Glossary
Life jacket loaner station
A spot at a beach, marina or park where families can borrow a properly fitting life jacket for free.
A life jacket loaner station is a place, often at a marina, boat launch, beach or park, where people can borrow a properly fitting life jacket for free and return it after their outing. Loaner stations help families who don't own life jackets, or whose children have outgrown the ones they have.
The BoatUS Foundation (opens in a new tab), a nonprofit, runs a nationwide child life jacket loaner program. It says families can borrow properly fitting children's life jackets for free at more than 575 locations, without buying jackets that children quickly outgrow. Staff take your contact details and expected return date, fit your child with the right size, and you return the jacket after the day or weekend. The Foundation accepts applications from organizations that want to become loaner sites year-round.
Why it matters: in 2024, 87% of people who drowned in U.S. boating incidents were not wearing a life jacket, where use was known (U.S. Coast Guard (opens in a new tab)), and the AAP (opens in a new tab) says children should always wear life jackets in, on or near natural water. See life jacket loaner stations and life jackets for kids.
What you can do today: ask the marina, park or beach you visit whether it lends children's life jackets.