[Paddlewise] Flares carried in a PFD - Can you get burnt? - What is a safe practice???

From: Peter Osman <rebyl_kayak_at_hotmail.com>
Date: Tue, 22 Feb 2000 08:24:55 GMT
Ralph wrote:

>1.  They have such little hang time (the amount of time they are in > the 
>air and possibly visible) that they likely only alert someone in > the rare 
>chance that they are looking your way at the precise few seconds of 
>flaring.

>2.  There have been too many cases of failure, even for flares that > have 
>been carefully wrapped or left in the original packaging.  If you are 
>carrying 3 flares, you can pretty much count on 1 or 2 failing.

Nick Gill wrote

>don't know about accidental ignition possiblities
>re waterproofing - I actually don't know. However,

>- One is in a manufacturer's sealed bag.
>- at the suggestion of wayne langmaid of ocean planet I placed the > > 
>other in a condom and knotted it closed. both go into a plastic zip > lock 
>sample bag

Thanks Ralph and Nick,

The units I carry have an option of being used for smoke or flares depending 
which end is struck - I'm not sure if this means that you get both a flare 
and a smoke signal or whether if one is used you can't use the other? From 
what Ralph says I suspect that smoke is more useful than flares.

I've noticed that keeping the flares in a plastic wrapper can actually 
exacerbate the moisture problem. If the plastic becomes punctured then 
moisture tends to get trapped inside the flare bag instead of drying out - 
this has ruined at least one of my flares. Will try the condom idea and zip 
lock bag.

All the best, PeterO


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Received on Tue Feb 22 2000 - 00:25:37 PST

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