Subject: [harryproa] Re: nav lights |
From: "Mike Crawford mcrawf@nuomo.com [harryproa]" <harryproa@yahoogroups.com.au> |
Date: 11/26/2014, 3:50 PM |
To: harryproa@yahoogroups.com.au |
Reply-to: harryproa@yahoogroups.com.au |
Sounds reasonable. Higher off the water than the bows, but still
under the sail, and unlikely to get washed away by waves.
I've read some great reviews on the navisafe lights and will be
getting one with a pole mount for my dinghy next season.
As for proa going offshore, I'd also want something higher up to
be seen at greater distances and/or above swells.
FIXED MAST
My ideal setup:
- Fixed mast with a SoftWing sail and rotating boom.
- Two tricolor masthead light pucks, to be switched on and off
depending upon direction.
- Capped with a single color masthead anchor light.
- Along with a masthead wireless TackTick wind meter.
- Then either:
a) Two fluxgate compasses, one facing towards each bow, with
the leads to the TackTick NMEA interface switched between the two
depending upon the direction, or
b) A single compass on a rotating stock that gets flipped 180
degrees.
The twin-compass solution has the advantage of being switched
remotely, either by a physical switch, by a float/wand that drags in
the water, or by a knotmeter hooked up to a powered switch with a
few electronics that flips whenever the speed reverses. The same
switch flips the nav lights. But there are components to fail
however you look at it.
The rotating stock has the advantage of one less component, and
the setup is highly unlikely to fail. You just have to remember to
use it. I suppose there could be an automated warning light -- the
worst case is that the light would fail, but the actual
compass/light mechanism could be more robust.
Either setup could also be used with an NMEA-integrated autopilot
with tillerpilot mechanism. Or, for the price, maybe you just get
two self-contained tiller pilots.
The biggest downside so far is trying to estimate the "real" wind
speed. Trying to achieve or surpass wind speed with the boat could
get tough with a wind meter up that high.
ROTATING MAST
That's a tough call. TackTick has a wireless mast rotation sensor
that works well on my catamaran, and should probably work to sense
the true wind direction if the NMEA compass were flipped on each
shunt.
But there are not auto-rotators for masthead lights.
I'd suggest a secondary mast on the ww hull, much narrower and
lower, which could be rotated on each shunt. With the compass and
the wind sensor both mounted to the mast (compass below decks), it's
probably the least expensive solution, and its gets a more realistic
wind speed when one wants to brag.
However, those nav lights are going to be shielded by the sails at
night, so I'm not sure if it's a realistic solution. The lights on
the WW hull canopy might do better.
- Mike
No problems as long as they are visible all round (ie, the sail does not block them) and they do not blind the helmsman. I would try them on a dark night on land before drilling any holes. On top of the ww hull canopy, on top of it might be a better location than the bows.
I am waiting for a price on these, http://www.navisafe....tricolor-2nm-2/ which look like a pretty good solution, using rechargable batteries.
rob
On Tue, Nov 25, 2014 at 10:03 PM, squirebug@yahoo.com [harryproa] <harryproa@yahoogroups.com.au> wrote:
I have been considering using switchable lights on the windward bows of งง.
I think they would be visible from leeward and simpler than a rotating masthead, but lower down.
Any thoughts on the trade-offs?
Best regards
Herb
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