Smoke On the Water

Smoke flares were by far the most visible signal during the daylight portion of our test. Also, our testers were not reluctant to use smoke flares because they perceived them to be less dangerous to use. This was especially true for the floating smoke flares since they are thrown in the water after activation. While some flares meet both day and night carriage requirements, smoke flares only meet day time carriage requirements.

One observation was that smoke flares do better in calm conditions. That is another reason why floating smoke canisters seemed to perform so well—they keep the discharged smoke lower to the water resulting in a more concentrated cloud.

If you use handheld smoke, we do not recommend waving the smoke flare like you might do with a handheld flare, as it tends to dissipate the smoke more rapidly.

Orion Handheld Orange Smoke Signal - USCG

The Orion handheld smoke flare relies upon the same type of firing mechanism as the Orion Handheld Red Locator Flares, a match-strike top. The flares and smoke signal are also approximately the same shape and size—which might lead to confusion on a dark and stormy night. Coming in a package of 3, each handheld smoke flare has a burn time of just more than a minute. One benefit of the smoke signal is that the tube doesn’t burn down like the red flare does, so you don’t have to worry about hot slag dripping on you or your boat.

Orion Floating Smoke Signal – SOLAS
Comet Smoke Signal Orange – SOLAS
Pains Wessex Lifesmoke MK8 – SOLAS

All of our SOLAS approved floating smoke flares performed relatively the same. The activation method was simple and straight forward, with all using a pull lanyard or ring. The fact that you didn’t have to hold the flare after activating it removed a perceived danger element. Since the canister floats in the water, the smoke released tends to stay more condensed just over the waters surface. The SOLAS approved floating smoke canisters are far larger than the USCG handheld model, and as a result have a burn time of three minutes, which is roughly three times longer than the handheld models.

Pains Wessex Manoverboard MK2 - SOLAS

The Manoverboard MK2 was the most impressive day visual distress signal we tested because of the shear volume of smoke it released. Far exceeding SOLAS standards, for over 20 minutes this flare discharged its bright orange smoke. It was a calm day for our test and the product still drifted more than a quarter mile away from our anchored test boat after activation. There is also a ‘strobe light’ on the device, though observers failed to see the light at all, and the notion of a light on a daytime smoke device seems a little out of place.

Weighting in at closed to 9lbs and shipped with permanent mounting bracket, we simply took it out of its bracket, activated it, and threw it in the water. Because of the shear volume of smoke, long activation time and large size, this is an ideal flare for large offshore vessels. At a price over $450, coupled with the 42 month limited lifespan this product is not a practical safety device for most boaters.

The smoke flares could fill a large area with lingering orange haze that really got the attention of our observers.

The handheld smoke should be held to the downwind side of the boat to prevent any crew breathing it in.

The floating smoke canisters were very bright against the dark water.

The smoke from the canister almost obscures the second boat.

The huge Pains Wessex Strobe/Smoke Combo was still putting out smoke 20 minutes after we launched it.