red over green / barkentine? Some COLREGS interpretations
pbryant has a full statement over at the SailNetCommunity site on a current thread:
Red over Green Navigation Light. This is a revelation to me. Fantastic!
I'm eager to collect Patrick's tips, like that historic tried and true lineman's splice!:D
And recommendations for Kester rosin core solders. Having poisoned myself over the
centuries, I've a biosystem backlogged with toxins - which is why I'm so strong
on using green materials when available. Maybe I do tin.
What SIZE solder do you have around? I'll probably get one more roll this lifetime.
Plug in soldering iron OK?...garage sale?
And I see tube shrink wrap + glue comes in 4foot lengths in many diameters...
what's a reasonable variety of width and colors to do all new rewiring of Ariel338?
Sounds like an investment just for wrap! Thank you for your help!
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Can't find an all-round-red/all-round-green combined lamp - in the market.
....imco an all-round mast-top lamp must be combined with all-round white 'anchor' light.
As well as a strobe for the white. Freighter at sea - no can see me - no can me see.
(I can 'see' the lamp... stack of LED hockey pucks. The NewSealanders (Hella) can do it.)
SAILING VESSEL UNDERWAY. COLREGS Rule 25:
(a) a sailing vessel underway shall exhibit i) sidelights and ii) sternlight.
(b) In a sailing vessel of less than 20 meters length the lights prescribed in paragraph (a) of this Rule, may be combined in one lantern carried at or near the top of the mast where it can be best seen.
(c) A sailing vessel underway may, in addition to the lights prescribed in paragraph (a) of this Rule, exhibit at or near the top of the mast, where it best can be seen,
two all-round lights in a vertical line, the upper being red and the lower green,
but these lights shall not be exhibited in conjunction with the combined lantern permitted by paragraph (b) of this Rule. [tri-color]
...
We can therefor exhibit a combined Red Over Green mast-top light in addition to the required red and green side lights and white stern light at the gunwale (boat-deck) level. Can not show masthead tri-color together with deck side lights. Or tri-color with R.O.G.
Assume we have legal deck lights showing when maneuvering near shore under sail after dark.
We are permitted at this time to ALSO exhibit a mast-top Red Over Green. [imco, the more moving colored light you can legally show over a dark backdrop - as when approaching the marina at night, with confusing dots of white light from dwellings, streets and freeways - the better!]
PLEASE CONFIRM THIS INTERPRETATION.
When we are under power with the sails up, we are by definition motorsailing and shall have no mast-top lights of any kind exhibited.
A small racer/cruiser will have the 'half mast' steaming light* ON. Plus the three deck lights - red-green-white ON.
*225 degree forward white light corresponds with the 135 degree stern light. (for 360 degree all round white.)
Commonly referred to as a masthead light, it could, imco, be called the mast HEADlight (forward facing)..... avoiding some confusion.
POWER DRIVEN VESSELS UNDERWAY. The >steaming< light is a navigation light. This is a popular term - not Colregs - probably created to solve the confusion between masthead light and masthead lightS. It is otherwise defined in Colregs Rule 21(a) as follows:
{Colregs uses these unusual quote marks, probably to draw attention that this lamp is not to be confused with mast top lights}
"Masthead light" means a whitelight placed forward over the fore-and-aft centerline of the vessel showing an unbroken light over an arc of horizon of 225 degrees and so fixed as to show the light from right ahead to 22.5 degrees abaft the beam on either side of the vessel.
Rule 23(d)(i) A power-driven vessel of less than 12 meters in lieu of the lights prescribed in paragraph 9(a)[larger vessels] of this Rule exhibits an all-round white light and sidelights.
The only light taller - on a moving power-driven boat - than red and green side light is an all-round white light. It can be assumed, imco, that if the stern light is OFF and the half-mast "masthead" 225 degree light is OFF**, AND side lights ON.... then the all-round mast-top white(anchor)light can be used instead...when motoring. [**because, maybe a 15foot off the deck "masthead light" is spilling too much light and interfering with "looking into the night".] An all-round white on the mast top on a moving power-driven sailboat doesn't compute for me.....
Why are the split 225/135 more acceptable? {Ebb, the reason is that a single all-round White can be interpreted as a boat anchored or aground.)
The combo down light option is not part of the Rules. [When wiring, imco, the foredeck light should be isolated from navlight panels.]
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HELLA TRI-COLOR and ANCHOR LIGHT mast-top lamp. As some already know, this is an extremely expensive LED navigation light. (No moreso than the competition.) Seems very well made. LOOKS expensive. Electronics are isolated and forever sealed inside a transparent elongated donut referred to as the 'light engine'. The hole is occupied by a hollow 316 10mm shaft that clamps the two basic parts together. There is an access wafer on top of the housing that when turned by a coin exposes the shaft's 19mm nyloc hex nut. When the nut is removed, the clear donut section can be lifted out, gaining access to the electrical plug connector. An 18" lead exits the housing through a rubber grommet out the bottom. The bottom section is fitted with a heavy cast plate that secures the center shaft - with 3 thru holes provided for fastening the lamp base to the mast... via a bracket, most likely. Date of manufacture etched on the rigid nylon polyamide lens [not acrylic or lexan.] Tri-color consumes less than 4W combined. All round less than 2W.
Contacted Hella - APAC & Middle East...Sales Manager immediately replied that the silver dollar sized access lid to the nut on top of the housing - which is not O-ringed against water
- doesn't provide a seal because the shaft that holds the lamp together isn't waterproof - even tho it is contained in and inhabits the center of the lamp.
My second question about the port and starboard LED, confirms that the emitters themselves are red and green.
The small transparent red/green covers over the emitters inside are cosmetic*** - making the lamp's DIY orientation visual. Naked stern light and topmost all-round white emit thru clear all-round lens. We assume that colored plastic does not restrict or alter the color of the side emitters.
Haven't found anything negative on the web about this tri-color.....except its price.
[***the colored material is unnecessary, imco. The light engine module is sealed, covers cannot be removed.]
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RED OVER GREEN - what does it mean? When sighted, it will instantly ID the light as SAILBOAT. A good thing offshore.
Why not integrate this exceptional SAILBOAT SPECIFIC navigation aid with our little ships... before Rule25(c) is removed from Colregs for lack of use?
Dangers of LED navigation lights
That is the title of a thread with a number of interesting posts, pro and con, LED vs incandescent. www.sailnet.com > > Skills and Seamanship > pg 4 of the menu of threads: Seamanship & Navigation.
To follow is a verbatim from pg 6 of the 'dangers' thread:
10.23.2013 posted by capta:
I was on watch steaming south through the Anegada Passage one night some years back, wide awake and sober by the way, on a freighter. Bridge height about 60 feet.
From the port bridge wing I saw a red or green light (I don't remember which) ahead, and it appeared to be a mile or more away.
I walked into the bridge to check the radar and out of the corner of my eye saw that light pass close to the port bridge wing.
I ran out and saw about a 40' sailing boat under full sail sliding aft no more than 10 feet from the ship!
I had already completed a circumnavigation under sail and numerous transAts and transPacs before this,
so I was an experienced sailor and would not ignore a sailboat's lights or take them lightly.
Ever since that night I have been passionately against masthead tricolor and consider them to be incredibly dangerous.
A single colored or white disembodied light gives absolutely No depth/distance perception
and no light at all shines on the water, boat or sails.
Several times on Long Island Sound, I have had other boats masthead running lights obscured by my bimini
and thought the guy an idiot, sailing unlit!
You can do as you please, but nothing on earth would ever convince me to sail under one.
[capta tags his post with this quote;]
"Any idiot can make a boat go - it takes a sailor to stop one." Spike Africa aboard the schooner Wanderer in Sausalito, CA 1964
This is a post essentially taken out of context from a lengthly thread.
Here's two cents:
It is not known what time period this close-call occurred. nor does it matter. The operative is the single light shining out of each
segment of the tri-color light. In this story, the tri-color could have been incandescent. Or the tricolor could have had single emitter LED for each color. Take capta's experience as something that could have happened to anybody on that bridge. That, of course, is the point...
.....The only lamp that can have an all-round emitter display (30 or 40, or more) is the all-round Red over Green. The sheer
number of LEDs in each color will exhibit a more unique concentration of light (even if limited to 2NM) than a single emitter. Imco.
This sounds like a plug for LEDs. And I could be convinced that multiple array LEDs White over Red over Green isn the ONLY way to go
to legally create better light for our sailboat at night. I'll be looking for 3NM for the mast-top!!!
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Interesting that the implied deck-level lights at sea may be more useful for the freighter to visually ID the sailboat.
The tri-color (at 34' above the water on an Ariel) probably produces NO SHINE ON THE WATER.
Colregs allows no other specific lights with a mast-top tri-color. Legally NO nav lights below!
Maybe mentioned in this thread, have heard that some sailors display inside cabin lights to help tell-tale the boat.
For the sailboat under power (propeller) the Colregs required "masthead light" found as a combo 15 feet off the deck on an A/C is a light that could be used tactically to show the boat in an emergency. The deck light cannot be used because it compromises night vision. However:
Given the lack of information a lookout on a freighter's bridge has when it comes to identifying sitting ducks under sail,
:cool:I'm now looking for an extra 2NM LED UP LIGHT for the front of the mast (at 15 feet) to be mounted on top of the 225 to shine straight up the mast, light it up, and any sail up there. Obviously help wake-up a lookout's attention to....whatn the hell is that boat out there?
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LED RETROS?
MaineSail has a couple photos of a lengthly shelf talker promanently displayed in his local Hamilton Marine store.
Emphasizes that lamps are CG certified as designed fixtures, not by bulb inside, and taking out an incandescent and substituting an LED could be bad news in a number of ways..... Read it, same page as the post I've quoted above....well worth the visit.
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LED REPLACEMENTS
Later EDIT. The Aqua-Signal 25 10W12A masthead/deck light combo is, imco, a temporary fixture. The mandated 225 degree mast headlight should be in its own waterproof IP68 case. This fixture is not waterproof. It cannot be made waterproof with goop or gasket. The electrical contacts for the bulbs are not protected, especially the deck light function. This fixture was designed by a half-brained idiot. This is not marine equipment. Merely correct marine décor for chumps like me.
It's now about a year later, and led trade-outs for incandecent bayonets and festoons are well established. One source for led replacements is Dr Led. This company has experienceed too many failures to be a trustworthy source. Cruiser's Forum and SaiNet by count have dozens of sailors complaining. One ledapple tree loaded with rotten apples. You can tell from the Specifications that certain important things are missing from the descriptions of the bulbs. Country of origin might be one important to you. But another is the CE symbol which guarantees that EMFs are at a minimum to strict standards. DON"T USE DR. LED LEDS IN YOUR masthead combo.
Go to Marinebeam.com. Look at the difference between the bayonet decklight offered by Marinebeam and Dr L. This is the exposed socket on the mast. Dr L's is an unprotected cluster of chips, but the M. has a single 5W Cree emitter protected by a glass 30degree spot lens. At 16ft up the mast, this bulb should make a 8'D of light.
Replacement for the BA9S mini-bayonet is the BA9S Replacement SKU-9S-5W --$18 2W#,150mS (150lumens)
Replacement Festoon SV8.5 is the 42mm/44mm Festoon LED Navigation Light Cone End Type Mini-Max. SKU FS-42-30C --$25 Constant Current Wattage 3.2W, 270mA. (175lumens). CE and RoHS compliant. Technically sound.
Read Jeff Field's www.marinebeam.com/ "What You Need To Know Before Buying LED Cluster Lighting For Your Yacht"
(Read it? Now you know why you didn't waste your money on Dr. LED ! !)
These replacements are designed to be correct for the A-S fixture.
Only possible caveat is that both emitters are cool white. Which is OK, as long as the light is not a blue wash.
all-round flexible strip rogs
Seems like this exchange here has stopped.
Have decided not to use any off-shelf LED navigation lamps for all-rounds at mast-top.
Will be using Waterproof LED Flexible Light Strips.
Have located FCC/CE IP68 strips installed (per Colregs r.o.g.) on a SFBay Triton.
Nufsaid. Later.
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Two person or singlehanded offshore night sailing wisely suggests reefing the mainsail.
A 4' luff reef would expose enough mast for meter separation between all-round
red at mast top and all-round green 39" below.