Not a pirate or FW pilot, but I have been very proficient at surviving in losec to rat in .1 space and to run PI.
It's possible though very dangerous to run an industrial into losec without a scout, and I wouldn't recommend it, generally. However, relatedly.....
....unless you run into a very professionally done, hardcore gatecamp, large and complete with interceptor, even a mere prototype cloak can be used to survive a chance encounter when hopping through a gate. You break your gate cloak for a mere second, then activate the prototype cloak. You'll be slower than molasses, but start heading straight down or up or any direction you think might help save you, in case you're spotted before you cloak and someone tries to come over and uncloak you.
If there's an interceptor and you were spotted, you're already dead. But otherwise, if you're flying carefully and intelligently, in most scenarios, you can wait out any danger, align, uncloak, and warp along your way. It's risky and never my first choice, but it's also never failed me.
All of the other posts in this thread, as of this post, are great advice, too - bookmarks, directional scan, warp to zero, cloaky ships generally, and small, fast ships. I would add that when I don't have a scout, if I intend to do anything, I run my own little scout flight first, to check things out. I don't go for it unless I feel good about it, (low activity in the area systems, slow time of night or day, etc.) And of course never fly what you can't afford to lose - doubly true if you are planning to do anything a little more risky like the prototype cloak trick.
