TWL: COLREG Rule 33. Sound Equipment
In case you have every pondered the seemingly ambiguous paragraph (b) in
rule 33, here is some more to ponder upon.
Rule 33 (b)
"A vessel less than 12 meters in length shall not be obligated to carry the
sound signalling appliances prescribed in (a) of this Rule but if she does
not, she shall be provided with some other means of making an efficient
sound signal."
This rule applies in Inland US as well as on the high seas. But, before all
the rules were consolidated a few years ago, motorboats over 26 feet were
required to carry a bell and motorboats over 16 feet were required to carry
a whistle.
Note that the new rule applies to ALL vessels, sail and otherwise.
And that the Annex to the rules specifies a bell of about 8 inches for
vessels over 12 meters.
Now here is where it starts to get interesting.
The Official "Federal Requirements" booklet, says:
"Any vessel less than 12 meters MAY carry a whistle or horn...."
Then:
"Therefore, any vessel less than 12 meters in length is REQUIRED" to make
an efficient sound signal to signal your intentions and to signal your
POSITION in periods of reduced visibility".
Below there is a picture of a portable horn and a manual (athletic)whistle.
In case you have forgotten, if you have an accident the courts do the
interpreting, not the USCG. They will interpret the Rule and in many past
cases the courts have been much more rigid than the CG.
In other words, after an accident a court might interpret Rule 33(b) as
requiring a real bell and a serious whistle, using the catch all Rule 2 (a).
You remember Rule 2 (a), don't you?
"Nothing in these Rules shall exonerate any vessel, or the owner, master or
crew thereof, from the consequences of any neglect to comply with these
Rules or of the neglect of any precaution which may be required by the
ORDINARY practice of seamen, or by the special circumstances of the case.
By the way, the CG could change their interpretation of this at any time,
although I suspect it would be with some warning, since it is in their booklet.
There is bit of useful information in all this. If you have a collision,
the legals will be all over you. If you are running a less than 12 meter
vessel, start by taking every precaution you can to not have a collision,
considering the equipment needs as implied above. Keep in mind that any
precaution you could have reasonably taken and failed to take will be held
against you. In this case, if you don't have a real bell or whistle, make
jolly sure you don't collide with anyone. If you don't have the best tools
for the job, take extra precautions to see that other vessels around you
know your position and your intentions as best you can.
Add to your lookouts, use your radar (even if anchored), make noises by
banging pans, keep your searchlight ready at hand, etc.
These are good tactics for any size vessel, short of the required
appliances or with equipment failures.
Oh, I almost forgot. I have never met anyone who had ever used a bell to
signal while anchored in the fog. But, that's just practice, not what is
legally required. Like I said, interesting.
Regards,
Mike
Capt. Mike Maurice
Near Portland Oregon.
On 28 Feb 2002 15:37:41 -0500, "Michael Maurice"
mikem@yachtsdelivered.com wrote:
Oh, I almost forgot. I have never met anyone who had ever used a bell to
signal while anchored in the fog. But, that's just practice, not what is
legally required. Like I said, interesting.
I can name a whole list of similar violations of the Colregs
that are routine. It seems that the ordinary practice of seamen is to
be lazy and not comply with the Colregs and given the lack of
enforcement they have little incentive to do so.
I do occasionally see people display a ball when anchored but
never see a boat motorsailing display an inverted cone. Many tugs in
Puget Sound have their towing day shapes welded to the mast and
display them regardless of their present occupation. Dive boats
frequently display Alpha or Diver Down flags at the dock and under
weigh. As the CTSB report stated much of the barge lighting on the
west coast is substandard.
Ross Fleming ross@renoun.net
Seattle, WA http://renoun.net
OK, lets say we have a more than 12 meter boat, with a computer connected to
a humongous 150db at 1/2 mile amp/speaker. The computer runs a program which
feeds the amp with a .wav file (or.mp3) of a bell flawlessly recorded. The
program of course follows the rule for the situation exactly.
But there is no bell aboard.
Does this satisfy ANY of the ColReg? Would it satisfy Rule 2 (a)? ("Nothing
in these Rules shall ....consequences of any neglect to comply with these
Rules or of the neglect of any precaution which may be required by the
ORDINARY practice of seamen, or by the special circumstances of the case.)
Would it satisfy the court?
Remember it is more than 12 Meters.
Richard
At 09:37 PM 2/28/02, you wrote:
Does this satisfy ANY of the ColReg? Would it satisfy Rule 2 (a)? ("Nothing
in these Rules shall ....consequences of any neglect to comply with these
Rules or of the neglect of any precaution which may be required by the
ORDINARY practice of seamen, or by the special circumstances of the case.)
Would it satisfy the court?
Allowing that I am not the Judge of the Admiralty Court.
If you can demonstrate that your substitution was equivalent and could not
have contributed or been the cause of the collision. You would not be found
at fault.
This ruling would not be binding on the CG. But,...
Capt. Mike Maurice
Near Portland Oregon.
At 09:37 PM 2/28/02, you wrote:
OK, lets say we have a more than 12 meter boat, with a computer connected to
a humongous 150db at 1/2 mile amp/speaker. The computer runs a program which
feeds the amp with a .wav file (or.mp3) of a bell flawlessly recorded. The
program of course follows the rule for the situation exactly.
But there is no bell aboard.
Rule 33 (a), last Sentence applies to over 12 meters and says:
"The bell or gong or both may be replaced by other equipment having the
same respective sound characteristics, provided that MANUAL sound of the
prescribed signals shall always be possible.
Analysis:
It would appear that a substitution is allowed. The word "manual", would
appear to be interpreted as your ability to cause the sound by single
actuations, in other words, pressing the button/key whatever yourself.
THe history of this is pretty simple. The CG and the courts would prefer a
bell that is actuated by an automatic timer, but must be capable of manual
operation. The bells that most people have, have to be rung by hand.
Now here comes the sticky part. Notice the words, "shall always be possible".
AN electronic system that could fail might not be interpreted by the CG, on
inspection or the court if it failed to operate and a collision resulted,
to conform to the Rules.
For a vessel less than 12 meters, the use of an electronic system would
seem to be ok, at least for CG inspection purposes.
Over 12 meters, a bell would probably be necessary as a backup.
A vessel of 20 meters, the bell must be 300mm, which is about 12 inches.
Bells like that are not cheap.
Capt. Mike Maurice
Near Portland Oregon.
At 10:32 PM 02/28/2002 -0500, Michael Maurice wrote:
Analysis:
It would appear that a substitution is allowed.
Now here comes the sticky part. Notice the words, "shall always be possible".
AN electronic system that could fail might not be interpreted by the CG, on
inspection or the court if it failed to operate and a collision resulted,
to conform to the Rules.
For a vessel less than 12 meters, the use of an electronic system would
seem to be ok, at least for CG inspection purposes.
Over 12 meters, a bell would probably be necessary as a backup.
A vessel of 20 meters, the bell must be 300mm, which is about 12 inches.
Bells like that are not cheap.
REPLY
Taking that argument at face value, where does that leave a vesel with an
air horn?
In the event of a power failure the compressor will not produce high
pressure air and thus the horn cannot sound.
What doe the rules say about a manual non powered air horn ( whistle)
Don't recall ever seeing one big enough to be useful.
Cheers
Arild
elnav@uniserve.com writes:
What do the rules say about a manual
,
non powered air horn (whistle)
Don't recall ever seeing one big enough to be useful.
Refer: West Marine Catalogue, year 2002, page 897, Admiral Airhorn $12.95.
Looks like a toy, feels like a toy and sounds like an 18 wheeler right behind you
It's a mouth activated membrane airhorn that delivers 120 db. I have one for about 4 years now. Use nothing else (I have other noise-making toys). This thing hangs outside on a lanyard in the cockpit in all weather. First time I used it, I was
put-putting out of a narrow marina channel. A small boat was drifting in the channel, the occupants having a conversation with someone on shore and quite oblivious to surroundings. Didn't hear my Diesel either. I gave one gentle (120 db) short blast, as
gentle as I could. Thought it was heart attack time. Never saw anyone rowing so fast ever again.
If you get a chance try that "Admiral Airhorn" sometime. You'll be amazed!
George of Scaramouche, Lake Ontario, Canada with no commercial interest in West Marine or any airhorn manufacturer, just love my toys....
My stove is not working these days. I can light the
pilot, and up until I tried to fix it last night, I
could turn the control knob all the way to "broil" and
the flame in the oven would come on for a brief time
then go back to pilot only. Methinks the control unit
up where the knob is attached is somehow messed up. I
tried clenaing all the crud out of the passages.
There is supposeldy some kind of temp adjustment on
there somewhere. I havent figured it out yet. If
anyone wants to save me from going gray, I would love
to hear comments on what could be wrong and how the
temp thing can be adjusted.
Dan
=====
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----- Original Message -----
From: "George Geist" scaramouche@tvo.org
Refer: West Marine Catalogue, year 2002, page 897, Admiral Airhorn $12.95.
It's a mouth activated membrane airhorn that delivers 120 db.
Hi George,
We've got one of these and you're absolutely right, They are EARSPLITTING!
When we bought ours it was called the "Admiral Hornblower" and that is how
it's listed on the West Marine web site. Maybe that's a difference between
the US & Canada.
Like you, we keep it on the bridge (somewhat protected) hanging by its
lanyard. It's been there for several years now and still seems as good as
new.
Cheap, simple, bulletproof, and LOUD; this thing would also be an excellent
candidate for inclusion in an abandon ship kit or as a permanent fixture on
the dinghy.
Quietly yours,
Alex
Dan Symula wrote:
My stove is not working these days. I can light the
pilot, and up until I tried to fix it last night, I
could turn the control knob all the way to "broil" and
the flame in the oven would come on for a brief time
then go back to pilot only. Methinks the control unit
up where the knob is attached is somehow messed up. I
tried clenaing all the crud out of the passages.
There is supposeldy some kind of temp adjustment on
there somewhere. I havent figured it out yet. If
anyone wants to save me from going gray, I would love
to hear comments on what could be wrong and how the
temp thing can be adjusted.
Dan
=====
Dan ,
Have you checked to see that the propane is actually on. A funny story
to us is that we cooked an entire Thanksgiving pie on propane fumes.
The burner was lit , but slowly burning and could not be turn up. I
know it sounds crazy but it true. It was not until later that I was
going to change the tank and realized I had the valve closed.
This may not be your situation , but I am in the mood to confess my
stupidity.
ok.............thats it.
Lynn
34' MT Love Affair
Tampa