Expired Arial Flares

[matthewH]

I discoverd that my 12 gauge arial flares and hand held flares have expired. How does one dispose of these? I'm not at all tempted to fire them off- they are expired for a reason I'm sure.

[Jacob K.]

most harbor masters will take them. you can also wait till July 4th and fire them off.... which ever you prefer

[lemaymiami]

You might also try your local fire department....

[matthewH]

Thanks- I'll check with the FD and the Harbor Master

[JakeFF]

They might still be good for a while even though they have expired....get new ones to replace them to be legit....but I would keep the expired ones as well for a while...maybe for another season, you might need more than three one day (hopefully not).

[Mark Cahill]

They'll probably still be good, and trust me, the required number for safety isn't nearly enough.

[Codfisher]

Buy a dry box and keep the expired flares on board...might come in real handy some day.

[riptide]

I keep my expired flares in a spare dry box as back ups.

HOWEVER!!!!!!
Be aware that the flares get more powerful (and more dangerous) as they get older. In that Fishermans Safety Class I took a month back they talked about this since we were firing off expired flares.

Apparently it's like the old movies with the miners and the real old dynamite. It gets more potent and more unstable as time goes on.

I continue to keep the most recently expired flares as a backup, but I'm more cautious with them than I was before.

Just something to be aware of.

And Marks right, the basic Olin barrel kit is really not enough for ocean use. It gets you by legally but after seeing the comparision to the higher end flares I wouldn't trust my life to them.

For $225 you can get this SOLAS grade offshore flare kit from IMP fishing supply in New Bedford.
http://www.lrse.com/uploaded_images/50%20mile%20plus%20kit.jpg
50 Mile Plus
3 SOLAS Rocket Parachute
6 Red SOLAS hand held (not the same as the Olin's)
3 SOLAS smokes (Floating cans)
These flares WORK! The range is 5 times that of the 12ga. flares, they are SOOOO MUCH brighter and they burn several times longer.

For the cost of a tank of fuel every 3 years its money well spent. Remember its only expensive until you life depends on them.