Portugal has begun fining cruisers who upon vessel inspection are discovered to have expired flares, fire extinguishers and life rafts. If you don't have an item that is not required such as a liferaft, you're fine. But if have a liferaft even though it is not required, and it is out of date, you can be fined. Also, they are intensively policing adherence to COLREGS (black ball, white light when anchored, cone underway when sails up and motoring, etc) There is a useful discussion here: http://liveinfo.lagosnavigators.net/httpdocs/bureaucracy/application-to-visiting-yachtsmen/

Vice Commodore, OCC 

Hi Dick,

I do not know the reasoning behind the new enforcement in Portugal. But it did make us rethink a few things.

We, like you, tend to keep expired flares, as it doesn't mean they won't work, only that they are not current within the time limit tested and certified by the manufacturer and required by the authorities. I'd rather have extra ones on board when we need them than not. We tested old flares at our yacht club under the supervision of the USCG and were convinced that a good proportion will still work. So we've separated out the expired flares and keep them in a separate location which we don't have to disclose. As long as we have enough new ones to satisfy the requirement, we should be fine.


We also bought all new fire extinguishers. When we asked about inspecting our existing extinguishers (all in the green zone), we were told the technology had changed and ours were now not serviceable any more. Manufacturers say most extinguishers should work for 5 to 15 years. That's quite a range. Ours were at the 15 year limit.

The more difficult decision involves the life raft, a Winslow, serviceable mostly only in the US and now out of date. It would be more reasonable to buy a new one. But they are not required and, as we are mostly sailing coastal passages now, we are postponing our decision about replacing the most expensive boat we are hoping never to use.

Any thoughts?

Daria

Vice Commodore, OCC