Sunday, November 21, 2010

The Inside of an Indicator Buoy

Sort of off-topic...a signaling buoy on my boat required maintenance... in other words, it was not up to its task anymore, and will be replaced. Those things are supposed to be mounted to a lifesafer, so that it can be found by the MOB (Man Over Bord), and further, that the MOB can be found by the crew of sailors.
Now, let's have a peak what is inside....


The orange body of the buoy is closed by a transparent cap, sealed by a black rubber gasket. The inner life of the buoy consists of a PCV tube which holds (from left to right) some Fe-ballast, an opening for loading 4 D-type batteries, a spring for those batteries, a PCB w/ a flasher circuit, an Hg-switch and a mount for the bulb.

I leave it to your imagination what to do w/ this info... The only thing I can say is, if you find any flaw in your safety gear, discard w/o hesitation, lives will depend on the stuff! You don't want to have an indicator buoy not flashing properly if yours friends live in on the line.

Look after your safety gear, respect expiry dates and replace on time!

Allzeit eine handbreit Wasser unter'm Kiel!