Safety Flares

[Hotdog71]

I had to replace my flares before the start of this coming season so I went to the West Marine close to me because the Walmart here doesn't carry any. I almost fell over at their prices. They had a pack of 4 handheld flares for 27.96, 4 12 gauge flares for 25.99, and a 3 orange smokes for 59.99. The total before tax would have been $113.94. The only other choice was to buy a new case that included everything for 109.95. The expiration of the flares sold separate were June and July 2012 meaning I would have to replace them in the middle of that season were the new case was November 2012 at the end of the season. I ended up getting the new case using some bonus bucks to help with the cost, but I got to wondering where do you get your replacement flares?

Also, how do you dispose of the old ones? I don't think the Coast Guard would apppreciate me shooting these off as 4th of July fireworks. I have some from the previous owner, and now the ones that just expired. I kept the previous owners as last resort use but now with 3 sets I thinks it's too many to have on board. Are they dangerous setting around for too many years? I don't want to throw them in the garbage until I know they aren't dangerous. Thoughts? Ideas?

Thanks Guys

Bob

[1mainiac]

When it comes to flares shop wisely I get mine from West Marine but you have to pay close attention or you will end up getting old flares. I bought a set online and they had 6 months left on them when received them so I sent them back. A few years ago I bought a set at West Marine and did not look at the date was I suprised when I got inspected and was told they only had a few months left but would get me thru the season. Last spring they had them on sale so I went in but all the ones they had on display were old so I went to the store manager and explained they had screwed me the past and I was not going to buy outdated flares again she went back and got me new ones and still honored the sale price. She pointed out store policy is to sell the old stock first which makes business sense no differant than bread milk eggs or any other date coded product. The reason they go on sale is to clear out the old stock sadly any left overs go back to regular price when the sale is over.

You can't put them in the garbage and you will have to contact the Coast Guard as to disposal of arial flares however smoke and hand held flares can be set off inland such as in your back yard where they cannot be mistaken for a distress signal. I get rid of smoke units by setting them off at night and dispose of hand held flares in the daytime by lighting them and dropping them in my burn barrel with a lid on it. Another thing I do is to rotate the types of flares I purchase. Since smoke is daytime only I never replace them anymore I have one and that is enough the law requires 3 day night devices so when my kit expired I purchased only the required day night hand held flares. When these expire I will purchase a new set of shells for my arial display which is also legal for day or night. By going back and forth and only keeping a max of 2 set of each on board when it is time to dispose of the oldest ones they will be 12 years old. I doubt I will keep the boat that long so I don't see it as a big problem.

[1mainiac]

Here is the visual requirements for boats 26 to 40ft

One orange distress flag and one electric distress light,

or three hand-held or floating orange smoke signals and one electric distress light,

or three combination (day/night) red flares: hand-held, meteor or parachute type.

you can pick any line you want but you don't need them all. That is cut and pasted from the Coast Guard website. There is no law that says how many expired ones you can have on board but you have to have at least 3 day night devices that are up to date so go get the 3 handhelds and call it a season for the 28 buck plus tax.