Owners of old life jackets traded them in for a new model at a discounted price at Marine Read Ltd.
As part of the Old4New campaign sponsored by Maritime New Zealand, a van is travelling around the country selling fit-for-purpose life jackets.
Dunedin Coastguard president John Campbell said about 45 life jackets were sold in Dunedin.
"It was steady all day. One person came in and bought half a dozen life jackets," he said.
"If even one person buys a life jacket it’s a success for us."
The idea behind the campaign was to replace old life jackets not fit for use.
"People are waking up and making life jackets just as important as something like a radio," Mr Campbell said.
The van heads to Invercargill today and will be in Cromwell and Queenstown on Thursday.
