Servicing of life jackets

As an independent maintenance point, we guarantee a professional and appropriate inspection of your life jacket and replace the mandatory spare parts. We are independent of the life jacket manufacturer, but adhere to the relevant standards and use the same tools and spare parts as official maintenance centers. Our own test stamps and vignettes show you when maintenance has been carried out and when the next one is due.

You also know this from fire extinguishers or repairs to your car: you can have maintenance and repairs carried out by any expert. The main thing is that the quality and service is right. We thank you for your trust.

A common misunderstanding is that laws such as the Swiss Inland Navigation Act, the Inland Navigation Ordinance, the Lake Constance Shipping Regulations or the EN ISO 12402 series of standards prescribe specific maintenance. However, this is not the case. Swiss law does not specify who should inspect a life jacket.

However, only those lifejackets that meet the product specifications of the ISO standards mentioned above are permitted as recognized lifesaving equipment. When “accepting” your boat, the water police will also kindly point out to you that the maintenance of the rescue equipment must of course be carried out professionally. We would be happy to do this for you.

We carry out the following steps when maintaining your inflatable life jacket.​​​​​​​

• Visual inspection of the floating body for damage (e.g. cracks, chafe marks, porosity).
• 16-hour leak test of the inflated floating body using a precision test manometer.
• Water activation of the automatic release mechanism and function check using a test mandrel and plate.
• Testing the manual release using a test mandrel and plate.​​​​​​​
• Check the mouth valve for tears, porous areas and leaks.
• Inserting all seals.​​​​​​​
• Inserting new trigger tablets.
• Assembly with torque monitoring.​​​​​​​
• Visual inspection of seams, straps and fittings.​​​​​​​
• Check the contents of the CO2 cartridge with precision scales and visually check for external damage (e.g. corrosion)

We at Schäffeler Wassersport value competition and healthy competition because we want to constantly improve our services and offer you the highest quality. Since 1976, Swiss sailors, rowers, the police, shipping professionals, trade specialists and Büezer have trusted us. We are pleased to count you among our customers.

We would be grateful if you sent your inflatable life jackets to us in a clean and dry condition. You can pack the vests with a cardboard box or a bag intended for shipping. It is important that the vest does not get wet during transport and that all inserts arrive safely.

You should take your SECUMAR lifejacket check every two years leave until the end of its service life is reached after ten years.

Any equipment that contributes to the safety and protection of life and limb requires regular inspection and maintenance. This applies in particular to inflatable life jackets, which are rarely used in an emergency, but then absolutely have to work. When used, life jackets are often exposed to weather and nature, but aging processes can also occur during storage, which can affect both the fabric and the buoyancy body as well as the function of the automatic inflation mechanism.

The inspection and service carried out is confirmed by the service station with a stamp. This certifies that the test was carried out appropriately and in accordance with the information and standards specified by the manufacturer for authorized service stations.

You can also see the time of the next, strongly recommended inspection and maintenance on the service badge attached to the outside of the life jacket.

An inflatable life jacket generally has a lifespan of ten years. After this period has expired, we generally recommend that you no longer use the relevant life jacket.

Although inspection and maintenance can still be carried out after ten years, this must be done annually only by the manufacturer happen yourself. After fifteen years the vest definitely needs to be replaced.

You don't have to contribute anything to the servicing yourself. We'll take care of that for you!

As soon as you have sent us a maintenance order via the web form and received confirmation, you can send the vest(s) to us. Please enclose a copy of the confirmation. This helps us to clearly assign your vest(s) to the order received.

After a service has been completed, we will send the vest(s) back to you.

As soon as we receive your vest, we will get to work. However, depending on the volume of the order, it may take some time until it is your vest's turn.

The maintenance itself must be carried out over two working days so that the buoyancy body can remain inflated for 16 hours. As soon as the maintenance is completed, we will send the vests back to you.

Overall, this usually takes a week, in a few cases up to two weeks.