: I've worn them happily on the big (30') boat, but use my
: conventional kayaking PFD's on the kayak. The automatic feature
: doesn't seem like it'll work well on a kayak, specially if you
: roll, so it's manual inflation only and that eliminates one huge
: safety feature of conventional pfd's is that if you are
: incapacitated you can't inflate it, the conventional one might
: save you life then.

: Bill H.

Let me start by saying I wear a conventional PFD anytime I'm in my yak (sometimes when it's really hot, it's really calm, and help is really close, over shallow water I will have it unzipped), but bear in mind that most of our PFDs used in kayaking are TYPE III. If you're incapacitated, your TYPE III PFD almost certainly will not roll you over if you are face down in the water, and it is not very likely to keep your face out of the water. (Still, I haven't been brave enough to commit to an inflatable).

A Type I and a certain Type Vs (I think) would help an incapacitated victim, but are generally so bulky that I don't think any of us would wear them.