PPRuNe Forums - Successful Ditching

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Offshore survival suits that the north sea heli pilots wear can be made to order for anybody, not cheap though, but then what price your life?

I can't remember the exact name of the Aberdeen supplier, they used to trade under the name 'multifabs survival' but I think they are now called heli-one.

Quote:

Originally Posted by tmmorris

hypo- = too little
hyper- = too much

That's handy. Got anything similar for the difference between "suit" and "suite"? :}

BackPacker, if you're concerned about cost of purchase and upkeep, then don't buy - rent. There are a few places mentioned in the thread at Dave W's link above.

As for unattractiveness, being blue, bloated, wrinkly and covered in crabs is probably more unattractive than an orange rubber outfit!

If you are interested I would have a look at some of the good dinghy supply shops - such as

http://www.piplers.co.uk/category.ph...=142&catpath=9

just chosen at radomn, not to advertise them in particular.

I can vouch for dry suits such as these being a whole different ball game. they are designed to be flexible and comfortable to wear - moving around in a high perfoamnce dinghy is nothing like you would imagine if you havent sailed before or have sailed yachts.

Whether they ultimately provide the same insulation as an immersion suit I dont know but I would imagine they are very close as ultimately the suit works because of its ability to keep you totally dry not to insulate you - the insulation comes from the furry bear suit underneath!

However you look at it four dry suits are not going ot be cheap - if you are going to provide for a full load of pax.

Personally I always carry a raft. Again they are not cheap, but these days they are really small and compact - you can probably avoid servicing them every year and even then the cost is only around £60. I have just had mine back from SEMS.

I think a raft is a good half way house - it might not be the perfect solution, but its better than a jackets alone - and I suspect you can always sell them on or rent them to others if you wish. there are also a few firms around that will rent you rafts for one off trips.