Foghorns - usability and effectiveness

prv said:
I don't believe they are mandatory, but they can be useful.

In Southampton Water a lot of people tend to give way to anything commercial regardless of the rules - in practice this is probably necessary or sometimes the Red Funnel would be practically walled off from Southampton by the flow of yachts out of the Hamble. However, it does create something of a confused situation with smaller commercials like ferries and bunker-barges, where they may be expecting you to give way because most do, but you're both also aware that the rules say you should stand on. If you are in fact standing on, a quick couple of toots and flashes of the manoeuvring light give a reassuring confirmation that they're intending to keep clear without them having to make an exaggerated course change gesture.

I don't think I've ever heard manoeuvring signals from a leisure vessel, and suspect in many or most cases the recipients wouldn't understand them. I know someone on the mobo forum gave two blasts to indicate that they were turning to starboard to avoid a race committee boat in Chichester Harbour, and got a mouthful of abuse for "beeping his horn" at them! And of course, only a very small handful of sailing yachts are equipped to conveniently give sound signals in the first place.

Pete
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Useful in crowded waters particularly rivers.

Eg coming out of a marina when huge mobos are on the hammerhead. A long blast and a short if turning to starboard. Or two short when passing green to green for some reason. Its good seamanship to do so. And a reckless mobo got a 5 hoots from me at the Hamble entrance on sunday just past.
 
Elessar said:
Eg coming out of a marina when huge mobos are on the hammerhead. A long blast and a short if turning to starboard. Or two short when passing green to green for some reason. Its good seamanship to do so. And a reckless mobo got a 5 hoots from me at the Hamble entrance on sunday just past.
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I use my Plastimo trumpet fairly regularly, but I have never heard anyone else toot.
 
MoodySabre said:
The type you pump up - how often do they need pumping up and how loud are they? Another job when short handed in fog.
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We replaced a gas one (because of the freezing up & running out issues) with a similar looking pump-up one that came with a small hand pump. It doesn't last at all long before needing pumping again, and short handed you rather end up concentrating on pumping rather than listening/watching out. The same thing with a larger reservoir and a stirrup pump would be a good idea, but probably too expensive to sell many, and certainly take up too much room to want to have on our small boat.

I ponder fitting a really loud 12v electric horn, perhaps to the underside of the anchor locker lid (to be raised in restricted viz) to keep it out of the way of salt spray and ropes, etc.
 
LittleSister said:
We replaced a gas one (because of the freezing up & running out issues) with a similar looking pump-up one that came with a small hand pump. It doesn't last at all long before needing pumping again ...
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That'll be because you only get the air out you pump in. Because the "liquid" ones use an LPG (propane normally, I think) they get much more gas through the horn ... but with the need for heat to evaporate the liquid.
 
FWIW I have a brass trumpet style horn that I use to get the bridge opened at Caernarfon. It's good at that & gets the bridge man away from the telly at about 70mtrs.

The only time I have been tempted to use it in anger was in thick fog off North Stack near Holyhead. There was no way the Dublin ferry would have heard me, but I could hear their engines from some distance away & it made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up.

It was very difficult to tell which direction it was coming from & I was mightily relieved when it started to recede . . . and then the wash hit us! But I never saw the ferry itself.
 
Searush said:
FWIW I have a brass trumpet style horn that I use to get the bridge opened at Caernarfon. It's good at that & gets the bridge man away from the telly at about 70mtrs.

The only time I have been tempted to use it in anger was in thick fog off North Stack near Holyhead. There was no way the Dublin ferry would have heard me, but I could hear their engines from some distance away & it made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up.

It was very difficult to tell which direction it was coming from & I was mightily relieved when it started to recede . . . and then the wash hit us! But I never saw the ferry itself.
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Slightly off topic but quaint..

I was looking through some old books on seamanship, navigation, etc., from the 1930's and 40's I have always kept as a sort of nostalgic hoard, if you like...

In one of them there is a comment relating to fog. The author comments on how sometimes it is difficult to discern where exactly the sound of a fog signal is coming from.The author then suggests if you have a hailer on board (the old trumpet type) that it can be very useful in fog by scanning with it close to one ear...it will become obvious where the for signal originates and action taken accordingly..like a sort of oversized ear trumpet...:D
 
Hi Everyone,

I've come in late to this thread (I'm in South Africa at the moment) so can I add my two pennyworth albeit somewhat late in the day?

The COLREGS term “restricted visibility” means any condition in which visibility is restricted by fog, mist, falling snow, heavy rainstorms, sandstorms or any other similar causes; and applies to vessels not in sight of one another when navigating in or near an area of restricted visibility.

The sound making requirements apply to any vessel (and that's any vessel) of 12m or loa (tip to toe) - http://www.kahlenberg.co.uk/imo-sound-signal-requirements

A horn must meet the COLREG specs and a certificate should be supplied with the horn to prove it. Note that RINA approval only apply whilst in Italian waters, so check the certification.

There's also a bunch of FAQs here: http://www.kahlenberg.co.uk/faqs

Any other qns, do ask.

In a rush to catch a plane to Durban...Note: Although I have an interest in Kahlenberg UK Ltd, I leave it to my son (Groot T on the forum) to run it whilst I'm retired....
 
LittleSister said:
We replaced a gas one (because of the freezing up & running out issues) with a similar looking pump-up one that came with a small hand pump. It doesn't last at all long before needing pumping again, and short handed you rather end up concentrating on pumping rather than listening/watching out. The same thing with a larger reservoir and a stirrup pump would be a good idea, but probably too expensive to sell many, and certainly take up too much room to want to have on our small boat.

I ponder fitting a really loud 12v electric horn, perhaps to the underside of the anchor locker lid (to be raised in restricted viz) to keep it out of the way of salt spray and ropes, etc.
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Your experience with the pump up type confirms the advice we received from several people with one. That is the reason we went with this lo-tech hand pump. Nearly as loud as the compressed air ones, nothing to go wrong and easy to use.

View attachment 45703

http://www.amazon.com/SUPER-BLAST-Hand-Pump-Horn/dp/B0083CMKK0

Just noticed the Amazon link is to the US - sorry. They are available here though.
 
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Rum Run said:
The plastic hooter seems ok. I'm a bit asthmatic so did wonder about running out of breath, but one strong exhale roughly every minute was perfectly sustainable.

Cheers
Rum Run
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Besides running out of breath there is also the danger of becoming dizzy through repeated heavy blowing. My solution is to hook up a trumpet-type horn to an old dinghy bellows. This allows me to direct the noise in whichever direction I need while pressing the bellows with my foot. Works for me.
 
In the airport waiting for my flight...

An issue for sail boats fitting an approved horn that meets the regs is where to fit it. To meet the regs, it must point straight forward. So, on the mast? Will it tangle with the sails? How to get the air supply to it, etc, etc. On larger sail boats, they are often fitted underneath a radar scanner. It can be a real issue.
 
Piers said:
In the airport waiting for my flight...

An issue for sail boats fitting an approved horn that meets the regs is where to fit it. To meet the regs, it must point straight forward. So, on the mast? Will it tangle with the sails? How to get the air supply to it, etc, etc. On larger sail boats, they are often fitted underneath a radar scanner. It can be a real issue.
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Only if a "Directional Whistle" is installed.
 
prv said:
It's hard to think of a horn that isn't directional, though.

Irrelevant for most of us, mind you, since the requirement only kicks in at 40 feet.

Pete
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My thinking was that if we are using our foghorn to attract someone's attention, or to warn an approaching vessel, it's not much good if it's rigidly fixed, facing the bow.

A classic one is if you want to indicate to a vessel closely following in a channel, that you are intending to turn off to port or starboard, a forward facing horn is not a lot of good. We could always use bells and gongs.:D
 
NormanS said:
A classic one is if you want to indicate to a vessel closely following in a channel, that you are intending to turn off to port or starboard, a forward facing horn is not a lot of good. We could always use bells and gongs.:D
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Or stick your arm out like a cyclist :)

In practice I find that if we're close enough for it to matter, then gesturing, hailing, or a combination of the two works ok.

Pete
 
NormanS said:
My thinking was that if we are using our foghorn to attract someone's attention, or to warn an approaching vessel, it's not much good if it's rigidly fixed, facing the bow.

A classic one is if you want to indicate to a vessel closely following in a channel, that you are intending to turn off to port or starboard, a forward facing horn is not a lot of good. We could always use bells and gongs.:D
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Interesting. Technically, a directional whistle should be installed with its maximum intensity directed straight ahead. Given I'm unaware of any non-directional whistles, I don't see what could be done to meet your scenario. Gongs and bells? Are they not only to be used when at anchor or aground, so using them when not at anchor or aground would surely be confusing to other vessels.
 
Piers said:
Interesting. Technically, a directional whistle should be installed with its maximum intensity directed straight ahead. Given I'm unaware of any non-directional whistles, I don't see what could be done to meet your scenario. Gongs and bells? Are they not only to be used when at anchor or aground, so using them when not at anchor or aground would surely be confusing to other vessels.
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I don't think steam whistles are directional. More steam McPhail!
 
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