Rescue Flare Expiration

C

Chester

New member
Here's the thing.
Our newest rescue flares expire in September. Prolly the last time the boat will be on the water this year will be in mid September.
I wonder if anyone has a definitive answer as to whether the flares expire the first or last of the month listed as the expiration date.
I emailed the Coast Guard concerning this issue but haven't heard back from them.
 
Not sure I have the written in blood answer but when I do boat safety checks for the CG if the flares expire in June 2012 and I am doing the check in June 2012 they are still good. The check is a snapshot of the boat at that moment.

Barry Daniel
USCG AUX
Coxswain, Vessel Safety Examiner
 
Last season when updating my flares I set off some from 1992. They worked just fine. Don't throw your old ones out. Keep them for "just in case".

I was NOT on the water when trying the old ones out.
 
I dont care for partial expiration dates on items and prefer XP dates with month, day and year.
m2cw the flares are good until the end of the month
 
In researching the CG Auxiliary Vessel Examiner Manual there is nothing stated that would answer your question.

In Pharmacology, if a medication states that it has an expiration date of July 2012, then the medication is good until midnight of 31 July 2012. If the medication states it expires 1 July 2012, then it expires at midnight on the 1st of July 2012.

The fact that the Vessel Examiner Manual doesn't offer clear guidance on that question anyone would be hard pressed to issue a citation for a flare that expired before the end of the month imprinted on the flare and I would state the above information as a comparable to the individual questioning the expiration time of your flares.
 
Speaking of expired flares: when we were boarded by the Coast Guard, one of them asked, "What's that?" when seeing a bag of expired flares while I pulled out the current flares. He then told me I should label the bag "expired flares," so there wouldn't be any question. My current flares are kept in a waterproof canister with the flare gun and handheld flares.

OK, where's the Magic Marker?

If you haven't set off flares for demonstration purposes, I highly recommend it. We did that as part of our monthly safety training for captains and first mates at my last summer job... it is startling how short of a duration the gun fired flares have and how long the handheld flares last... and BE SURE to point the handhelds 45 degrees downwind (that is hot, nasty stuff that drips off those).

Since the CG only came to Jackson Lake twice a season for inspections, we did contact the National Park Service LE before setting off flares and made a securite' call on Channel 16 before and during the demonstration.

When in the Tropical Tip, the USCG station is about 2 1/2 miles from our home. We let them know when and where if testing flares.

Best wishes,
Jim B.
 
Chester":12l304ai said:
Here's the thing.

I wonder if anyone has a definitive answer as to whether the flares expire the first or last of the month listed as the expiration date.
Click to expand...

The two "sort-of" definitive publications I own state that the service life of flares is 42 months. The date on the flare represents the final month -- the flare is "legal" the entire month.

This same kind of thinking applies to most official expiration dates I've run across.
 
I keep a pair of gloves in the drawer under the aft seat. One of the reasons is incase we ever need to set off a handheld flare. I have not labled my expired flares, just have been keeping them in a differnt place.

Harvey
SleepyC :moon
 
I usually shoot off all expired flares at the lake cabin on New Year's Eve.....Don't worry, there is 4 feet of hard water that time of year up here......
 
I've done several flare shoots for the CG Auxiliary (when we still could :roll: ) and fired a lot of expired flares. Never had one fail entirely, some didn't go as high as the new ones but I keep expired ones in a separate flare container on the boat. More is better I think.
 
Expired SOLAS flares are available for a fraction of the price of new.
These could make a good addition to your flare kit.
They are considered a safety device therefore they can be shipped by ground service.
 
Been doing a bit of reading about pyrotechnics and it seems smoke flares are better than red handheld and meteor flares during daylight hours. Having a dye marker isn't a bad idea either.
FWIW we keep an orange flag, handheld GPS, LED spotlight, 1st aid kit and handheld VHF radio in the ditch bag with the flares.
 
Solas signalling devices, if not expired, are USCG approved and much much better than the standard flares most of us usually carry. I agree that smoke is by far the best for daylight use and that dye is good if you think an aircraft is going to be involved. The least effective are the 12GA aerial rockets that many have as their only signals. Just three of those meet the minimum requirements and that gives you a grand total of 9 to 18 seconds of emergency signal. I carry the 25MM rockets, smoke, and handheld flares aboard plus the 12GA and smoke in my ditchbag, but then I'm kind of belt and suspenders about safety :)
 
colobear":328zhf7t said:
Solas signalling devices, if not expired, are USCG approved and much much better than the standard flares most of us usually carry. ... I carry the 25MM rockets, smoke, and handheld flares aboard plus the 12GA and smoke in my ditchbag, but then I'm kind of belt and suspenders about safety :)
Click to expand...

I have a bare-minimum collection of USCG-approved flares that will let me pass a CG inspection, but should a genuine emergency arise, I'll rely on European 26.5 mm surplus military flares to attract attention.

Surplus 26.5 mm pistols (they date back to the '50s and '60s) are built like tanks and cost perhaps $50-60. Czech-made red flares are five or six bucks each and white parachute flares (great for illuminating the surrounding water at night) are only seven dollars each.

A friend turned me on to European flares a couple of decades ago. They are much cheaper than -- and outperform -- the smaller 25 mm flares. I've never compared them to SOLAS signals.
 
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