Why don't yachts have foghorns?

prv said:
Why in the cockpit? Mine’s under the radar, halfway up the mast. It doesn’t sound all that loud in the cockpit, a lot louder when I go up to the foredeck, but no, almost certainly not as loud as a big motorboat’s air horn.
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Location isn't really relevant. My point is that a speaker capable of producing a reasonable alert 100 yds away needs to produce somewhere in the region of 120 dB at 1m, and I'd be very surprised if a typical VHF speaker can do that or if a typical VHF set can supply it.

Edit: 120dB is what you get from a VERY loud car alarm.
 
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I fitted a pair of "stainless steel" boat trumpet horns which worked for a while but then stopped. On taking then apart the horn inside was made of steel and rusted away.

I then got some car air horns and fitted the trumpet inside the stainless outer part and fitted the compressor in a IP65 box.

The compressor then corroded and stopped working

I now used a vuvuzela and hope my lungs don't rust up.
 
Things may have changed, but when I was a boy, my father strongly discouraged us from using the car's horn when the engine was stopped, because he reckoned it drew more current from the batteries than anything else except the starter motor. I've always assumed that was why sailing boats weren't equipped with air horns, but motor boats often are.

There was a long debate about the audibility of sound signals on ships on here a while ago, and the general opinion (including comments by professional mariners) was that a) no noise we could make would be audible for any useful distance on a ship's bridge and b) if we could make ourselves heard, we'd deafen ourselves. There were also amusing anecdotes about H&S requiring mariners to wear ear defenders when operating the fog-horn!
 
Yes AP, expecting a hooter to be heard on a ship's bridge is a mistake..I still want something for other small craft though.
Ebay 'loud' vehicle hooters seem to want 30 or 50 amp fuses fitted which is suggestive..
 
On a slightly different note, who here has and has used a bell ( or gong ).....?

I can think of a few anchorages and harbours I've entered in fog, from necessity, when/where I'd have been pleased to know that others were up and about...... e.g. Cawsand, Fowey, Salcombe.
 
zoidberg said:
On a slightly different note, who here has and has used a bell ( or gong ).....?

I can think of a few anchorages and harbours I've entered in fog, from necessity, when/where I'd have been pleased to know that others were up and about...... e.g. Cawsand, Fowey, Salcombe.
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I've used the electronic ones over a speaker from th VHF on numerous occasions.

Don't remember being there hitting the gong or ringing a bell though. Polished a few with th brasso.

W.
 
zoidberg said:
On a slightly different note, who here has and has used a bell ( or gong ).....?
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I don’t have an actual bell (though I do have a selection of saucepans) - but my VHF can make bell-like sounds through the hailer horn as an alternative to the under-way toots.

I’ve not actually used it beyond a test, as I don’t remember ever anchoring somewhere with large or fast traffic, nor in such thick fog that a yacht proceeding through the anchorage wouldn’t see me in time.

Pete
 
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Good point Zoidberg. I don't carry a bell or gong but my VHF can play them through the tannoy on the spreaders.
Now I will have to go and check if the whole repertoire of big ship combinations is available, or just yacht sized ones!
Lots of American pleasure boats, even quite small, seem to have ships' bells. A cultural difference I would guess.
 
Ohlin Karcher said:
Now I will have to go and check if the whole repertoire of big ship combinations is available, or just yacht sized ones!
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Colregs specify different tones for different sizes of vessel (deeper for larger, as you'd expect). It amused me slightly to find that my VHF offers this choice in its setup - as if it might be used to substitute for a container ship's horn :p

Pete
 
prv said:
Colregs specify different tones for different sizes of vessel (deeper for larger, as you'd expect). It amused me slightly to find that my VHF offers this choice in its setup - as if it might be used to substitute for a container ship's horn :p

Pete
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Why not? :) The biggest issue we had in the UK was finding a suitable speaker without a mortgage. Here all the automatic horns were non op and most people had no idea what they meant anyway.

W.
 
prv said:
Colregs specify different tones for different sizes of vessel (deeper for larger, as you'd expect). It amused me slightly to find that my VHF offers this choice in its setup - as if it might be used to substitute for a container ship's horn :p

Pete
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Mine only offers one tone and no vessel length options :disgust:
Some of the signals, large vessel aground, bell+gong? I forget precisely, must be sounded at opposite ends of the ship..
 
PilotWolf said:
Why not? :) The biggest issue we had in the UK was finding a suitable speaker without a mortgage. .
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Really? The horn for mine was fairly cheap, as you’d expect for a generic 30watt speaker in a plastic trumpet. Fortunate, since I flooded the first one by leaving it pointing skyward when the mast was unstepped and lying horizontal in the yard :D

Pete
 
prv said:
Really? The horn for mine was fairly cheap, as you’d expect for a generic 30watt speaker in a plastic trumpet. Fortunate, since I flooded the first one by leaving it pointing skyward when the mast was unstepped and lying horizontal in the yard :D

Pete
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Yep, this was a few years ago though. The engineer was from the sound industry so wanted it to be right - he was as anal as me about things being perfect I think we needed. 100 W to comply.

W.
 
Ohlin Karcher said:
Mine only offers one tone and no vessel length options :disgust:
Some of the signals, large vessel aground, bell+gong? I forget precisely, must be sounded at opposite ends of the ship..
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I have sailed a lot in an area known for fog at certain times each year. Heard large vessels under way and making way a lot whilst out there mixing with them. also an area with a lot of anchored vessels. Never heard bells and gongs but the gas ships anchored off Punta Carnero (Gib Bay) would always sound code letter R (short, long, short) at intervals not exceeding one minute. Automated, obviously.

Without looking I think coded Small Commercial Vessels require a bell if over 14m? Plus NUC lights. I coded a Motor Boat. The light were easy, getting the bell was a pain.

Didnt ever use it..... but the boat had a brill foghorn that I did have to use a few times.
 
Ohlin Karcher said:
Mine only offers one tone and no vessel length options :disgust:
Some of the signals, large vessel aground, bell+gong? I forget precisely, must be sounded at opposite ends of the ship..
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Rule 35 (j). A vessel of less than 12 metres 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.
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It's a matter of record our good friend Sarabande has determined to learn to play the Celtic Bagpipes, and expects to do so on board his sailboat.....

I'm of the view that is likely to prove a most effective 'steamer scarer'. Should we encourage this creative interpretation of the ColRegs?
 
zoidberg said:
It's a matter of record our good friend Sarabande has determined to learn to play the Celtic Bagpipes, and expects to do so on board his sailboat.....

I'm of the view that is likely to prove a most effective 'steamer scarer'. Should we encourage this creative interpretation of the ColRegs?
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No.

OTOH, it could have its uses when someone insists on anchoring too close...
 
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