Hi,

Are there any teams out there who own their own PFDs who had their logo/team name printed on it? I am trying to figure out a way to get my team's logo on our new PFDs and am wondering what others have done in the past.

Thanks!

We punched our team logo into our pfd's with an industrial drill.

Looked great! Until our captain fell in the water.

My team has had great success with a cardboard cutout and spray paint...

you're serious right? i found this stuff on the net: http://www.simplyspray.com/

the return of uber cool tie dye shirts! ew.

did you use something similar to this? if not, what did you use? does it run at all when wet?

thanks for any info.

Just go to a place that does embroidery. Relatively affordable and lasts a long time (doesnt fade off like prints do)

would love to do that, but you can't sew through a pfd! the only place worth putting our logo on is on the back, and that's padded and two inches thick

The back of PFDs is two inches thick, but the padding can be taken out at one of the stiches and put back in after embroidery.
As for the spray paint, just a can of regular spray paint and a cutout to spray over. Tape the cutout to the PFD, spray, wait for it to dry, spray again. Repeat few times, but don't go too thick as the paint will shine up and then break. Try on the inside first.
You could also sow the emblems on.
Or just race sport and forget about the lifejackets

You run the risk of damaging or ruining your life jacket if you try applying the logo yourself. Try contacting a manufacture directly. Inquire if they offer this service.

Try MEC or Serratus

The CIBC (Toronto) team had their logo placed on their life jackets maybe they can assist you?

Better check with the coast guard. I was told that any alterations including screening will make the CCG approval null and void. Having said that my team one year had a velcro square sewn in and a sponsor logo attached with velcro. This would allow not getting stuck with a pfd with former sponsor.

Why check with the Coast Guard? None of the festival organizers follow any of the Coast Guard life jacket rules.
If they did follow Coast Guard rules inflatables would be fully allowed as Coast Guard clasifies them exactly the same as the PFDs all of use during dragonboat festivals.
Festival safety rules have nothing to do with actual safety.

Why the hell would you go to so much trouble to get a team logo on your PFD? What if you 1) switch teams or 2) your team folds or 3)You get a different sponsor ?

Breast Cancer crews do it all the time. And those ladies never switch teams, so it makes sense for them.

maybe the team own the jackets and not the individual...

Lively Dragon has our logo on the back and on the front of all of our Life Jackets.
We got them silk screened. Once you get the screen made it is quite reasonably priced...because you can use the same screen for your tshirts as well.
BUT
If your life jackets have already been used then they will have sun screen and oils from your skin on the jacket...this makes the logo just peel off.
however, if your life jackets are brand new... then this process will work nicely.
Good Luck!
Jackie

Try Salus Marine Wear PFD. If it’s nothing too detailed they will consider embroidering your team logo/name on the back of the jackets.

http://www.salusmarine.com/home.html

I've used the stencil paint on www.simplyspray.com and it worked fine. It feels like it is screenprinted on the vest. they look great. I tried to use regular spray paint before and it was a disaster. the paint ran under the stencils and looks real cheap. but i like this paint and it was like $5 a can...so worth a shot!

hahaha

I've heard that if you sew anything on a PFD it ruins the integrity of the PFD, and if there is an occasion where the person wearing an altered PFD drowns, insurance companies will use that as a reason not to pay.
Stencilling is the way to go if you want to personalize a PFD.

just try the cheap paint everyone said already!

Coast Guard Officer: Okay, so here's your John Doe. Just pulled him out of the river.

Insurance Adjustor: So he drowned?

CGO: No, he hit his head as he fell from his boat.

IA: Then he drowned?

CGO: No, he bounced off a few other things on the way down. Took a fair beating.

IA: THEN he drowned?

CGO: Nope, you can tell by the blood loss that the he was still alive when the Swans got to him. Nasty things, they really gave him a good pecking!

IA: Okay, so after the swans attacked him, THEN he drowned?

CGO: Don't think so. I think it was when the motor boat hit him on the noggin', that must have taken the last fight out of him.

IA: So he drowned after the fall, the the multiple impacts on the way down, the Swan attack, and the power boat impact?

CGO: Well, I'm not sure he actually did drown. He was probably already a gonner by then.

IA: Hey, what's that stitched onto his lifejacket? A DRAGONBOAT logo!

CGO: Yeah, I guess. Don't think it could have figured into...

IA: A-HA!!! He ruined his PFD, which led to his death. No payout!

CGO: Wait, I never...ah forget it.

Listen... sounds like a cool idea, but in practicality, the average lifespan of a dragon boat club these days is about 3 years. These are not professional organizations that are built to last (and even THEN...).

You put your heart and soul into a club, and then it folds. Why? See: "Why are There so many Geeks in Dragon Boating?" Some clubs live on. Some last a year. To go through the hassle of reworking the pfd's.... It's up to you, but frankly, it doesn't impress anyone. A lot of expense for nothing. And if/when the club folds... you're stuck with a pfd that will just piss people off if you join another team.

Wow 1:52...How long did it take you to come up with that literary gem?
What a waste of time to try to (unsuccessfully) flame a genuine post.
Keep up the good work.

<< <br> Listen... sounds like a cool idea, but in practicality, the average lifespan of a dragon boat club these days is about 3 years. >>


Is that your guess? Or has that been documented somewhere? Hard to believe that anyone has actually done a research study on the average lifespan of a dragon boat club.

Nope. No hard data on this. Just from being in the environment, and simple observation.

Nope. No hard data on this. Just from being in the environment, and simple observation.

CIBC's logos were screened onto the lifejacket at the factory before the lifejacket was assembled.
This was done a long while back and I have no detailed info.

These jackets have lasted the team a very long time, and so I think that the logo effort was worth it (except that the CIBC team is no longer with CIBC), the lifejacket lifespan can be prolonged by only using the jackets at races.