"Larry" wrote

I just hate to think someone's life isn't worth more than a strobe from
the
flea market when this one is only $20. There's one on my Sospenders with
the 10 year Lithium D cell. I go all out when I'm drowning....(c; Why
not
use the same one on the pole?

Actually, it was a brand new bicycle light that I took apart for the pole.
Bike lights are subject to a lot of shock and weather and are a pretty
critical safety item so I don't think it's being cheap.

The real issue was weight. I could have bought a ready made MOB pole, with
a light even, but a lifetime of doing stability calculations told me that
the ones I saw in stores and catalogues were going to blow pretty much flat
in the water in heavy weather. I wanted to get the light high and the
center of gravity as low as possible. Now that we have GPS with instant MOB
waypoint input, the primary purpose of the light is to enable the person in
the water to find the pole. Trying to find a strobe floating at the surface
can be hard for a swimmer because half the ocean seems to light up. Every
foot of height counts. The super light bicycle components with a large
battery pack making up part of the ballast still seems like a good solution.

The rest of the ballast is a length of steel pipe filled with lead. This
sucker is heavy but should stand up in any wind that the boat can work
against to get back to the person in the water.

I just need a reliable switch.

--
Roger Long

On Aug 7, 6:49 am, "Roger Long" wrote:
"Larry" wrote

I just hate to think someone's life isn't worth more than a strobe from
the
flea market when this one is only $20. There's one on my Sospenders with
the 10 year Lithium D cell. I go all out when I'm drowning....(c; Why
not
use the same one on the pole?

Actually, it was a brand new bicycle light that I took apart for the pole.
Bike lights are subject to a lot of shock and weather and are a pretty
critical safety item so I don't think it's being cheap.

The real issue was weight. I could have bought a ready made MOB pole, with
a light even, but a lifetime of doing stability calculations told me that
the ones I saw in stores and catalogues were going to blow pretty much flat
in the water in heavy weather. I wanted to get the light high and the
center of gravity as low as possible. Now that we have GPS with instant MOB
waypoint input, the primary purpose of the light is to enable the person in
the water to find the pole. Trying to find a strobe floating at the surface
can be hard for a swimmer because half the ocean seems to light up. Every
foot of height counts. The super light bicycle components with a large
battery pack making up part of the ballast still seems like a good solution.

The rest of the ballast is a length of steel pipe filled with lead. This
sucker is heavy but should stand up in any wind that the boat can work
against to get back to the person in the water.

I just need a reliable switch.

--
Roger Long

A mercury switch?

Terry K

On Tue, 7 Aug 2007 05:49:51 -0400, "Roger Long"
wrote:


"Larry" wrote

I just hate to think someone's life isn't worth more than a strobe from
the
flea market when this one is only $20. There's one on my Sospenders with
the 10 year Lithium D cell. I go all out when I'm drowning....(c; Why
not
use the same one on the pole?

Actually, it was a brand new bicycle light that I took apart for the pole.
Bike lights are subject to a lot of shock and weather and are a pretty
critical safety item so I don't think it's being cheap.

The real issue was weight. I could have bought a ready made MOB pole, with
a light even, but a lifetime of doing stability calculations told me that
the ones I saw in stores and catalogues were going to blow pretty much flat
in the water in heavy weather. I wanted to get the light high and the
center of gravity as low as possible. Now that we have GPS with instant MOB
waypoint input, the primary purpose of the light is to enable the person in
the water to find the pole. Trying to find a strobe floating at the surface
can be hard for a swimmer because half the ocean seems to light up. Every
foot of height counts. The super light bicycle components with a large
battery pack making up part of the ballast still seems like a good solution.

The rest of the ballast is a length of steel pipe filled with lead. This
sucker is heavy but should stand up in any wind that the boat can work
against to get back to the person in the water.

I just need a reliable switch.

I don't really want to get between Larry and an electrical problem but
I did once know a bloke that had a built in tube, in the transom,
where he stored his MOB pole. It apparently had a mercury switch built
in. If it was horizontal it was off, vertical on. Seemed to work all
right. As an aside I believe he had some sort of launching device,
i.e., pull the handle and WOOSH the pole was deployed.


Bruce in Bangkok
(brucepaigeATgmailDOTcom)

wrote

I don't really want to get between Larry and an electrical problem but
I did once know a bloke that had a built in tube, in the transom,
where he stored his MOB pole. It apparently had a mercury switch built

And Terry,

I had that thought and, environment aside, it is probably what I would do
except that the pole has to be stored in a vertical positon on my boat.
Even if I felt like cutting up the boat for a stern tube, the pole would
extend into the main cabin.

The reason I want something flush is to minimize things that can snag. The
line to the horseshoe lifering will be in the water with the PIW's feet so
the less projections, the better. I also wouldn't want the light to get
kicked off accidentally by being kicked.

Something like a jetski kill switch might work but the elegant thing about
the magnetic reed switch is that a pull on the Velcor strap in any direction
will strip off the magnet. If the lanyard has to pull straight out to
activate the switch, it's going to be hard to rig so it works reliably. I
don't want the person releasing the pole to have to remember to turn it on
in the heat of the moment.

--
Roger Long

There is no switch more reliable than a mercury wetted switch. There are no
moving parts. The pole should be graphite and all the electrics should be in
the bottom, including a 406 MHz EPIRB. Store pole on the rail bottom up.
Steve

"Roger Long" wrote in message
...

"Larry" wrote

I just hate to think someone's life isn't worth more than a strobe from
the
flea market when this one is only $20. There's one on my Sospenders with
the 10 year Lithium D cell. I go all out when I'm drowning....(c; Why
not
use the same one on the pole?

Actually, it was a brand new bicycle light that I took apart for the pole.
Bike lights are subject to a lot of shock and weather and are a pretty
critical safety item so I don't think it's being cheap.

The real issue was weight. I could have bought a ready made MOB pole,
with a light even, but a lifetime of doing stability calculations told me
that the ones I saw in stores and catalogues were going to blow pretty
much flat in the water in heavy weather. I wanted to get the light high
and the center of gravity as low as possible. Now that we have GPS with
instant MOB waypoint input, the primary purpose of the light is to enable
the person in the water to find the pole. Trying to find a strobe
floating at the surface can be hard for a swimmer because half the ocean
seems to light up. Every foot of height counts. The super light bicycle
components with a large battery pack making up part of the ballast still
seems like a good solution.

The rest of the ballast is a length of steel pipe filled with lead. This
sucker is heavy but should stand up in any wind that the boat can work
against to get back to the person in the water.

I just need a reliable switch.

--
Roger Long

On Tue, 7 Aug 2007 05:49:51 -0400, "Roger Long"
wrote:

The real issue was weight. I could have bought a ready made MOB pole, with
a light even, but a lifetime of doing stability calculations told me that
the ones I saw in stores and catalogues were going to blow pretty much flat
in the water in heavy weather. I wanted to get the light high and the
center of gravity as low as possible.

As you may know, the traditional solution on offshore racing sail
boats, where a MOB with STROBE is mandatory equipment, is to use a
floating auto-activated STROBE attached to the pole with a short
length of line. The STROBE is usually hung from the stern pulpit
directly behind the helmsman, and a quick chuck overboard activates
the light and pulls the MOB into the water along with it. These
things are ready made for the purpose, reliable, visible and have
withstood the test of time. Unless you just like to tinker I'd go
with the proven solution.

http://www.landfallnavigation.com/sfwl1.html

Well, I do like to tinker.

If reed switches worked as advertised (burglars must really love the things
since they are ubiquitous on alarm systems), I would have an excellent set
up right now. It clearly is the switch because I can sometimes get it to
switch from steady to flashing mode by banging on the pole.

In a racing boat charging hard under a spinnaker it may take a couple of
miles to get things under control enough to start back. In that case, you
need a really bright strobe. The rules were also written before GPS track
back and MOB waypoint entry so the search area could rapidly become several
square miles.

I'll get back within about 100 feet of where I punched the MOB button on the
GPS and in any conditions where I can make the boat go back, the turn will
take place within a few hundred feet at worst. There just isn't anything
complex to deal with in the rig. I want something to guide the PIW to the
pole and life ring.

There is a very interesting passage in an early edition of "Heavy Weather
Sailing" describing how hard it was to locate and get to a floating strobe
in waves because it lit up so much water and wasn't above the waves long
enough to fix a visual location.

I would put the strobe on the lifevest and I have those as backup.

--
Roger Long

On Tue, 07 Aug 2007 01:04:19 +0000, Larry wrote:

"Roger Long" wrote in news:46b78aba$0$30688
:

What would be flush, watertight, and reliable?


http://www.nitro-pak.com/product_inf...roducts_id=802
&osCsid=810cd61405cfedde7f1534bb270970af

Not sure about "flush"....???

I just hate to think someone's life isn't worth more than a strobe from the
flea market when this one is only $20. There's one on my Sospenders with
the 10 year Lithium D cell. I go all out when I'm drowning....(c; Why not
use the same one on the pole?

Larry

A strobe is so much more visible than any LED that this has to be a
good pick.

Brian W

"Brian Whatcott" wrote

A strobe is so much more visible than any LED that this has to be a
good pick.

So, what's "more visible" got to do with it? The LED strobes are visible
for much farther than anyone is going to swim and more than the search
radius of a boat that can be turned back almost instantly under all
conditions. This isn't a pole intended to guide aircraft into a 10 mile
search box.

If I start carrying spinnakers at night, I probably will add a standard
strobe to the MOB package or build a similar pole with the same bulbs and
circuitry as in the floating strobes.

I have strobes for the individual lifejackets. I would prefer to have the
brightest light on the PIW. If the PIW can't make it to the MOB pole, I
don't want that to be the brightest thing out there distracting and ruining
night vison while the PIW is a couple hundred feet away with maybe just a
lightstick.

The light on the pole is just to help the PIW get to it in the dark. It's
plenty bright enough for that. If they don't get to it, it isn't going to
be much use.

--
Roger Long

Brian Whatcott wrote in
:

On Tue, 07 Aug 2007 01:04:19 +0000, Larry wrote:

"Roger Long" wrote in news:46b78aba$0$30688
:

What would be flush, watertight, and reliable?


http://www.nitro-pak.com/product_inf...roducts_id=802
&osCsid=810cd61405cfedde7f1534bb270970af

Not sure about "flush"....???

I just hate to think someone's life isn't worth more than a strobe
from the flea market when this one is only $20. There's one on my
Sospenders with the 10 year Lithium D cell. I go all out when I'm
drowning....(c; Why not use the same one on the pole?

Larry

A strobe is so much more visible than any LED that this has to be a
good pick.

Brian W


Mine is a strobe! It makes your eyes go buggy it's so bright if you dare
look at it, destroying your night vision, of course.

Larry
--
Democrats are raising taxes on oil companies by $16,000,000,000.
Oil companies don't pay taxes, just like every other company.
Consumers pay all taxes, corporate and individual.
What's the price of a gallon of regular going to go to to pay $16B more?