Nothin but a thing
Forrest, throw yer kyak in size 9 and we'll take ya to the stream
Yeah, same here, Safety kits and flare stuff is in that orange type sealed container, I decided to check them and glad I did. I coulda swore I had till 2006, but I found all my stuff expired Nov 05.
Coast Guard may or may not give a warning on that stuff as it's considered "mandatory" for certain size vessels and considered required equipment. Local lake/Wildlife guys might issue a warning on somethin like that, but it's not worth a chance to take for anyone puttin it off...
Do the easy thing y'all, just take a look at your kit's. And now's the time to hit Wally world for Flares (arial) and hand held flares. I got my flares this weekend local Wally World at the red tag price... mine are good till Oct 08... but pay attention, they had some packs in there that were already expired!!!! might have to look thru them and the dates are clearly marked on the packaging. I told the clerk he might want to remove those expired ones... but I got the attitude ya know.... So that might be somethin to pay attention too.
What I did to show that I inspected my kit's is put the date of expiration, date I inspected my kit's with a sharpie marker right on the outside of the canisters. That way if I get "courtesy" check'd, the USCG or local law guys will see that I did take the time to at least inspect my stuff prior to headin out.
Just some tips....