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Richard Ellwanger: Life Jackets or personal flotation devices are broken down into 5 categories.
Type 1 provides the highest level of buoyancy and also has the ability to turn an unconscious wearer face up in the water most of the time.
Type 2s are probably in general the least expensive. Type 2s don't have quiet as mush buoyancy as a type 1 and they generally will also turn wearer face up in the water if unconscious.
Type 3s provide about the same amount of buoyancy as the type 2 usually. Type 3 is probably the most common and the most popular because the type 3s are very comfortable to wear in comparison with the other types. This type also works very well most of them are impact rated and so they can be used for personal water craft and also for things like water sports whether it's game to be, whatever else it happens to be. Now the impact rating does not offer newer degree of protection, it just tells you that if you hit the water at that speed, that jacket won't be torn from you. So the type 3s are probably the most comfortable. The drawback to the type 3 is that they are generally only good in relatively calm waters and they do not have the ability to turn an unconscious wearer face up.
The general rule is whether it's coast guard or state mandated that there will be at least one approved life jacket of type 1, 2 or 3 onboard for every person that's on the board. And certain states then required juveniles, varies with age from state to state to have their jacket on rather than simply being available on the vessel.
Type 4 is what we often times refer to as cushions or throwable types of devices include things like the square cushions that you see and things like ring buoys and horseshoe buoys. And most boats over 16 feet and essentially all jurisdictions are required to have a type 4, one type 4 on the board.
And then type 5's are hybrids and special use devices. And generally those include things like specialized work suits that may be used on commercial vessels for the people working in the barges, those kinds of things. It may also include some fully or partially inflatable devices. Some of the newer life jackets are fully inflatable; they are coast guard-approved. Many of them have a type 3 rating and because they are strictly inflatable, they are very comfortable to wear. They are gaining popularity although there is a little more maintenance involved with those and with more traditional types of life jackets or PFDs.
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