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Red over green mast lights for sailboat
On ships with "all around" lights mounted close on the mast, it is common to
have two lights mounted on each side of the mast. Two lights mounted 12" apart should not be confusing, and while a sail may block a light, it would also be illuminated by it. Pete Albright Tampa, FL "Lee Huddleston" wrote in message ... SNIP The second set of questions have more to do with the electronics and building news groups. I seem to remember reading somewhere that lights in a vertical stack should (or have to) be separated by one meter. Since the red over green lights would be entirely optional, you probably could get away with less separation but there probably is a minimum separation to keep the lights from appearing to merge when sighted at a distance. Anybody have any opinion on what the minimum distance would have to be so that the lights would appear as separate lights at say 2 nautical miles? The distance apart also complicates the installation. One idea I had was to hoist two lanterns up to a block on an upper spreader. The lanterns could be powered by their own batteries or I could run wires down to an outlet on the deck. What do you think of this possible arrangement? It would not be at the peak of the mast and would be blocked from vision from one side of the boat at times by the mast. But, it would have the advantage of being removable and repairable easily. Such an arrangement could also be used for displaying red over red or red/white/red when those signals might be necessary. Since I already have a tri-color light at the peak of my mainmast, any permanent extension above the peak would interfere with the visibility of the tri-color (and its anchor light) when I chose to use it. Since I have a mizzen mast, I have considered building an extension for the peak of that mast. The added advantage of this arrangement is that it would not increase the overall height of my rig for purposes of vertical clearance. But even with some kind of extension, how do I keep the pole or extension itself from blocking the light from certain angles? Well, experts, what do you think of all this? Of course, would be a lot of work to design and install such an arrangement. But if it kept me from getting run down just once, it would be well worth the effort. Or, on the other hand, have I just lost my mind? :-) Thanks in advance for your advice and help. Lee Huddleston s/v Truelove Bruce Roberts Mauritius 43 43 foot seel hulled, center cockpit, raised poop, cutter/ketch |
#2
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Red over green mast lights for sailboat
PeteAlbright wrote: On ships with "all around" lights mounted close on the mast, it is common to have two lights mounted on each side of the mast. Two lights mounted 12" apart should not be confusing, and while a sail may block a light, it would also be illuminated by it. Pete Albright Tampa, FL I'd be careful on this. Although I won't disagree that on some ships, this is true, due to considerations of construction, this requires regulatory agreement and is not the norm. Also, it is quite possible that some may see various signal light "trees" on either side of a ship mast, which they may mistake for duplication, wherein reality, they are separate signals for some specific locale or function. otn |
#3
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Red over green mast lights for sailboat
Both Pete and otn are right. On the one hand, most large vessels have
spare lights, at least for the major functions (stern, masthead, sidelights, towing), so what might appear to be a pair of lights are actually not used at the same time. But, the US rules, at least, (I can't find an International Rules citation for this) permit two lights to be used for one all around light where there's a mast in the way, see 84CFR17 Annex I, paragraph 9 http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/w...3cfr84_99.html Basically, you have to ensure that the two lights appear as if they are one at a distance of one mile or more by using screens or mounting them close together. Jim Woodward www.mvfintry.com otnmbrd wrote in message ink.net... PeteAlbright wrote: On ships with "all around" lights mounted close on the mast, it is common to have two lights mounted on each side of the mast. Two lights mounted 12" apart should not be confusing, and while a sail may block a light, it would also be illuminated by it. Pete Albright Tampa, FL I'd be careful on this. Although I won't disagree that on some ships, this is true, due to considerations of construction, this requires regulatory agreement and is not the norm. Also, it is quite possible that some may see various signal light "trees" on either side of a ship mast, which they may mistake for duplication, wherein reality, they are separate signals for some specific locale or function. otn |
#4
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Red over green mast lights for sailboat
When I was refering to "ships", I meant commercial ships, usually well over
60 M. Most of the lamps are 120 Vac. The ships are under IEEE-45, USCG (Code of Federal Regulations), and ABS (or other certification organization) rules. On ships and tugs ("ocean going tug/barge"), the port, starboard, stern, masthead, and range lights are redundant, with two lights in a vertical assembly. Both lights have the wiring and filement monitored, and if the primary light fails, the spare can be switched on. On smaller masts, 6" to10" pipe, the "upper red", "middle white", and "lower red" NUC lights are usually sigle, and mounted off the mast to the side. Anchor lights are also mounted off the side if there is not room on top. Where the mast is large, mounting two lights is theusual method. Most of the ("ocean going tug/barge") barge lights are powered from local batteries with solar panels, and have six lamps with automatic lamp changers. One light that is not in the rules, is a small directional blue light, facing aft at the bow (usually behind the range light). The tug pilot uses this light to locate the boy of the barge at night. Whether Red over green is necessary, on a sailboat, is up to the master. I had not though of doing it on my '77 Hunter 30, But I do have all Aqua Signal series 40 lights, the brightest 12 volt light commonly available. Pete Albright "Jim Woodward" wrote in message om... Both Pete and otn are right. On the one hand, most large vessels have spare lights, at least for the major functions (stern, masthead, sidelights, towing), so what might appear to be a pair of lights are actually not used at the same time. But, the US rules, at least, (I can't find an International Rules citation for this) permit two lights to be used for one all around light where there's a mast in the way, see 84CFR17 Annex I, paragraph 9 http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/w...3cfr84_99.html Basically, you have to ensure that the two lights appear as if they are one at a distance of one mile or more by using screens or mounting them close together. Jim Woodward www.mvfintry.com otnmbrd wrote in message ink.net... PeteAlbright wrote: On ships with "all around" lights mounted close on the mast, it is common to have two lights mounted on each side of the mast. Two lights mounted 12" apart should not be confusing, and while a sail may block a light, it would also be illuminated by it. Pete Albright Tampa, FL I'd be careful on this. Although I won't disagree that on some ships, this is true, due to considerations of construction, this requires regulatory agreement and is not the norm. Also, it is quite possible that some may see various signal light "trees" on either side of a ship mast, which they may mistake for duplication, wherein reality, they are separate signals for some specific locale or function. otn |
#5
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Red over green mast lights for sailboat
I think your 60M estimate is high. When we were looking for Fintry,
almost all of the 75-100' vessels we considered had dual masthead, stern, and side lights with a control box that sounds a buzzer when one goes out. Fintry's lights have dual supplies, as well -- the primary light is 220V and the secondary 24V from the emergency batteries. (These were all ex commercial, military, fishing, and government vessels -- see www.mvfintry.com/boatsnotbought.htm for some of them). I agree that many "all-around lights" on working vessels are provided by single lamps on a stalk away from the mast. Many of them appear to violate Colregs Annex I 9(b) which requires the obstruction from a mast be limited to six degrees (tangent 6 degrees is about 1/10, so a six inch mast would require a sixty inch stalk -- the filament is a vertical line source, so the width of the lens doesn't count). Note that this does not apply to an anchor light, which must be placed "where it can best be seen". Fintry's NUC lights are pairs on either side of a 4" mast (see http://www.mvfintry.com/pix/plymouth800.jpg -- they're below the spreaders). They're 360 lights and don't have any screens. Since they were installed for the use of the Royal Navy to meet the requirements of the MCA, I would guess that they're probably legal, at least in the UK. While we're on the topic, have any of you noticed that many yachts above 20 meters don't have legal lights -- the sidelights are often in front of the steaming lights? While this is perhaps understandable in the case of sail boats -- there's no good way to meet the rules when you have an overlapping genoa -- it's also common in power yachts. Fashion is more important than safety. Jim Woodward www.mvfintry.com "PeteAlbright" wrote in message . com... When I was refering to "ships", I meant commercial ships, usually well over 60 M. Most of the lamps are 120 Vac. The ships are under IEEE-45, USCG (Code of Federal Regulations), and ABS (or other certification organization) rules. On ships and tugs ("ocean going tug/barge"), the port, starboard, stern, masthead, and range lights are redundant, with two lights in a vertical assembly. Both lights have the wiring and filement monitored, and if the primary light fails, the spare can be switched on. On smaller masts, 6" to10" pipe, the "upper red", "middle white", and "lower red" NUC lights are usually sigle, and mounted off the mast to the side. Anchor lights are also mounted off the side if there is not room on top. Where the mast is large, mounting two lights is theusual method. Most of the ("ocean going tug/barge") barge lights are powered from local batteries with solar panels, and have six lamps with automatic lamp changers. One light that is not in the rules, is a small directional blue light, facing aft at the bow (usually behind the range light). The tug pilot uses this light to locate the boy of the barge at night. Whether Red over green is necessary, on a sailboat, is up to the master. I had not though of doing it on my '77 Hunter 30, But I do have all Aqua Signal series 40 lights, the brightest 12 volt light commonly available. Pete Albright |
#6
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Red over green mast lights for sailboat
Pardon my grammer, I ment that the ships I work on are usually all over 60
M, not that the light configuration applied to ships over 60 M. Pete "Jim Woodward" wrote in message om... I think your 60M estimate is high. When we were looking for Fintry, almost all of the 75-100' vessels we considered had dual masthead, stern, and side lights with a control box that sounds a buzzer when one goes out. Fintry's lights have dual supplies, as well -- the primary light is 220V and the secondary 24V from the emergency batteries. (These were all ex commercial, military, fishing, and government vessels -- see www.mvfintry.com/boatsnotbought.htm for some of them). I agree that many "all-around lights" on working vessels are provided by single lamps on a stalk away from the mast. Many of them appear to violate Colregs Annex I 9(b) which requires the obstruction from a mast be limited to six degrees (tangent 6 degrees is about 1/10, so a six inch mast would require a sixty inch stalk -- the filament is a vertical line source, so the width of the lens doesn't count). Note that this does not apply to an anchor light, which must be placed "where it can best be seen". Fintry's NUC lights are pairs on either side of a 4" mast (see http://www.mvfintry.com/pix/plymouth800.jpg -- they're below the spreaders). They're 360 lights and don't have any screens. Since they were installed for the use of the Royal Navy to meet the requirements of the MCA, I would guess that they're probably legal, at least in the UK. While we're on the topic, have any of you noticed that many yachts above 20 meters don't have legal lights -- the sidelights are often in front of the steaming lights? While this is perhaps understandable in the case of sail boats -- there's no good way to meet the rules when you have an overlapping genoa -- it's also common in power yachts. Fashion is more important than safety. Jim Woodward www.mvfintry.com "PeteAlbright" wrote in message . com... When I was refering to "ships", I meant commercial ships, usually well over 60 M. Most of the lamps are 120 Vac. The ships are under IEEE-45, USCG (Code of Federal Regulations), and ABS (or other certification organization) rules. SNIP Pete Albright |
#7
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Red over green mast lights for sailboat
Subject: Red over green mast lights for sailboat
From: "PeteAlbright" On ships and tugs ("ocean going tug/barge"), the port, starboard, stern, masthead, and range lights are redundant, with two lights in a vertical assembly. Both lights have the wiring and filement monitored, and if the primary light fails, the spare can be switched on. On smaller masts, 6" to10" pipe, the "upper red", "middle white", and "lower red" NUC lights are usually sigle, and mounted off the mast to the side. Anchor lights are also mounted off the side if there is not room on top. Where the mast is large, mounting two lights is theusual method. What you describe above, is RAM, not NUC. On ships, you will frequently find the anchor lights mounted on seperate "poles" (sometimes portable) where the light will be at the top of the pole .....normally a single light. BG try picking out the anchor lights on a ship, nowadays ..... where they also use all decklights, the anchor lights tend to just blend in with the others. Most of the ("ocean going tug/barge") barge lights are powered from local batteries with solar panels, and have six lamps with automatic lamp changers. Interesting .... never seen one with any kind of lamp changer. One light that is not in the rules, is a small directional blue light, facing aft at the bow (usually behind the range light). The tug pilot uses this light to locate the boy of the barge at night. Called a "steering light", it's frequently found on most ships, in a centerline position as far forward as possible. BTW, it seems nowadays, that most have stopped referring to Masthead and Range, just using Masthead. The Range light was always the after of the two lights, when it's usage was common. Shen |
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