Old signal flares

[mudskipper]

My new boat, which is old Joe's old boat came with a whole collection of flares that were in the compartment with the guzzler hand pump, that has a 12 hose, that disappears under some stuff in the back of the boat. Both are useless. Does any one know the way to ecologically dispose of them? But seriously folks! Olin's web site tap dances around about your local fireman or C. G. Aux wanting them, but it ain't so. Joe figured out how to get rid of them. He sold the boat and left them on board. I think the people who sell 'em should take 'em back. West marine etc. ?

[DougSea]

First of all, the Guzzler pump is VERY important! It gives you something to do when the boat is sinking!

How many flares do you have? I keep the old ones on board. I always have the 3 "current" ones to comply with USCG regs but I figure if I ever really need them 3 ain't gonna do it! As long as they've been properly stored they should last for years.

I have had what I call "practice sessions" at home where I've burned a few flares. I figured it was good practice and during daylight and far from the coast I didn't need to worry about any false alarms. Orion agrees with me: http://www.orionsignals.com/Marine/Qand ... ement.html

Have you contacted your local fire department about safe disposal?

[Pitou]

A couple of ideas ... I contacted my local Coast Guard Station and asked about broadcasting a Securite message for training purposes and got the okay. It goes like this ; Securite - securite, securite this is the vessel PITOU conducting flair training exercises at Lat / Lon 42 -xx-xx N 70 - xx - xx in Ipswich Bay any vessel in the area be aware of this exercise and this is not an emergency. PITOU standing by on 16. I've done it a couple of times without incident.

For the pyros out there ... I've been known to touch off a couple of brush piles after soaking with kero.

[chiefrcd]

I bought a little yellow tool box and keep all my old ones as well. I figure that I have nothing to lose and everything to gain if I ever truly need them. I guess there will come a time when I have too many to haul around and I'll just take them home and light them off in the back yard.....safely of course.

[RobS]

Ditto what chief said

[jleonard]

I gave all my old ones to my sone. I just gave him some more donated from one of my dock neighbors.
He has a cabin in upstate NY and he uses them for _______
(I think he lights up the beaver hut in his pond)
But they are out of my hands.

We sponsored a rendezvous a couple of years ago and had the local CG auxilliary there and they put on a "practice" session to use up old donated flares.

[joe.baar]

The chandlery at my home marina has a barrel where you can just toss the expired ones. Who knows what they do with 'em, but I got rid of three from 1995 this season. I figured at this late date they might even be unstable or something.

Last spring a member of our Power Squadron reported a USCG inspector strongly recommended not carrying any expired flares at all because of the possibility they might be "confused" with unexpired ones. Bureaucracy is a truly wonderful thing. Recently I read somewhere that tests have shown one flare in five is a dud anyway, whether new or old. I think this means I need to carry at least 4 flares, not 3.