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floatation suit

I'd definitely get a two piece - I did after initially buying a one piece and overheating badly! I have a Fladden but mates have various from Imax, Sundridge, Penn, Mustad etc. All seem perfectly OK for what they are but as mentioned they're certainly not breathable and I wouldn't consider walking far in mine. I've reproofed it with Wikes masonry sealer which is a cheaper version of Thompson's water seal. It's getting on for 20 years old so possibly the buoyancy foam will have degraded/worn or been overly compressed by now? It's just a closed cell foam (just like the 'ethafoam' used as a liner for flyboxes) with a waterproof nylon outer, but I don't depend on it for flotation as I wear a 175N auto inflate over the top if on a boat or fishing from heights like rocks and breakwaters.
My mate used to sell them in the chandlers/tackle shop he worked in and often would get asked if they'd save your life at sea. He had a stock reply - "they won't necessarily save a life but will give the chance of rescue before the hypothermia kicks in..... but let's look on the bright side - at least they'll have a body for the funeral" Which as well as being very good dry humour in my book has a whole lot of truth in it!
 
The trouble with 90% of flotation suits is the hydrostatic head is insufficient. Most are claimed at 10000hh which to be honest is not much better than a tea bag.
If you want total waterproof then look at the guy cotten sallopets and smoks.
However , they are not breathable so you may sweat in them.
Another option is to go gortex, most gortex garments have a HH of 20000 or more.
That said, I have had gortex leak in extreme rain.
 
Shirleycodlin said:
The trouble with 90% of flotation suits is the hydrostatic head is insufficient. Most are claimed at 10000hh which to be honest is not much better than a tea bag.
If you want total waterproof then look at the guy cotten sallopets and smoks.
However , they are not breathable so you may sweat in them.
Another option is to go gortex, most gortex garments have a HH of 20000 or more.
That said, I have had gortex leak in extreme rain.
Click to expand...
What I’ve tended to find about the floatie suits I’ve had is the thickness generally means they take a long time to soak it up.
So yes agree with you they’re not totally waterproof by any means but I tend to find they’ll keep me dry/warm enough for a session, which is all I want.

If they then need a couple of days to dry out that’s fine.

Maybe not as good for the people that like to spend 48 hours on a beach, if the weather was bad, but then they have their little tents with them anyway.
 
If I was to buy a new one I think I'd proof it with something like Fabsil spray before using it in the hope of prolonging it's working life before needing to resort to the brush on masonry sealer
 
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