Fire sticks, extinguishers and flares.

doris

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I have a new boat on the horizon and equipping it is part of then fun. However, the safety gear is less fun. Buying stuff one hopes to never use.
Fire sticks were discussed here a while back with no great conclusion. Whilst a halon replacement for the engine is a must the others are problematic. Any new stuff out there that I have missed?? Especially when it come to insurance. A boat full of powder is dire, engine compartment after something minor even more so.
Also flares. ORC still needs them but in the real world, ???? I have to say I'm old fashioned enough to still want them.
What does the team think???
 

rogerthebodger

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I also looked at water mist fire extinguishers, but our safety authority would not accept then on pleasure any bug commercial ships
 

Stemar

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Flares depend on your personal risk assessment. Mine is that I've let off flares in a training environment, but it was a long time ago and, sailing with Madame plus occasional passengers, if it all hits the fan, I'm likely to be a bit too busy to be messing around with them, and the thought of a terrified Madame with a dirty great flame in her hand is more terrifying than not having anything.

I have DSC VHF - Madame knows how to press the button, HH VHF - Madame's RT procedure may not be entirely fluent, but she'll get the message across, and two mobile phones - we rarely go far enough offshore to lose an emergency signal. A flare is far more likely to be used to guide the cavalry the last mile or so to us. On that basis, I reckon an electronic one that lasts for a couple of hours is a far better bet than a pyrotechnic that lasts a couple of minutes.

That's me, for the kind of sailing I do. Blue water? Yes, I think I'd have a few rockets.
 

Boathook

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We bought 4 large 'Firexo' extinguishers, well pleased. Good price from Amazon, if used wont leave a mess, suitable for all fires.
I purchased some last year. I need to have another check of them as the gauge was nearly nearly in the red (low) on all of them after 6 months. The idea of them is good in that they don't leave a mess.
 

LittleSister

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I was very impressed by the water mist extinguishers demonstrated on video (and compared to dry powder ones if I remember correctly) by one of the UK suppliers. On the other hand, they are significantly more expensive than powder ones, and have to be protected from freezing which I can't do on a boat in the UK winter. I have bought one as a 'supplement', thinking that I'd bring it home for the winter (though fire is still a risk when working on a boat ashore). (I haven't actually installed it yet, in part because annoyingly it didn't come with a bracket, so I'll have to conjure one up).

The hand operated powder ones do make a terrible mess, and letting one off in a confined space would likely quickly render it impossible to see what you were doing, and breathing in that situation unhealthy. On the other hand, I have sailed for many years without ever needing to let one off in anger, and hope never to do so (did use one once, outdoors, on a work safety training course many years ago). While the disadvantages are a consideration, it isn't for me determinative. I currently have only powder extinguishers aboard (and bought two more only the other day - 1kg ones, bracket included, only £9.99 in Lidl).

Some (all?) engine compartment powder fire extinguishers have a built in electrical switch triggered on operation of the extinguisher, which can be wired to stop the engine to avoid damaging (much?) the engine) and/or show a warning light indicating that the extinguisher has fired (which one might not otherwise know). I had to buy one of those (very expensive for me) for my previous boat because this was a recommendation by the (overzealous?) surveyor that I then had to implement for insurance purposes. I don't know if non-powder options were available at the time but if so I was unaware of them and probably couldn't have afforded one anyway.

It is sometimes said that the contents of powder extinguishers can settle over time, but I've never seen anything authoritative about whether that's really a problem, and whether taking it for a bumpy ride (inverted? on its side?), as has also been suggested, really solves that. I have inherited with my current boat several powder extinguishers that are probably at least 20 years old, but still showing good pressure. I am supplementing them with more recent extinguishers, but if I were confident that they were good or not I could avoid unnecessary weight and clutter on the boat, and possibly expense.
 

ashtead

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A Lazer flare might be a wise investment plus a few convential flares and a pair of welding gauntlets . I guess it depends on the proposed destination but with dsc on main set plus handheld vhf and numerous mobile phones I think the placing of such items might also be a consideration -I must admit when crossing channel which tends to be an annual event I revisit the flares situation and stock etc.
 
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