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Post by vasko on Apr 23, 2015 7:54:32 GMT
Any suggestion for best place that I can get new flares pack in Spain or France and how to dispose of the expired one i Spain/France ?
/ My Flares expired this month and need to change them.. /
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Post by hoppy on Apr 23, 2015 8:53:25 GMT
check with stores that sell new ones, they might take them. That's how I got rid of my old ones in Greece.
Another option is to use them (does not hurt to test them) but of course if you do that you should check with the local port police or whatever officials there are in your area
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Post by sailbleu on Apr 24, 2015 8:43:50 GMT
If you decide to go to Tunisia they would love to take them Out of your hands.
It seems they use old flares during festivities as cheap/free fireworks.
Regards
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Post by vasko on Apr 24, 2015 9:53:51 GMT
BTW: has anyone had issues with outdated flares in France ? e.g with the french coast guard...
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Post by MartyB on Apr 25, 2015 13:59:06 GMT
At least here in the part of the US where I am, Washington state, the local chandlers are not taking them back as they used to a few years back. But one can take them to the local monthly haz-mat recycle events near to semi-near you. There is one open on weekends in North Seattle.
Granted this does not help someone in Europe or elsewhere......but might give one a where to look for a disposal place.
USCG will from what I understand fine you if all you have is expired flares etc. I've heard both as to will or will not fine if you also have good flares etc with you along with expired one.
Marty
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Post by sailbleu on Apr 26, 2015 6:18:11 GMT
BTW: has anyone had issues with outdated flares in France ? e.g with the french coast guard... Not yet , but 3 years ago the French customs hailed me near Dunkerk and after I told them I was on my own comming from Gibraltar and Ceuta they kindly asked me to follow them into port. After which 5 guys checked my entire boat looking for drugs , wapens , immigrants and whatever is illegal. I was sailing from Cabo Finisterre for 5 days non-stop ( irresponsable , please dont tell me I know ) ,they noticed my fatigue and after their invane search they suggested to provide me a berth in the port due to a another storm that was arriving . I accepted the free offer. What did happen is that in 2010 I was hailed around 2 PM sailing past Sines Portugal and was hooked on by Portugees coatguard . They had deployed their RIB after my wife did not respond to their calls on the VHF , I Was taking a 2 hour nap you see . after checking my papers and licenses the first thing they asked for was the flares , expire date you know Luckely I bought a new set before departure , but they did stumbled over the liferaft , 3 months after date. After I promised to have the raft checked in Portimao ( the officer had to ask the Captain on the main ship if that was ok ) i could move on. The control took 2 hours , also looking for other persons on the boat , and after we had a discussion about the expire date of the fire extinguisher (it was still valid but had no date on it to proof it because it was the type with the gauge with green and red zone) all was clear. I did have the raft checked in Portimao by the way. Regards |
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Post by sailbleu on Apr 26, 2015 6:32:44 GMT
At least here in the part of the US where I am, Washington state, the local chandlers are not taking them back as they used to a few years back. But one can take them to the local monthly haz-mat recycle events near to semi-near you. There is one open on weekends in North Seattle. Granted this does not help someone in Europe or elsewhere......but might give one a where to look for a disposal place. USCG will from what I understand fine you if all you have is expired flares etc. I've heard both as to will or will not fine if you also have good flares etc with you along with expired one. Marty Marty , In our parts you are not allowed to keep expired flares together with good ones , they can fine you for that , all depend on how you behave during the check and of course who's in the uniform. It is my experience that if you show respect , without loosing your own that is , they are lenient . With regards to the story above about the French customs , I remember that voyage a story of a French guy that was also stopped by his own customs for a control , he raised hell because they where looking behind the lockers and lining for drugs after which they fined him for a silly thing just because he was telling them off. They're are just doing their job , if you make it hard on them they will retaliate. Regards |
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Post by rxc on Apr 26, 2015 13:15:51 GMT
I have also heard the stories about the French fining people for having out of date flares on-board, even if they have sufficient numbers of in-date flares. We kept all our old flares and hid them in a bucket under the sink. But the French customs people who boarded us regularly never did any safety checks. I asked them about this once, and they said that because we are US-flagged, they could not do a safety inspection. They can only inspect EU-flagged boats.
Flares in France are easy to find at all chandleries.
Replacement shells for 12-ga aerial flare launchers, on the other hand, are not available at all, and in the UK I was told that it would be illegal for me to transport them to the boat, if the chandlery had them (they do not). The chandleries in the UK looked at me like I was an arms/drug dealer for even asking about them.
On my old boat I did a test of expired aerial flares one 4th of July, when everyone was setting off fireworks, and found only 2 out of about 25 that did not fire. And they were all at least 5 years out of date, some up to 15 years old. I like to keep the old ones, just to be able to have backup to the legal ones. Maybe when the new laser flares get approved, I will buy one any put a stop to all this aggravation.
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