Fog horn control

ChromeDome said:
Did that.
Built a simple timer years ago and put it in a sealed plastic box. Was a kit but today you might find a ready-made for the purpose (adjustable on and off times). Probably like this.
Connected via an "on-off-spring on" switch (e.g. Electrical Carling Rocker Switch (On / Off / Spring Return On)) to select the timed, off or usual horn functions.

Works fine.
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Better to do with a microcontroller (Arduino nano?) And a relay.....fully programmable them with literally a few lines of code....

Digital write(hornoutput, high);
Delay (2000);
Digital write(hornoutput, low);
Delay (2000);

(Or similar)
 
The ones that are most likely to kill me in fog are the big boys, and they all have radar, so ISTM that the most important thing is to be visible on their radar. The question of whether anyone's actually looking at the radar is another matter, of course, but in fog, I reckon there'll be few that aren't.

The most scared I've ever been at sea was mid channel, in unforecast fog. We could hear a ship's engines, but couldn't see it. And they were getting closer... It passed a couple of hundred metres in front of us, barely visible. Did they see us? No idea. This was about 20 years ago, so AIS either wasn't around, or was a little box in the corner that no one looked at on plenty of ships, and not affordable for a yottie on a budget.
 
Slowboat35 said:
I rather think the discussion merely highlights the silliness of sound signals in fog. On a motorised vessel there's no way they can be heard even at short range unless the volume is extreme. As next to no one sails at night what's the point?
A yottie will probably hear a freighter's signal, there's next to no way a freighter will ever hear a yacht's.

So why bother sending them (and destroying your hearing)? Just creep along and listen - and use sensible aids like radar and AIS to stay out of the way...
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Sailing school boats sail at night, as do boats on delivery.
 
Spanjaard said:
Vessels less than 12m LOA are NOT required to use any of the sound signals required for vessels in restricted visibility.
Vessels 12m and above abide by the COL Regs.
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Bullcrap.
Rule 33 (b) says she must be provided with means of making an efficient signal.
Rule 35 (i) says she SHALL make an efficient sound signal every 2 mins.
 
Gary Fox said:
Bullcrap.
Rule 33 (b) says she must be provided with means of making an efficient signal.
Rule 35 (i) says she SHALL make an efficient sound signal every 2 mins.
Click to expand...

Not trying to be pedantic…If you mention the rules don’t crop them at your own interpretation:

Rule 35
(i) A vessel of 12 m or more but less than 20 m in length shall not be obliged to give the bell signals prescribed in paragraphs (g) and (h) of this Rule. However, if she does not, she shall make some other efficient sound signal at intervals of not more than 2 minutes.
(j) A vessel of less than 12 m in length shall not be obliged to give the above-mentioned signals but, if she does not, shall make some other efficient sound signal at intervals of not more than 2 minutes.

So under 12m you don’t need whistle, bell, or gong. You want to use castanets? Perfectly legal. Clap your hands? Legal. A saxo? Also legal and valid. Banging a pot with a wooden spoon? Legal

Coming to rule 33 (b)
A vessel of less than 12 m in length shall not be obliged to carry the sound signalling appliances prescribed in paragraph (a) of this Rule but if she does not, she shall be provided with some other means of making an efficient sound signal.
Again castanets, a vuvuzela, a Viking’s horn, a trumpet or playing a triangle? Perfectly legal my friend. No wonder some migght think of silliness.

I wonder if you blast 3 times every time you go astern.... yeah moral obligation!
 
Spanjaard said:
Not trying to be pedantic…If you mention the rules don’t crop them at your own interpretation:

Rule 35
(i) A vessel of 12 m or more but less than 20 m in length shall not be obliged to give the bell signals prescribed in paragraphs (g) and (h) of this Rule. However, if she does not, she shall make some other efficient sound signal at intervals of not more than 2 minutes.
(j) A vessel of less than 12 m in length shall not be obliged to give the above-mentioned signals but, if she does not, shall make some other efficient sound signal at intervals of not more than 2 minutes.

So under 12m you don’t need whistle, bell, or gong. You want to use castanets? Perfectly legal. Clap your hands? Legal. A saxo? Also legal and valid. Banging a pot with a wooden spoon? Legal

Coming to rule 33 (b)
A vessel of less than 12 m in length shall not be obliged to carry the sound signalling appliances prescribed in paragraph (a) of this Rule but if she does not, she shall be provided with some other means of making an efficient sound signal.
Again castanets, a vuvuzela, a Viking’s horn, a trumpet or playing a triangle? Perfectly legal my friend. No wonder some migght think of silliness.

I wonder if you blast 3 times every time you go astern.... yeah moral obligation!
Click to expand...

No, the word efficient is crucial here.

’Castanets’, ‘clapping hands‘, ‘banging a pot with a wooden spoon’ or ‘playing a triangle’ could hardly be held to be an efficient sound signal in fog and as such they wouldn’t be legal.

A Viking horn maybe , a Vuvuzela probably not.
 
Stemar said:
The ones that are most likely to kill me in fog are the big boys, and they all have radar, so ISTM that the most important thing is to be visible on their radar. The question of whether anyone's actually looking at the radar is another matter, of course, but in fog, I reckon there'll be few that aren't.

The most scared I've ever been at sea was mid channel, in unforecast fog. We could hear a ship's engines, but couldn't see it. And they were getting closer... It passed a couple of hundred metres in front of us, barely visible. Did they see us? No idea. This was about 20 years ago, so AIS either wasn't around, or was a little box in the corner that no one looked at on plenty of ships, and not affordable for a yottie on a budget.
Click to expand...

+1

Most scared I've ever been (and it includes an inversion in the North Atlantic ) was in a tiny cruising boat with Seagull outboard on the transom in a flat calm with thickening fog heading up-channel between the Holms in the Bristol Channel with a small octahedral radar reflector hoisted. Maybe under 50 yards visibilty, and getting worse. Used my fancy new-fangled gas foghorn, but the nozzle quickly froze up and it stopped working - it was November and really cold. Stopped Seagull periodically to listen, after many such stop-starts every 5 minutes I could hear a very big diesel donking away....

Another 30 seconds of engine, and when stopped I could now hear bow wave as well as engine.

Now do I keep engine going and not hear much, but have instant though not that fast manoueuvrabilty, or leave engine off and try and assess which way to go before restarting engine. That old Seagull was first pull every time, but 3 hp takes time to get a ton of boat moving at 3-4 knots.

In the end I put engine on and carried on across the channel with my head rotating 360 every few seconds looking for the ship. Got to hearing the ship's engine even over the Seagull, but never saw the ship. Was very glad to get into shallow water and start finding out where I was after all the stop-starts and a long time since a fix. Nav gear at the time was compass and leadline.
 
All vessels are required to make a sound signal in fog, under 12m vessels are just released from the requirement for signalling equipment conforming to the requirements of the colreg.

In practice it means you need the same thing. Its wise to use such provisions most yachts where possible would head for shallow water, so in effect the sounds signals should be made by similar sized vessels to each other.

Clearly this isn't perfect however Its flawed logic to ignore this completely.

Of course the upcoming changed to the colregs likely in the next 10 years allowing for uncrewed vessels may change much of the practices that have become common place over the last few centuries.
 
jwfrary said:
All vessels are required to make a sound signal in fog, under 12m vessels are just released from the requirement for signalling equipment conforming to the requirements of the colreg.

In practice it means you need the same thing...
Click to expand...
Thank you for explaining it so clearly.
 
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