Friday, May 23, 2014

PLB Destruction...

Just to round off the PLB / EPIRB discussion.  When you are finished with your PLB /EPIRB you have a legal / moral obligation to render it unusable.  Do not just throw it in the trash where it can be triggered accidentally.   Remove the battery and damage the PCB so that it cannot function.  Then log on to the registration page (you did register it, didn't you?) and list it as destroyed. 

Dispose / recycle your batteries per your local regulations.

1 comment:

Rhys said...

I spent about $850 on mine in 2007 and got a new five-year battery for it in 2013 (it hadn't died but could be expected to shortly). That cost $190 and was done on a sail to the nearest depot about 30 miles SW. As it's a 406 Mhz/GPS unit, I saw no real advantage to buying a new one and destroying the old one, but this model is a tad bulky and it won't be "refreshed" in 2018, just radically altered as per yours. Of course, the new PLBs are about a third of the price. That's fine: I've carried mine on my 33 footer and have taken it on every delivery and course since 2007.