What about something like this?
It’s Coast Guard Approved as a personal flotation device and gets great reviews and doesn’t LOOK like a life vest. It would accessorize well with her new purchases and Bob could get one too.
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My one and only “water rescue event” involved an experienced first responder pulling me out by the shoulders of my life vest when the well meaning (but hapless) bystanders couldn’t figure it out. I’m a strong swimmer and I was within easy swimming distance of the shore– but I ALWAYS wear a vest now, completely zipper and clipped.
I can’t imagine how you get an elderly person out of the water with an inflatable belt pack… other than hooking it to something and towing them ashore… the belt allows for an extended time floating on your back, but won’t keep the upper body upright, no?
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Can either of these seniors swim or tread water? In my opinion…if not, they should not be out boating alone
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If they would WEAR something like the belt, it’s better than nothing, as long as it is working. (Reviews said some were shipped with expired cartridges or broken clip.)
Yes, ideally, a regular life vest is best.
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The issue I have with something like that is that you have to pull it to activate it. How easy is that for an elderly person with vision and mobility problems to do in an emergency situation? Treading water with clothes on is very difficult even for good swimmers. Treading water with clothes on in an emergency, panicked situation would be even harder.
And then there is the main reason everyone, regardless of ability, should wear one… You can’t tread water if you’re knocked unconscious. This is why we ALWAYS wear life vests on our parents’ lake. That water is very murky. You go 18” below the surface and you can’t be seen. And the end of the dock is over 20’ feet. It’s over 100’ in the center of their cove and 200-250 near the dam.
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I think everyone agrees life vests are best AND that so far there is no evidence these are worn by MIL. I’m just trying for solutions that MIGHT be used.
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Could not agree more! A very experienced sailing friend of ours was knocked unconscious when the boom struck him in the head and he was swept overboard during a sudden squall. The only reason he’s alive is the fact he was wearing a life jacket. I remember having to swim in my clothes and having to inflate my jeans during a swim test. That is tough and I’m not sure I could do it now - and I think I’m in better shape than Bob and MIL!
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Personally I think the chances of Bob and MIL having to bail out of a 34 foot boat on a lake is close to zero. Better to have phones and tow insurance in case it breaks down. As long as he can safely dock it in the slip they’ll be fine.
Not to further the life jacket discourse, but here I go anyway…!
My Dad was very athletic and grew up around both motor and sail boats; us kids also grew up driving a motor boat and learning how to sail small boats. “The kids” were always required to wear life jackets at all times, but my Dad only wore a life jacket when he was water skiing. Other than that he stashed the life jacket in the motor boat (per regulations) but didn’t wear it. They were all the foam or neoprene style life jackets, that we’d had in the family for years.
Out of habit, as I became an adult, I just kept wearing the life jacket when I drove the motor boat, but I didn’t wear one when sailing the small boat because it was cumbersome to duck under the boom while wearing it; instead, I stashed it in the bow.
Years later (when my Dad was in his early 70s) we came up for the summer and Dad had a new life jacket that he casually threw on when it was time to put the boat in the water. He said that he realized he wasn’t as strong as he used to be and decided it would be smart to wear a life jacket if he got thrown (or slipped) into the water in his clothes. It was one of those new-fangled inflatable ones, and he bought one for each of us as presents.
They’re fantastic; they’re not hot, they’re not cumbersome any more, and if they hit the water they inflate on their own. (Something that hilariously happened to a guest once, as he waded into the water to meet a boat coming to shore and a wave splashed onto him; pow! pow! pow! - the life jacket came to life in an instant! 
)
I’m so grateful that my Dad recognized that wearing an inflatable was the smart thing to do, that it was a tool to keep doing all the things he enjoyed doing on the water, just more safely now, and more in keeping with his physical abilities.
When I’m on the water I always wear an inflatable these days. When I was younger I had to pass a fully dressed 10 minute treading water test for crew (which I passed), but I’m not the same person anymore, and if I hit my head as I went in, one’s strength is immaterial.
The lack of judgement to be in your 80s and not wearing a life jacket on your boat is just jaw dropping to me.
@Hoggirl I can only imagine how hard it is to just watch them make choices like that!
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Those are great jackets as long as the cartridge hasn’t expired. But your chances of needing life jackets is actually smaller the bigger the boat.
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Whatever the couple (or MIL) will WEAR is the key. Also, as was mentioned, the cartridge needs to be current to be effective for anything that needs auto-inflation, like the belt OR this inflatable life jacket. Good luck to the happy boaters.
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Those are great jackets as long as the cartridge hasn’t expired. But your chances of needing life jackets is actually smaller the bigger the boat.
I agree with regards to “the bigger the boat…”, but 32’ isn’t that substantial, and when it’s a couple of physically infirm and impaired 80-something folks on a boat, they should wear them at all times, because if the small chance situation does arise, those two would have no chance of keeping themselves above water.
When my kid was young he had to wear his life jacket until he stepped onto land - roaming all over the docks at the marina and transferring from boat to slip - it stayed on his body. When he got older and was a strong, reliable swimmer, only then he could take it off when we tied up and stow it in the boat while we walked around.
Practically speaking it sounds like if Bob or MIL ended up in the water they’d have the self rescue abilities of a toddler or non-swimmer; which is why I’d be concerned to see them not wear PFDs - to me it displays a concerning level of poor judgement (and some weird obstinance around simple appropriate safety measures).
I’m reminded of the awful tragedy last June on Lake Tahoe, where 8 people died, none of them wearing their life jackets; the sole survivors had put them on:
The vessel involved was the 28-foot-long Over the Moon…The report says the boat’s engine failed 50-100 yards offshore, and the passengers began trying to bail out water as it began to list. Investigators say one of the survivors put on a personal flotation device (PFD) or life jacket, “and distributed PFDs to everyone else in the boat.”
“No one else immediately donned their PFD,” the report said. The Over the Moon capsized shortly afterwards, around 2:57 p.m. No distress call was issued.
The NTSB said the accident was seen by a group of hikers, who called 911. Responding emergency services reported waves as high as eight feet.
Six bodies were recovered from the scene, including one person identified as the boat’s operator, along with the two survivors. Investigators said “[n]one of the six were wearing PFDs,” while one survivor was wearing a life jacket and the other was “clinging to a PFD.”
The other two bodies were recovered from the bottom of Lake Tahoe the following day. “Four PFDs and one life ring, all from the vessel, were recovered from the accident site,” investigators noted.
The boat was recovered June 22. NTSB teams, “did not find any evidence of a hull leak, grounding, or contact with an object.” Additional life jackets, including some still in their packaging, were also found on board.
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We are probably freaking @Hoggirl who has little influence over the decisions of MIL and Bob.
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As always, @Hoggirl must have the serenity to recognize which things she MAY be able to influence and let the rest evolve.
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We just bought two of these life jackets. We have a new to us boat and we decided to get the less bulky jackets. Our previous boat we had the old school red and orange ones. I admit we don’t wear them when we are just out for the day. If the seas were rough I’d put mine on. We have other life jackets for guests. We also have life jackets for the grandkids. They wear their life jackets the entire time they are on the boat.
I’d have a hard time telling my in-laws they must wear a life jacket. They are longtime boaters and in all the years I went out with them I never saw them in a life jacket. I know they wore them on ocean crossings.
Telling adults what they should and shouldn’t do doesn’t always work.
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I’m not freaking out. I’m learning a lot about life vests! 
I spoke to Friend L on the phone today. I made the error of sharing Bob & mil’s desire to go out on the boat alone. She went ballistic. How dangerous it was, how he can’t see, don’t they know how many boating accidents happen every year. Etc.
Friend L: “You can’t let them do that!”
Me: “Not sure what I can do about it.”
Friend L: “You have to stop it!”
Me: “How am I supposed to do that?”
Friend L: “You just stop it!!”
Me: “Maybe you should call mil and share your concerns.” (I said it very matter-of-factly, I promise)
Friend L: (louder) “I’m not going to f-ing call her!! I’m sorry I brought this topic up!” (Actually I (foolishly) brought it up).
She was ticked. I thought she might hang up on me. She didn’t and settled down and changed the subject.
I shared all this with sil, and we commiserated because Friend L previously told her she needed to keep them from going on the cruise. And sil and I agreed that we simply do not understand why Friend L cannot understand that we cannot control them. Which MANY on this thread have stated. Sil says Friend L claims she and her brother prevented their (now-deceased) dad from marrying the lady friend he acquired after their mother died. Whatever.
Friend L is kind of exasperating and exhausting.
BUT, she does provide good neighborhood intel, which is why I continue to communicate. A large group (25 or so??) from mil’s old ‘hood goes away each year to a resort-type place for two days to play Hand & Foot. Another friend and neighbor, Friend D contacted mil to ask if she’d still like to go even though she is no longer living in the town/neighborhood. Which I thought was very nice. Apparently mil said that she might, but Bob would have to come, too! No men, husbands, boyfriends have EVER gone, and they’ve done this for several years! Friend D was surprised. I’m not sure what she said to mil, but it was not direct. I think she was completely caught off guard. No idea why she didn’t immediately say, “It’s a girls’ trip - no boys allowed!!”
Not sure how it’s going to play out. I predict they won’t go at all, but it seems like mil can’t go much of anywhere without him. It would be sooooo awkward. This card-playing getaway isn’t until October.
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If Bob has never worn a life jacket he’s not going to start. So a waste of breath of even mentioning it.
Friend L sounds jealous of your MIL and is a needler/ pot stirrer. I would not give her any intel unless it’s positive. Watch her be irritated at her friends happiness. Sure sign of jealousy.
My mom was like your MIL. Always tried to include Dad in everything because he was a control freak and would pout and make her life miserable if she went off and had fun without him. The only person she could do that with was me. It was so annoying watching her be a doormat.
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A good friend of my mom’s husband liked to go out fishing by himself. He got a small row boat that he would take out by himself at a lake. One morning he took it out and the boat had a leak. He didn’t wear a lifejacket, so he drowned. The wife was devastated because it was so unexpected and also preventable.
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Friend L sounds really dramatic.
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She is very reactionary.
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