Disposal of expired flares

[nonibbles]

How / where? the pack says dispose of properly and thats it. What is proper/legal?

[MY-TopEnder]

Any Police station, or coast gaurd/VMR station i believe. I know the cops will look after them though.

[nonibbles]

Thanks

[Dr_Dan]

GIVE THEM TO YA KIDS! ;D ;)

[Thebuffalo]

Don't take this as gospel but here goes anyway. A flare is like a tin of food. Just because the flare use by date is up doesn't mean it won't still work properly. Just means that it is not garunteed. ie: eat the food but if you make yourself sick your problem. (Obviously if it has deteriorated due to handling etc then dispose of it). I would store it seperately and if required then i would use it prior to using my up to date ones. If they don't work nothing lost. I have seen people let off three flares in short succession, when the rescue party gets to them they have nothing left to give their position. Just a thought, spent two hours up in a plane the other night looking for a fella, if he had any flares left..........

Hope you never need them.

Cheers Thebuffalo

[Morlers]

Expired flare drop off points:
Qld Transport Maritime Operations,
Some VMRs,
Some Coast Guards,
Qld Boating & Fisheries Patrol, and
Fire Stations at Bundaberg, Mackay & Airlie Beach.

The Qld Recreational Boating Hand Book has the full list of drop off points.

Actually I like TheBuffalo's idea in keeping them along with the new ones if still ok. Double the number to let off in an emergency and still legal with current flares.

:) :)

Morlers

[bungie]

I have 7 flares on board for the same reason Buffalo pointed out, 7 not 8 as I thought it might be a good idea to test fire one of the expired ones so I know what I'm in fore God forbid I should ever need to fire one up for real. What did I learn?, they spit hot phosphorus pieces all about. So make sure they are over the side of the boat and nowhere near any fuel tanks or lines.

[Sportfish_5]

Never have too many flares ;D ;D

[yockman]

Suggest you hang onto them. I have a bunch of ex-navy pains & wessex flares exp.date 1988. :o :o Decided to try one not long ago and it worked perfectly. Oldies but goodies and as Sportfish says, "can't have too many flares"
Cheers,
Yockman

[nonibbles]

That's what I thought but they're a couple a years old now, no damage etc yet so I'll keep 'em as buffalo suggested. The important thing I suppose is that I actually do have some current ones.

[SCOTTYGC]

was talking to the brother in law on the weekend he is a fireman
he says to drop them at any fire station and they dispose of them
he says they are lots of fun to discharge when they are quite ( witch is most of the time)
scotty

[aido]

it makes sense to me and seemingly most other boat
owners to keep time expired flares on board the boat.
is there any interpretation of the regs that make it an
offence?

[joeT]

Perfectly fine to keep expired flares, just need to also have current flares onboard. I would keep expired flares just in case, in an emergency your current flares might be duds, or you may not set them off properly, and the spare ones might be the ones that save your life.

[gunna_too]

Hi all,
I have kept my old flares over the years and when I test them they have all worked fine.
If you do wan't to dispose of them , Donate them to your local VMR group as they use them for rescue excersise drills etc.
Cheers Gunna