Coast Guard Requirements

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tank1949

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Anyone have a CG link or similar to provide me with the minimal flare requirements, including expiration dates) for offshore motorized vessels of 27 feet and greater. CG home web page is useless.
 
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tank1949

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pgandw

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Expiration dates are on flares - and it's only 3 years in most cases. However, there is no approved disposal method for expired flares. Keep the expired ones along with replacements, tests showed 20 year old flares almost always worked.

Although more expensive, a distress light lasts a lot longer than a flare. You do have to replace the battery each year.
 
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mike_i

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Exactly what he said.
pgandw said:
Expiration dates are on flares - and it's only 3 years in most cases. However, there is no approved disposal method for expired flares. Keep the expired ones along with replacements, tests showed 20 year old flares almost always worked.

Although more expensive, a distress light lasts a lot longer than a flare. You do have to replace the battery each year.
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KJM

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Wow. you guys sure have a lot of regulations to follow! Up here the only one I'm aware of is there has to be a PFD for every passenger and thats it. There may be more but nobody is enforcing them if there are. In all my years with my boat, only once did I meet a fishery patrol boat and they only pulled up close to ask how the fishing was and then gone again.
 
Scott Danforth

Scott Danforth

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KJM said:
Wow. you guys sure have a lot of regulations to follow! Up here the only one I'm aware of is there has to be a PFD for every passenger and thats it.
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You may want to look. The USGC rules are just the IMO (International Marine Organization) requirements

Nearly the same everywhere globally
 
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KJM

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Scott Danforth said:
You may want to look. The USGC rules are just the IMO (International Marine Organization) requirements

Nearly the same everywhere globally
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Turns out you are right, the regulations are there, its the enforcement that is very lax, at least in my area. I'd be willing to bet not a single boat in the harbour I use would pass!
 
JASinIL2006

JASinIL2006

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We get checked coming off the river (Mississippi or Illinois) by conservation police about once a season. I appreciate it; one time the officer noticed my fire extinguisher needed to be replaced, something I had missed.
 
briangcc

briangcc

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Expired hand-held flares are great for starting bonfires. I call it my big match. Just sayin...
 
Scott Danforth

Scott Danforth

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I can not confirm or deny the use of a flare as a starter for a bonfire:ROFLMAO:

FYI, West Marine and your local CG power squadron will take old flares. they used them for training.
 
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tank1949

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mike_i said:
Exactly what he said.
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42 months... I visited WM today and purchased flare requirements. I examined dates on new flares to have about 39 months left before expiration. I could have found them cheaper online but no guaranteed expiration date.
 
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