Reliable Danbuoy light?

Goldie

Goldie

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My Plastimo danbuoy light failed (permanently lit even with the magnetic clip in place) at just over a year old. It’s replacement purchased a couple of weeks ago exhibits the same trait from new. Yes I’ll be taking it back, but can anyone suggest a reliable alternative model please? The danbouy in question is one of the telescopic Plastimo type so it terminates in a hollow grip tube at the top. Thank you.
 
best option is to rig each crewmember with their own wrist strobe t night, no? Then searching for the strobe/light means you find the person not the danbuoy.

The danbuoy you have has replacement parts and you need the correct release thingy to trigger the light, i think with 9v pp3 battery can be used and/or soldered into the unit. Still quite a rubbisj light, though...

You need to have very well drilled crew to operate these btw ... I always think launching the danbuoy is symptom of total fckup - "let's launch the danbuoy now it's long after the MOB disappeared over the waves".. (to make the fact we lost someone overboard and they weren;t slipped on AND we didn't notice/point/shout range and bearing to helm ... to make it look like we tried) . And if you have to prat about to extend the danbuoy ... why not have a better not-plastimo manual strobe attached and switch it on manually? Oh and the danbuoy rope rots as well in sunlight so keep it indoors when away from the boat. Clip on at night and any deck moveement - wear the strobe? Easy inint? Yes, and the wrist-mounted AIS things, another much-better option than fairly useless Danbuoy...
 
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Yes, there are few more useless pieces of kit.

That said for things like the ARC they still expect a lit dan bouy.

There are some circular strobe LEDs available on ebay and elsewhere that are better, and stand a reasonable chance of working.
 
They are not just for MOB by the way. Drop a hat or such like floatable overboard at night and fling danbuoy or lightbuoy overboard to help you find it - if you can be bothered. My hat has done service to initiate several impromptu MOB drills when going on the foredeck to reef. My plastimo LED danbuoy light seems quite reliable and my old ones only failed after 10 years which for a £19 piece of kit is fine. The biggest problem is water getting into the thing on its deck clip as salt water in electrics comes out badly
 
The thing about a dan buoy is that it does give a position reference. If you have not pressed the MOB button on the GPS because you did not go below to do it, or someone did not know what button to press so turned it off etc etc.
The fact that the dan buoy may not be where the MOB fell in is not so irrelevant. Using a bit of intelligence one can say that one knew that the casualty fell in roughly on course "X" 100 yds before the marker was dropped. It should drift with the current at similar speed to the casualty. If the MOB is lost from sight there is a chance that by spotting the dan buoy another search back can be commenced.
It is a bit like lobbing the EPIRB in a few seconds after the person goes over.(that is one of our actions we would take) A lifeboat or helicopter has a reference point to start looking.
So my danbuoy sits in a tube on the push pit so I can just flip it over ASAP.
As we all know, we hope we never have to use it, but if we needed it ,we might feel a bit stupid not having one after the event
 
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