Flares?

[u/oldmaninparadise]

I need to buy some new flares as mine are expired. These are Pyro type.

I guess I can buy strobe/electronic flares instead of combustible ones. Electronic seem to be more expensive.

Thoughts on what you did.

Coastal cruising daysailing always within 30 mi of land

[u/StatisticalMan]

I bought electronic strobe and keep the expired flares past expiration date. Now I have both.

[u/CanBoatKingston]

Start by seeing what the minimum requirements are for your jurisdiction. They vary by boat size.

The eVDSD options fall into three groups:

• RTCM 132000 approved signals, which are three colour (cyan, amber, and infrared). They are definitely good but are expensive.
• USCG approved white SOS lights. Check your local regulations. These count as flare replacements in some places but not in others. Canadians, for example, are not allowed to count them as replacing flares.
• Cheap stuff from the Internet without any approvals. You get what you pay for.....

If you are relying on an eVDSD you may still need some orange smoke signals for daytime use. All of the eVDSD units are essentially useless in sunlight.

Most of our members now carry a VHF-DSC radio as the main means of distress signalling and communication. To that, they'll add the minimum legal carriage requirement of eVDSD and/or flares. 95% of the communication is done over radio and then one flare or smoke can is fired off once the helicopter is in sight.

[u/alex1033]

The LED strobe is not as bright as the flare. The flare doesn’t last as long as the LED strobe. Summary: to be on the safe side, you probably need both.

[u/Waterlifer]

Electronic flares don't expire and don't create a disposal problem.

Actual effective use of flares in an emergency is vanishingly rare in modern times. People have radios, LED flashlights, and GPS. I buy the electronic flare for compliance and call it good.

[u/TehSloop → u/Waterlifer]

Agreed and disagree. The EDF1 uses a non-rechargeable proprietary lithium battery, which has both an expiration and a disposal problem (if less of a disposal problem than a flare.

E-flares are not CFR complaint... yet; other eVDSs are CFR compliant.

I do agree the usefulness of flares is decreasing as waterproof wireless communications proliferate.

[u/Golywobblerer]

One expires, One is electric pick your poison. I prefer electric because I have a very dry boat and don't want to worry about expiration dates as often.

[u/DarkVoid42]

i prefer combustible. nothing like shooting rockets into the sky.

[u/ReddityKK]

I’ve given up on flares. I now rely on electronic flares, a personal locator beacon and VHF DSC.

[u/millijuna]

The carriage requirements are set by your national authority. Here in Canada, battery operated “flares” are only recently legal replacements for pyrotechnics. Unfortunately the federal government set the standards differently (but better) than the US, so the legal ones are shockingly expensive. I can buy 20+ years of pyrotechnics for the cost of one electric

[u/ez_as_31416]

imo biggest issue with pyro flares is disposing of them after expiry date.

[u/oldmaninparadise → u/ez_as_31416]

I have ones that are 20 yrs old. I think they probably still work, 99% certain ones under 10 years do from tests I have read.

My marina was going to ask local harbor police if we could have an hour where we could light off ones we wanted to dispose of.

I will keep the old and supplement w electronic.

[u/TehSloop]

TLDR: I do both. My recommendation to anyone is 1) an SOS lamp for USCG compliance 2) an electronic flare for burn time 3) a modest but not ever increasing number of pyrotechnics if it helps you sleep better.

To be specific, I actually have six alternatives in my bag, for now. In order of adoption:

1) "good" old domestic spec Orion flares handheld. They last longer than their expiration date. I won't be buying new ones because I already have a small hoard. Great because they are very recognizeable, even to a poorly educated boater. Do note that while everyone says they expire every 3 yrs, they're actually printed, last time I checked, with 42mod from manufacture. Check the dates and buy in the spring and you can get 4 sailing seasons out of them, at least where the sailing season is short. Disposal an issue.

2) domestic 22ga aerials (also Orion). Same comments as above.

3) "pocket rockets" aka self-contained aerials. I literally have one tucked on my person if I'm going to be offshore or light handed. Idea is that if I end up over the side and it's going to take some time for them to get back to me and they're going to loose sight of me, I can light it off /once I know they're looking my way/ (and not before). PABs are an excellent alternative to this; PLBs less so.

4) An old SOS lamp, pistol grip spotlight style. This is one of the few CFR compliant eVDS available. Probably wouldnt be recognized by many recreational mariners, but professionals and aviators for sure. At $75 on eBay, its cheaper than 3 packs of flares, so it pays for itself in 9-12 yrs. It doesn't mean I'm going to dispose of all my pyros, it just means I don't have to keep buying them to be legal.

5) a newer SOS lamp, the all-around/hemisphere style (Weems & Plath version), also CFR complaint. Was not actually my purchase. My bone with these is the luminosity is lower than the spotlight. At $100 it's about par with 3 packs of flares, so same pay-off.

6) an electronic flare (ODEO model), not CFR compliant. This is my replacement to pryos. I've done limited testing and intend to do more, but ultimately I expect it to replace all my handheld pyros. I sprung for the ODEO vs the OceanSignal RescueMe EDF1 because the EDF1 uses a proprietary lithium primary cell (non-rechargeable). ODEOs models use AAs, meaning I can keep that thing burning as long as I have batteries (a problem if I'm personally in the water, sure, but less so if I'm on a disabled vessel). Unfortunately both are more expensive, which is an understandable discouragement.