Self- adjusting anchor buoy

fredrussell said:
I have 2 questions.

Firstly, when you drop the anchor with a buoy and line+pulley attached is there not a risk of the two becoming wrapped round each other as they descend vertically from bow?

Secondly, is it ok to put a light on a buoy? I'm fairly new to sailing and just wondered if there are any laws about sticking your own light on the water. I mean obviously you wouldn't use a red or green light, but are there no issues other than that?
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Hey Fred ,

I use a blue light , or will use. You see that more frequent in the Med , fishersman nets and crab pots etc. being lit up by very bright blue flashing leds . Thank god , they start doing that , I'm fed up taking a dive in the dark to free my propeller.
Infact there should be a law that obliges signalling these UFO's ( unidentified floating objects)
Too many boaters have suffered severe damage.

Regards
 
Now and then we use a tripping line when we feel there could be a chance of it getting foul, funny enough 20% of the time we used a line we needed it.
What we don't do is, have the line attached to a buoy, instead we sink the line and bring it back to the bow,
This is done for a few reasons.
1 it means it's not mistaken for a mooring
2 no chance of anyone getting it warped around their prop.
3 it easier to retrieve.
And
4 it doesn't bangs on the side of the boat while trying to sleep.
 
sailbleu said:
Hey Fred ,

I use a blue light , or will use. You see that more frequent in the Med , fishersman nets and crab pots etc. being lit up by very bright blue flashing leds . Thank god , they start doing that , I'm fed up taking a dive in the dark to free my propeller.
Infact there should be a law that obliges signalling these UFO's ( unidentified floating objects)
Too many boaters have suffered severe damage.

Regards
Click to expand...

+1

Its odd, if you get a line wrapped round your prop you cut it free and commonly the float is freed at the same time - so the fisherman loses his catch and his gear. You would think these losses were sufficient financial incentive for fishermen to better mark their gear - but thinking is obviously wrong!

Jonathan
 
Tranona said:
You can avoid most of that by fitting your boat with a rope cutter in front of the prop.
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Way off topic , but please have a look at this Tranona.
That happened in 2010.

http://www.jeanneau-owners2.com/hintsandtips/id127.htm

I had two other (similar) events ,...but got away with it by just cutting the lines .
This year , IN FRONT of the entrance of a Tunisian marina - around midnight by the way - my prop was, again , entangled big time. It took me an hour to free it , no warning buoys or indications what so ever for nets or crab pots .
That much for rope cutters.
And that brings us back to the story , if you drop marker buoys be sure to provide ledlight .

Regards
 
sailbleu said:
Way off topic , but please have a look at this Tranona.
That happened in 2010.

http://www.jeanneau-owners2.com/hintsandtips/id127.htm

I had two other (similar) events ,...but got away with it by just cutting the lines .
This year , IN FRONT of the entrance of a Tunisian marina - around midnight by the way - my prop was, again , entangled big time. It took me an hour to free it , no warning buoys or indications what so ever for nets or crab pots .
That much for rope cutters.
And that brings us back to the story , if you drop marker buoys be sure to provide ledlight .

Regards
Click to expand...

That particular type of rope cutter is ineffective. There are much better products on the market that will cut ropes tangled round the prop without causing that sort of damage. Many Jeanneaus are fitted successfully with the better types.
 
Oh Tranona , please enlighten me . I would love to get another cutter , but not sure which one to take.
I don't want to replace the junk I have right now by other junk. That would be a waste of money and time.
I've done my homework with regards to cutters , and at the end of the day there's something to be said about each and everyone of them.
But off topic again.

Regards
 
sailbleu said:
Oh Tranona , please enlighten me . I would love to get another cutter , but not sure which one to take.
I don't want to replace the junk I have right now by other junk. That would be a waste of money and time.
I've done my homework with regards to cutters , and at the end of the day there's something to be said about each and everyone of them.
But off topic again.

Regards
Click to expand...

www.ropestripper.com
 
Neeves said:
Its odd, if you get a line wrapped round your prop you cut it free and commonly the float is freed at the same time - so the fisherman loses his catch and his gear. You would think these losses were sufficient financial incentive for fishermen to better mark their gear - but thinking is obviously wrong!
Click to expand...

I don't know about Australia, but here pots are laid in long lines with a buoy at each end. They choose which to pick up based on wind and tide, but I'm sure if one has gone they can pick up the non-preferred end. Should both disappear, plan C is to run across the string towing a kind of grapnel called a "creep". They know where to look thanks to GPS, and the long line means it's a nice wide target with a fair chance of success.

Pete
 
sailbleu said:
The reason for me inquiring about the Switec , is the science behind it.
As the lower part of this buoy has a slot to guide the trip line , the flat rope that is , there must be water getting inside the buoy . My question is to what extend . If you check the official site there is an x-ray vision of the buoy showing that the mechanisme , spring and winded flat rope , must partially be submerged. I would like to know how much.
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I had to take mine apart as I bought a second hand one that was actually leaking. The top half of the buoy needs to be airtight to keep it buoyant. Inside the buoy you will find a long coiled spring and the coiled flat-rope. The whole mechanism is made from stainless steel, that makes it expensive as a stainless steel for springs is expensive material. The spring is made from band-shaped steel, because of the length of the flat-rope, there is a considerable length of it present in the buoy, hence the weight of the thing.
I consider the buoy to be very well made, water will not affect the mechanism on the long term. You will need to store the right side up to allow the water (absorbed by the flat rope) to drain from the buoy.
During operation very little water enters the buoy as the opening at the bottom is so small and the rope pulls the buoy right side up pretty strong. So the trapped air cannot escape. I'm guessing that there will never be more than a few centimeters of water inside. But the mechanism is designed to get wet.

Weather the thing is worth the money depends on your needs. What I find really priced over the top is the stainless holder that you can buy for it to store the toy.
 
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Thanks for sharing aluijten , a clear explanation.
And I totaly agree , the cradle or holder is way overpriced , for what it represents anyway.

Regards
 
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