Electronic Boat Flares vs Pyrotechnic Marine Flares

Pyrotechnic boat flares still show up on every “what do I need on the boat?” list. They also expire, burn hot enough to destroy the fiberglass on your boat, and in some states there is no legal place to dump the old ones.

On a recent episode of The Next Boat Journey on Dockside Live Radio, host Brian Burns sat down with Steve Caldero from Sirius Signal to talk about the company and electronic flares. The short version: Sirius Signal builds Coast Guard approved electronic nighttime distress lights that meet the Coast Guard spec, pair them with a distress flag and a whistle, giving recreational boaters a way to stay legal without the danger of a 3,000°F burning stick.

What 46 CFR 161.013 was trying to stop

In 1979 the Coast Guard started writing a path to a non-pyrotechnic nighttime distress light for recreational boats.
Early-80s gadgets, including a flashlight that blinked SOS, were too directional and too dim. It was fine as a flashlight but didn’t meet the Coast Guard’s spec.
46 CFR 161.013 is the night visual distress signal standard the Coast Guard published in 1979.
In 2014, CEO Anthony Covelli’s friend Bob Simons, a longtime Coast Guard auxiliarist, showed the CFR to Anthony, an entrepreneur who had built automotive lamps and restoration parts in the past.
The C-1001 became Sirius Signal’s first approved electronic flare. It ran on three C-cell alkalines, flashed an SOS signal for about six hours at full power and had a long fade as the cells die (Steve put the total runtime at around 60 hours). A daytime distress flag came in the box so you could cover night visual, day visual, and sound requirements.

Later models, including the C-1003 SOS distress light, follow the same idea with some variations including additional IR for search and rescue and a high-end two color light built to the RTCM standard.

Electronic boat flares vs pyrotechnic marine flares

	Pyrotechnic marine flares	USCG-style electronic flare (Sirius Signal)
Burn time	About 60–180 seconds once lit.	Hours, and you can test it at the dock.
Heat / debris	Steve described serious heat and slag; typically you hold it over the side of the boat.	Twist on and off. No slag.
Who holds it	One person close to the rail so it doesn’t damage your boat.	Turn it on and hand it off (or put it in a mount), while you deal with other problems.
Expiration	Yes. Then you own expired flares.	No expiry on the light. Change batteries (or check them) once a year or every 5-6 years for models with lithium batteries.
Pre-trip test	You can’t test it. Lighting it is using it.	Turn it on. Confirm it is bright and flashing SOS.

Flares as signaling gear go back a long way. Steve pointed at the Civil War. The Coast Guard’s interest in a safer recreational option was not only humanitarian. Steve said the Coast Guard was spending real money off the Pacific Northwest chasing non-emergency flare sightings.

Should everybody get rid of their flares? No. Should people have alternatives? Should people have safety backups all the time? Absolutely.
— Steve, Sirius Signal, on Dockside Live

What to carry if the boat is over 16 feet

Steve laid out the recreational rule of thumb:

Boats over 16 feet need day and night visual distress signals.
Departing during daylight does not cancel the night signal requirement. Darkness has a way of arriving while you are broken down.

All of the USCG-approved kits from the Sirius Signal store are built to check three boxes:

Night — the approved SOS LED distress light
Day — the orange distress flag
Sound — the whistle

If you take the boat farther from the coast, add a VHF and a PLB or EPIRB, and remember cell coverage can be sparse. Steve’s example was the Catalina Channel. Halfway across, your phone will have no signal.

Great Lakes / Canada: Transport Canada does not treat the white-only light the same way. Steve said they require the two-color light (red-orange and cyan, RTCM-style) and they still require a smoke flare, because they do not treat the orange flag as the daytime signal. Rules follow the water, not the trailer sticker.

Inspect the kit before a boarding, not during one

Most crews buy the kit once, bury it in a ditch bag, and rediscover it during a boarding or during an emergency.

Look at lights, flags, horns, and PFDs before a trip.
Steve’s guess: 80 to 90 percent of boaters have never fired a flare or read the tiny type on the tube. An emergency is a lousy time to learn how to use a flare.
The electronic light is the opposite of that ritual. Twist the top, it is on. You should still walk the crew through it: if we get in trouble, you grab this.
Brian’s ritual on a 38-foot O’Day is a January 1 battery change so the electronic flare is good for the season.

Expired flares: the Coast Guard will not take them

A lot of boats are carrying flares that are past their expiration date.

Do not trash them. Do not throw them overboard.
Steve’s California numbers: on the order of 250,000 flares expire in the state each year; there is no statewide take-back program, and disposal can cost more than the pack sold for.
One handheld flare dumped improperly can contaminate about 250,000 gallons of groundwater.
The Coast Guard generally will not accept your expired flares. Collection days fill up hazmat and bomb-squad partners. After one event took in more than 300 flares, the bomb squad asked them not to run another. Disposal rules are state by state, and some states have nothing.

When you start running farther offshore

The same core light still earns its keep on a small boat or a day run. Farther out, Sirius Signal models add:

Infrared, so an aircraft on night vision can see SOS along with the white flash on most of its models
A two-color light (red-orange and cyan) that is much brighter than the white-only units, plus IR, built to the RTCM standard

Fuel-soaked water

Steve jumped on a LinkedIn post from a big European pyrotechnic maker. A boat capsized off Florida, fuel was in the water that swamped the boat, and the boater lit a flare and got picked up. Steve’s response to this story is “was a flame the tool you wanted in fuel-soaked water?”

Steve is not arguing for a flare ban. He is arguing for a backup that does not require a match.

Where to buy, and how to keep hearing the show

The Sirius Signal store is at store.siriussignal.com and on Amazon.

For the interview and the station, download the Dockside Live app (Android) (Apple). Trop-rock radio plays there as well. So does The Next Boat Journey, including this Sirius Signal episode.

Quick answers

Are electronic boat flares Coast Guard approved?
A light built by a certified manufacturer to the night visual distress standard (46 CFR 161.013) meets the night requirement. Pair it with the day flag.

What can be used as a replacement for flares on certain vessels?
For many U.S. recreational boats, an approved electronic night light plus a distress flag (and a whistle for sound) is the replacement Sirius Signal sells. Waters and boat length still decide the rest.

What do you do with expired boat flares?
Not the trash. Not the ocean. Not, as a rule, the Coast Guard station. Look up household hazardous waste in your county and do not store mystery flares “for later.”

Additionally, it is important to properly dispose of expired boat flares, as they can be dangerous if not handled correctly. Flares should not be thrown in the trash or in the ocean, and typically cannot be turned into Coast Guard stations for disposal. Instead, research your county’s guidelines for disposing of household hazardous waste and follow their instructions for proper disposal. It is also