Fireworks!
Even though we had enough fireworks on board ZTC to kick off a formidable Independence Day celebration, when it came to emergency signaling devices, we were still not legal in the Coast Guard’s eyes, that is, if we were actually in a country that cared about such things (which I don’t believe we are).
In spite of that lack of concern here in Grenada, we thought it best that we conform to the regs and replace our out-of-date emergency flares with some new ones (we routinely have our anchor day mark hoisted too, something that is “required” yet ignored by the vast majority of pleasure yachts). Replace is probably not the correct word though because I do not intend on throwing the older ones away. In fact, I’m pretty sure that they’d all work just fine and in a real emergency situation, I’d like to have as many opportunities to signal for help as possible. I will keep them separated though, and marked as out of date, so that, if in the event that we’re boarded and given a safety inspection some day in the future, the Coast Guard will not be thrown off by the old ones.
Think that it’s impossible to regulate safety? You’re not the only one.
Fireworks!
Mike,
I was boarded by the USCG at the mouth of the Potomac river recently. They looked at our (expired) flares and didn’t think it was an issue. In fact, they said the flares would work even if they’re expired.
That said, a new set of flares is on our to-buy list. We’ll keep the expired ones, just like you.
Another interesting factoid is that here in Ontario you can drop off your expired flares at any Ontario Provincial Police detachment and they’ll dispose of them properly. I mentioned this to the USCG officer and he said the USCG doesn’t receive and dispose of expired flares.
Let’s all keep sailing safely so that we never have to use any flares!
Agreed!
We shot off some old flares that were 10-15 years expired, not one of them failed.
It was done in Turkey and approved by coastguard to do so as a training exersice.
We have loads of old flares onboard.
We should set an exercise like that here.
Thats a great policy to have……I always mark with a sharpie the date it expires (not the date I bought)…….Like you, I do not throw out, but put in a waterproof bag with an “x” on the bag…..I keep it as a secondary “what if” back up plan….I do throw them out as I replace and become two years expired……I have the boat inspected every two years by the coast guard and the last one the auxillary guy did not like my thinking…He said I should just toss!
He is WRONG! 🙂
And by toss, where did he suggest you do that?
We keep all our out-of-date flares on Eolian, but stored in a separate container (actually, it is the abandon ship container).
And no, you are not the only one who thinks that government legislation of safety is a failure.
bob
Nice story on that link.
Just a word on gun flares. We let some off that said 1999 and they burned in the gun .This was a waste of a good flare gun. As it melted the gun. They had been kept in a zip lock bag from new. Our hand held pull cord type did not go off . However all the big plastic hand held stick type worked well . All had dates of 1999 to 2002
That would suck.
I agree with you and all the comments above. Seems to be over-kill by scaremongers.
It looks like a VERY expensive set of flares you have got there. (They cost a fortune in the UK)
I bet you forget to tie a lanyard with a snap shackle onto that ‘pistol’! 🙂
Mike
You’re correct, no lanyard, although that’s a good idea.
Pyrotechnics do eventually go bad. The “best before” dates on them are very conservative, because the manufacturer wants to be absolutely sure that they’ll work correctly when needed. And yes, you do need to keep the minimum legally-required set up to date.
There’s nothing wrong with keeping old ones around for many more years- indeed, I’d say it’s a good idea to do so, as you’ll have that many more options for getting attention if you need it. They don’t suddenly go bad after two years, they just become slightly less likely to work correctly as they get older.
As for regulating safety. Inspections probably don’t do much for the average cruising yacht, but the OPP and CCG patrol boats have done wonders with the small fleet around here in the last few years. 12-foot fishing skiffs that used to be hopelessly overloaded, full of beer and devoid of lifejackets now tend to be properly equipped and run by more-or-less sober drivers.
A big part of that is that the only things they’ll usually book you for around here are insufficient lifejackets or drunk driving. Anything less serious tends to get a friendly warning and a “just drop by the station later this week to confirm that you’ve fixed the problem, and we’ll leave it at that.”
Now, there was one time that I was stopped by a cop who was quite angry about having been given the keys to the speedboat and told “take this and the truck, go cruise around the lakes for a couple of months, and by the way, take that hot chick from Provincial Offences with you.” But the vast majority of the water cops I’ve encountered lately have been quite good.
Now, there was one time that I was stopped by a cop who was quite angry about having been given the keys to the speedboat and told “take this and the truck, go cruise around the lakes for a couple of months, and by the way, take that hot chick from Provincial Offences with you.”
Angry???
Yep… he really, really didn’t want to be out there. Hard to believe.
Good reminder.
I jumped up, after reading your post, and checked my dates. Like many sailors, I have both new and old.
However, as for old flares being good… a few weeks ago I left a wind ow open, the flares got wety, and several of the new ones–still sealed in bags–took on so much water that they were mush. Just plain soft.
So, keep the old ones–in my case the old ones did not get wet and may be the ones that work! And don’t bet on old stuff too much; it all depends on the storage history.
I guess I’ll be buying flares in Cape May, as well as chosing a new storage location (were in the nav station locker, where the PO kept his).
We also keep ours in that locker but because our bookshelf is below that window, we NEVER open it! NEVER.
Old flares= weapon of last resort, against unauthorized boarding by criminals !
If push comes to shove I’d be happy to use my NEW flares to defend our boat!