26 pounds of buoyancy
If going sailing in the ocean, coastal cruising or offshore sailing, I would want more buoyancy. 35 pounds would be minimum for me. The more the better, to a point.

2. No safety harness.
If going sailing offshore, coastal cruising, or offshore sailing, I would want a built in safety harness. If captain of a boat and taking guests who may not be as careful as me, I would want a harness on the PFD, when going to sea.
___________

My Opinion:
I would spend $60 more per PFD, and would get the following, because it has:

1. 40 pounds of buoyancy

2. Built in harness, with soft Loop harness attachment point.

Crewsaver Crewfit 40 Pro Lifejacket

Hope that helps.

[Capt.Don]

Jerry - one thing to consider is that since you have Mustang PFD's, you might want ones with the same CO2 cartridge size/thread and arming mechanism tablet, green pin. It will be easier to inspect and replace parts as needed and/or when your guest inadvertently inflates the PFD my niece did this once


Don

[ranger58sb]

In addition to the Coastal and Inshore models, WM also has (had?) an Offshore model and a Deepwater model, latter two with 35-lbs bouyancy IIRC. Don't know if those might still be offered, or whether included in sales...

-Chris

[SV Sailfish]

To quote Kathy Bates from the movie Water Boy...

West Marine is da' Debil!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YeZ88Rn0Sks

[MartinF]

Casual guests will likely only be out with you when the weather is settled fair. Experienced crew will probably bring their own gear.

Tests show that for an auto-inflate PFD a crutch strap is an important feature.

[Breck Sailor]

I am selling 2 VERY lightly used Crewsaver Crewfit 40 Pro auto-inflate PFDs with integrated harness. They were purchased this April retail new for a wonderful 2 month sail trip through Caribbean. We wore them only on 4 overnight crossings and I still have the original packaging, as well as a spare CO2 cartridge and rearming kit in original packaging. I'm happy to provide pictures - you will see ZERO wear. Message me if interested. I will sell the entire lot for $200 plus shipping. (Retail was about $350.)

[a64pilot]

Best chance to sell is to post in the classifieds.
Read the sticky at the top, it tells you info you need to include such as price and location, pictures certainly help the sale too.

[Breck Sailor]

Roger that - just saw this post and decided to reply - have had the PFDs sitting in my office since finishing our trip. Don't expect to have another such trip until years from now so no need to keep the PFDs.

[Al B]

Nothing is reasonable at West Marine.
Box store for boaters.
West Marine has the market cornered.
I only buy when I must from them.
Running any retail business is not easy . overhead ,salaries, competition, but how much of a mark up is enough ? In general boaters pay inflated prices for everything .
I purchased a gallon of 502 , On line $ 49.00 West Marine same gallon
$ 110 .00.
Here in FL huge boating community we have it all
Private owned mom & pop shops that have a little of everything, too some
of the bigger shops that are seen on boating shows.

West Marine is for rookie boaters or boaters in a bind . TOO BAD

[captaindanger70]

nothing is a good sale at west marine. Recently I bought a pair of boat shoes at west marine. I wore them about 10 times over the last year and the soles started to come undone, the insets on the outside bottom starte to come unglued and fall off. This leaves a paper thin sole and does not work well. I went back with them and since I no longer had the receipt they would not deal with me, even though they are a west marine brand. I called corporate headquarters and they said they would help me but 30 days later I have yet to hear from them. I too to social media and posted to their twitter account. with in one day they got back to me and asked for me to send complete story I have and am waiting to see if they will own up to there error. Bad Company. Any discounts only bring price close to others standard price and they do not stand behind there products. Enough said.

[a64pilot]

WM is expensive, and I do not often trade with them as I'd rather buy from Vendors here that I can communicate with, but they seem to stand beyond their products.
Years ago I bought a set of rod holders from them, one failed and dropped my rod and reel into the water, I took the failed rod holder back, they refunded me the price of the rod holder of course, and even though it took a week or so, gave me a check for about $500 to replace my rod and reel, that by the way I had no proof of even having, much less what they cost, they went completely on my word.

[chris07732]

Breck Sailor: check your pm's

[Breck Sailor]

Thanks for all those interested in my PFDs, however they have been sold!

[Snore]

Originally Posted by MartinF

Tests show that for an auto-inflate PFD a crutch strap is an important feature.

I believe inflatables should ONLY be used with a crotch strap. There are a few reports that investigated real world deaths!