Sea-Me and Mast-Head Light

[RestlessL]

While the mast is down over the winter I will be fitting a Sea-Me radar enhancer and a tri-colour/anchor light.

If I fit the Sea-Me in the recommended position (as high as possible on a stand-off bracket) it will obscure the nav light. If I fit it below the level of the nav light it will be obscured by the mast.

One option seems to be to mount the Sea-Me on top of the light (using a Glomex V9174 mount). Alternatively, I could try to raise the light by some means so it is higher then the Sea-Me.

Any ideas? Has anyone else had this problem ?

John

 

[Marsupial]

John

My Seame is mounted on a pole on the stern with the radar, being a pessimist I figure I will be more visible to radar if I loose the mast (not something I am in a habit of doing you understand). Mounted on the pole the seame buzzer buzzes non stop in all weathers which leads me to believe that height isnt everything with an active reflector. Lets face it IF fitted high up on an average Mobo the seame would be lower than mine is.

So I would fix it in the most convenient place, out of the way of halyards and sheets burgee lines, mooring lines, hand holds etc. If that turns out to be on top of the mast head light why not?

 

[aknight]

I did it the "wrong" way...

The positioning forward was deliberate. It was as close as I could get to the tricolour's 'blind spot' - exactly between the red and green sectors. The standard Glomex bracket was used. Not recommending it, necessarily, if you can come up with a less obstructive solution, but I have never lost any sleep over it. I figure that with the movement of the boat at sea, any visual obstruction caused by the Sea-Me would, at worst, be fleeting.

You're right though, the Sea-Me obstructs the anchor light (integral with the tri-light) when observed from directly forward. Some compensation comes from the fact that the white Sea-Me antenna is illuminated by and reflects the anchor light.

 

[purplerobbie]

[ QUOTE ]
While the mast is down over the winter I will be fitting a Sea-Me radar enhancer and a tri-colour/anchor light.

If I fit the Sea-Me in the recommended position (as high as possible on a stand-off bracket) it will obscure the nav light. If I fit it below the level of the nav light it will be obscured by the mast.

One option seems to be to mount the Sea-Me on top of the light (using a Glomex V9174 mount). Alternatively, I could try to raise the light by some means so it is higher then the Sea-Me.

Any ideas? Has anyone else had this problem ?

John

[/ QUOTE ]
There is a boat in the marina and the tri-colour in on a small pole to raise it up.
does anyone know where i could get one like this?

Rob

 

[Graham_Wright]

Thanks for raising this. It is something that has puzzled me for ages but reading your post may have provoked an idea.

How about surrounding the light assembly with a polycarbonate tube? I machine a lot of plastics and kinow that many are available in tube form up to large diameters and a variety of wall thicknesses. Whether in polycarbonate I don't know.

If the idea appeals, I can talk to my supplier.

 

[davies]

My Sea-Me is on the pushpit rail (protected by the supports of the wind generator). Given the height of the average ship's scanner, this is perfectly sufficient.

 

[srm]

A friend has his Sea-Me mounted on a wood bar between twin backstays, high enough but below masthead.

Just a thought - why fit an anchor light at the mast head? - I know lots do and one came on my yacht - but no one in their right mind is going to navigate in a yacht anchorage looking up at your masthead - they may hit another vessel. Rule 30a requires "A vessel at anchor shall exhibit where it can best be seen: (i) in the fore part, an all round white light or ball . . .
To my mind 10 to 20 metres up is not where it will be best seen from a line of sight two or three metres above sea level and within 100 metres or less of you.
In the event of a collision in an anchorage I would expect insurers to argue that a light at the top of a sailing vessel's mast could not be best seen from the eye level at the helm of another yacht at close quarters.

Just my view, based on lots of observations. But at least a mast head light is better than the much more usual blacked out vessel. There shouldn't be any argument about who's fault collision damage is in that case!

 

[bobgosling]

[ QUOTE ]
Just a thought - why fit an anchor light at the mast head? - I know lots do and one came on my yacht - but no one in their right mind is going to navigate in a yacht anchorage looking up at your masthead

[/ QUOTE ]

I have heard that the reason for placing it high up is that it then doesn't get "lost" amongst the shore-side lighting when seen from another vessel.

Always wondered how come it doesn't get "lost" amongst the stars instead ...

 

[Abigail]

On the height of anchoring light, I reckon it depends on the anchorage and likely passing craft. If there are bigger ships in the vicinity (anchored off Canvey Island waiting for the tide for instance) then I like to use the mast head light because it's closer to their line of sight. If we're in a leisure vessel only anchorage then a lower one is far more effective because that's where people are peering.

We recently got the Davies plug in one which reacts to sunlight - comes on it the dark and goes off in daylight. It's just on a long lead to a 12v plug in the cockpit and we love it to bits because we can go off somewhere and get back after dark without worrying about collisions or batteries.