Sea Fishing and Sea Angling Online: Penn Climatec II Floatation Suit

Penn Climatec II Floatation Suit
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Peter Boyd on 01 January, 2006 01:50:00
 
My Guy Cotton foul weather gear is OK for keeping me dry but it certainly 
doesn't keep me warm so I decided to get a floatation suit. My local tackle
shop  happened to be selling off last year's stock of floatation suits at big
discount  prices, so this was the time to get one. I chose the Penn Climatec II
two piece  suit firstly because of the name, it's one I trust, and because it
seemed to be  the most sturdily built suit of those I looked at in the shop.
The normal RRP of  this suit is £160, but I got it for just £100 - quite a
bargain.
The first thing I noticed when I put the suit on is that I still had quite a 
bit of freedom of movement, certainly more than I had with the last floatation 
suit I owned, but that was a long time ago and I think materials have improved a
 lot since then. The jacket has a main zip from its base right to the top which 
has a protective flap over it fastened down by velcro. There is a waist belt 
with a snap together plastic clip. There are 4 external pockets in the jacket, 
two slant which are fastened by plastic press studs, and two large bag pockets 
fastened by velcro. There is one large internal pocket and a very handy pocket 
under the main zip flap which means that you can get to it without having to 
unzip the jacket - nice idea. There is a built in hood to the jacket which
tucks  away into a pouch under the jacket's collar. However, when the hood is
tucked  away in this pouch the collar will not lie flat so I leave the hood out
of its  pouch and resting down the back of the jacket so that I can flatten the
collar  down. The jacket sleeves have neoprene seals at the wrists which take a
bit of  getting used to because they protrude beyond the fabric of the sleeve,
but once  the jacket is on and you are busy you don't notice these too much.
The jacket  meets all the appropriate CE standards for bouyancy (50 Newtons)
and  waterproofing.
The bib and brace type leggings come up to mid chest height and have a zip 
from the top to the crutch, again covered by a protective flap. The leggings 
were too long for me, but this is nothing new since I need a Medium size but 
have only a 29" leg, (I must cut down on the Cornish pasties!!). This turned
out  not to be much of a problem though because the leggings have a velcro
strap  fastening about 6" up from the botton of the leg and I find that I can
turn the  leg up inside itself at that point and the velcro strap stops the
turn in from  dropping gain. There are 4 large bag pockets in the trousers
fastened with  velcro. The shoulder straps are very substantial and have
excellent adjusters on  them which do not slip, unlike the ones on my Guy
Cotton bib and brace which are  a pain because they are always slipping.
However, I was disappointed to notice  that the plastic adjusters on the
shoulder straps of the leggings are wearing  away at the lining of the jacket
to the extent that the lining is not going last  too long at those two points.
I contacted Penn about this because it definately  seemed to be a design
problem, and I couldn't see an easy answer to it. More of  my exchange with
Penn in a minute.
All in all my first impressions of this Penn floatation suit were good. It  was
comfortable, incredibly warm and weatherproof and it gives a surprising  amount
of freedom of movement for the amount of bouyancy it provides. OK I  haven't
jumped overboard to test the bouyancy, but I'll assume 50 Newtons is 50 
Newtons, (about 10lb weight I think). It's a pitty that the jacket lining gets 
shredded by the legging shoulder strap adjusters, and it would be nice to be 
able to tuck the hood away and lay the collar flat, but apart from these two 
observations I initially thought the suit was a good buy - even at full RRP.
Then I got the reply from Penn. I have to say it was disappointing, and  dented
my faith in the Penn name. At first Penn claimed that it could not  possibly be
one of their products and told me it must be a pirate copy. I was  alarmed at
this and told them that it was bought from a reputable local angling  centre,
and that it was sold to me as a Penn product. I sent Penn UK a set of  close up
photos of the garment and the labels in it and asked them to confirm,  as a
matter of urgency, whether or not it was a genuine Penn garment.They  replied
that on close inspection of my pictures they agreed that it was a  genuine Penn
garment and that, since they had no contractual obligation with me,  I should
return the garment to the place from which I bought it to persue my  complaint.
They suggested that I had bought the wrong sized garment and that the  jacket
was too tight. Well, I am a medium size in all my clothes. I did try on  the
large size and I could have turned round in it without touching the sides so 
that was a non starter from Penn.
Penn trying to duck the issue right off the bat was not nice and as I say, 
their attitude to this has dented my faith in the Penn name. The jacket lining 
has now worn through and is in a state of complete disintegration. Therefore, I 
now have to amend my first impressions by saying that this garment is not such a
 good buy after all, and moreover you will not get a helpful response from Penn 
UK if you have any problems with it.