CFR > Title 46 - Shipping > CHAPTER I—COAST GUARD, DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY > SUBCHAPTER Q—EQUIPMENT, CONSTRUCTION, AND MATERIALS: SPECIFICATIONS AND APPROVAL (parts 159 to 165) > PART 160—LIFESAVING EQUIPMENT > SUBPART 160.055—Life Preservers, Unicellular Plastic Foam, Adult and Child, for Merchant Vessels (§160.055-1 to §160.055-9) > 160.055-6—Construction—nonstandard, life preservers.

160.055-6—Construction—nonstandard, life preservers.

(a) General. The construction methods used for a nonstandard life preserver must be equivalent to the requirements in § 160.055-5 for a standard life preserver and also meet the requirements in this section.
(b) Size. Each nonstandard life preserver must contain the following volume of plastic foam buoyant material, determined by the displacement method:
(1) 700 cubic inches or more for an adult size;
(2) 350 cubic inches or more for a child size.
(c) Arrangement of buoyant materials. The buoyant material in nonstandard life preservers must:
(1) Be arranged to hold the wearer in an upright or backward position with head and face out of water;
(2) Have no tendency to turn the wearer face downward in the water; and
(3) Be arranged so that 68 to 73 percent of the total is located in the front of the life preserver.
(d) Adjustment, fit, and donning. Each nonstandard life preserver must be capable of being:
(1) Worn reversed;
(2) Adjusted to fit a range of wearers for the type designed; and
(3) Donned in a time comparable to that of a standard life preserver.
[CGD 72-163R, 38 FR 8121, Mar. 28, 1973]