Visual distress signals
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From our buying guide
On US coastal waters, a boat 16 feet or more must carry visual distress signals for day and for night. Some cover only one: an orange flag is day only, and an electric distress light is night only.
Check before you buy:
- You'll reach the required number, which for pyrotechnics is three for day and three for night, since a kit's name is not proof it meets the rule.
- The marked expiry date leaves you time, since a flare's can be no more than 42 months from manufacture, and it's the marked date that counts.
- Anything that needs a launcher has an approved one, and you've checked your state's rules, since the Coast Guard says some states treat them as firearms.