July 13, 2004
Inflatable PFD Update
For those of you who still have an interest in the inflatable PFD issue. I have discussed the status of the SoSpenders inflatable PFD with one of the corporate directers at Watermark and found that their PFD should be certified by UL and the USCG around the middle part of August and that they should be able to go into commercial production around October or November.

I believe that our tests at Lake Seminole and Panama City confirmed that the PFD should be safe enough for continued field testing at some of our projects. Please contact the appropriate folks in your district to see how many would be projects would be interested in participating in a field test of the PFD. This time, it will be necessary for the project to purchase the PFDs they wish to use.

I know that the October/November time frame is a little late in the season to start a trial test for PFDs, but that appears to be the cards we have been dealt and I would like to get the testing done ASAP so that the inflatables will be available for next year. If you have any ideas, please let me know.

In the mean time. please let me know which projects would be interested in testing the inflatables and how many PFDs ( I don't think any project would need more than 5, especially since they are so expensive) you need per projects. Perhaps we'll be ready to test the new PFDs as soon as they come on line.

I have also been in contact with the Stearns folks and they say that they are very close to having an inflatable that would most probably meet our needs approved by the Coast Guard. Once that happens, we'll throw them into the mix.

Samuel G.Testerman, MS, CSP, PE

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