what are mylar balloons and where can i source them??

Thanks for answering my stupid questions

Mark

Mark, Mylar balloons are of the same material as the metalized space blankets. They are very popular for applying logos etc. and have a nasty habit of choking seabirds, shorting out power lines and mimicking signal mirrors. They do make fairly resiliant emergency water containers. I would try a party supplies vendor in G.B.

thanks-i think i know what you are on about now!!! I appreciate it-what type of sealing do they have or don't they-or does it depend on the brand?

Mark

There are various brands. Most I've seen are sealed with a simple heat weld at the seam.

Mark
My experience with mylar ballons has always been with birthday parties and squeeky voices from the helium.
However there seems to be a good survival use here Skystreme
I'm sure you could find a place for this iin your Disco.

Jsutin

Hadn't seen that before, it's an excellent dual use idea. From what I've read about SAR, radar reflectivity is at times much more useful than flares, smoke, water dyes and other ways of being spotted. Apparently most commercial ships post minimal numbers of crew on watches these days and rely instead on proximity alarms on their radar. A small lost or overturned boat (especially a plastic or fiberglass kayak in my case) won't usually trigger these alarms and the chances of a single flare being seen by bored crewmembers is also something on which I wouldn't want to stake my survival.

A radar reflective balloon up even a few feet or tens of feet over the water would be far more likely to trigger the alarm and at least make the crew look in your direction so they might better see a flare and respond.

I once saw a "flare" (don't remember if it was 12 gauge or 'standard') that popped open and sent thousands of extemely thin reflective foil strips shooting out into a cloud at the apogee a couple hundred feet up. It was supposed to approximate the radar signature of a decent size ship and set off klaxons on ships' bridges using their radar proximity alarms. I've never seen those again. Just wondering if they were found to not work as described or if they're just obscure. Anyone else seen those?