Distress Flares

[Chick da Barba]

Looking for help here. I am tired of spending money on distress flares that expire every 2 - 3 years. They are perfectly usable and reliable and I will continue to keep an ample supply onboard but they do not fulfill Coast Guard requirements. Will I meet the requirements for visual distress signals with a distress flag for daytime and personal strobe lights for nightime?

[kchace]

Looking for help here. I am tired of spending money on distress flares that expire every 2 - 3 years. They are perfectly usable and reliable and I will continue to keep an ample supply onboard but they do not fulfill Coast Guard requirements. Will I meet the requirements for visual distress signals with a distress flag for daytime and personal strobe lights for nightime?

No, the only distress "light" that meets requirements is a special one which flashes SOS automatically when turned on. The only company I know of that still makes one is ACR. The problem with the light is that it just may not get that much attention.

http://www.shipstore.com/SS/HTML/ACR/ACR1842.html

The flag DOES meet the daytime requirement, but in my opinion is a joke. How much attention do you think that will get? Most boaters probably wouldn't even know what it signified. If you're REALLY in trouble, you'll *want* flares, rockets, grenades and whatever else. So choose wisely.

I went through a similar thought as you about these - except in my case I didn't like having the highly flammable and potentially dangerous flares on board. However, after watching these videos, I changed my mind. I decided to go with orange smoke for daytime and meteor flares for at night. Yeah, like flares they still expire 42 months from manufacture, but they WILL get attention and at least they seem a lot less hazardous to use than flares.

http://www.boatus.com/foundation/Findings/...ngs45/page1.asp

The Personal Marker Lights are not a requirement for non-commercial boating - though very much recommended that you have one on your lifejacket.

Ken

[Chick da Barba]

No, the only distress "light" that meets requirements is a special one which flashes SOS automatically when turned on. The only company I know of that still makes one is ACR. The problem with the light is that it just may not get that much attention.

http://www.shipstore.com/SS/HTML/ACR/ACR1842.html

The flag DOES meet the daytime requirement, but in my opinion is a joke. How much attention do you think that will get? Most boaters probably wouldn't even know what it signified. If you're REALLY in trouble, you'll *want* flares, rockets, grenades and whatever else. So choose wisely.

I went through a similar thought as you about these - except in my case I didn't like having the highly flammable and potentially dangerous flares on board. However, after watching these videos, I changed my mind. I decided to go with orange smoke for daytime and meteor flares for at night. Yeah, like flares they still expire 42 months from manufacture, but they WILL get attention and at least they seem a lot less hazardous to use than flares.

http://www.boatus.com/foundation/Findings/...ngs45/page1.asp

The Personal Marker Lights are not a requirement for non-commercial boating - though very much recommended that you have one on your lifejacket.

Ken

[Chick da Barba]

Ken,

Thanks for the reply. I agree with your assesment that the flag & strobe are not as effective as the flares, smoke, dye etc. I will continue to keep all of these on the boat but I just thought it might be less expensive in the long run to buy the strobe and flag in order to fill the Coast Guard requirement in case I get boarded.

Regards,

Phil

[kchace]

Ken,

Thanks for the reply. I agree with your assesment that the flag & strobe are not as effective as the flares, smoke, dye etc. I will continue to keep all of these on the boat but I just thought it might be less expensive in the long run to buy the strobe and flag in order to fill the Coast Guard requirement in case I get boarded.

Regards,

Phil

Believe me, I hear you about the expense. It bugs the heck out of me, too. If you really want to, the SOS light and the flag are all you need to satisfy your day/night emergency signaling requirements. (This assumes you're in a motor boat over 16 feet and its not a sailboat under 26 feet, completely open and without a motor). Just keep in mind their limitations.

Ken

[Kamper]

You can still carry the expires flares as 'extras.' Just store them seperatly from the equipment you carry to satisfy the safety regs.

[Rich]

Believe me, I hear you about the expense. It bugs the heck out of me, too. If you really want to, the SOS light and the flag are all you need to satisfy your day/night emergency signaling requirements. (This assumes you're in a motor boat over 16 feet and its not a sailboat under 26 feet, completely open and without a motor). Just keep in mind their limitations.

Ken

And don't waste your money on the pocket flares. I've been involved in number of tests of those and they have a rediculous failure rate even when in date - 75% failed. Either they didn't discharge at all or the lanyard broke.

On the other side of the coin, during these same test we had a parachute flare that was over 25-yrs old work just fine.

[kchace]

And don't waste your money on the pocket flares. I've been involved in number of tests of those and they have a rediculous failure rate even when in date - 75% failed. Either they didn't discharge at all or the lanyard broke.

On the other side of the coin, during these same test we had a parachute flare that was over 25-yrs old work just fine.

Its funny you should mention that. We were doing flare 'tests' and those pocket flares even "just" expired had like a 90-95% failure rate! Just like you said, either the 'pull chain' broke or they just didn't go off at all. I was actually surprised when one worked! We had at least a dozen and only one of them worked at all. Keep away from those things.

We had only a little trouble with 5 year expired flares. And EVERY 12ga and 25mm meteor flare we fired worked fine - even 10 year old ones!

Ken

[wreckman]

You can still carry the expires flares as 'extras.' Just store them seperatly from the equipment you carry to satisfy the safety regs.

You are 100% correct, but don't forget to place a x-pired mark on the expired flares with a permanent marker. The expired flares must be marked so they a readily identified by anyone on board.

[Kamper]

... don't forget to place a x-pired mark on the expired flares with a permanent marker. ...

That's a good safety tip even if you never get inspected. You'll know at a glance which ones are the best to use if the flares get mixed up when you get off your boat.