Who uses a fog horn in the fog?

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caltexflanc said:
I believe one of the horn manufacturers makes just that. I can't remember which one. I considered getting one but never got around to it. I always have had crew so it was no big deal.
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Here you go https://www.kahlenberg.com/accessories/signal-timers-and-controls
 
dhays said:
I have been very lax at using the horn in fog conditions. I have thought that an automatic system would be much better. In fog, I have all my concentration out the window and on the radar display. Add to that the requirement to sound the hours for 4 seconds every 2 minutes and it is more that can comfortably manage. An automated system for the horn would be nice.

I have an air horn that runs on an on-demand compressor. It has a simple switch at the helm. Anyone have a suggestion on a system that can be added to that? I could kludge something together myself, but I think I’d like to have a ready-made solution.

Edit: I don’t have a hailer so that is not an option.

I just read psneed’s comments on nav-lights. It reminded me to turn off my running lights. I am very good at turning them on whenever visibility is marginal. I’m not so good at remembering to turn them off. Same with my anchor light.
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The first post has a link to the FogMate system that I added on my boat. My system is connected to my nav lights so if I activate the horn button within a few seconds of turning on my nav lights, it enters its auto mode and sounds the horn about every two minutes. When I turn off my nav lights, the fog horn stops.

http://www.fogmate.com/HTML/index.htm
 
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Thanks guys, I’ll check both those out. Sorry I missed that link in your first post.
 
O C Diver said:
I use an automated fog horn which is built into my Icom VHF radio, whenever conditions require it. I've been known to use a fair amount of volume. Kind of fun to watch on radar, the radarless center consoles fishing in the inlet, scatter when they here me coming. :lol:

Ted
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That's hilarious Ted. It hasn't happened to me yet but I can imagine the same thing at my inlet with all the boats that hang out there fishing.

Ken
 
markpierce said:
You are depriving the residences of the maritime experience. They paid for it: give it to them.
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I agree. I live right on the La Quinta Chanel and nothing is more warming on a cold foggy winter evening while sitting in my recliner sipping a hot rum toddy than to hear a freighter sound his horn and my windows rattle. I LOVE IT. If I hadnt quit smoking 60 years ago, I would have a pipe full of Rum and Maple. Still miss that smell....but not the smoke.
 
The problem is 90 percent of landowners aren't so agreeable to the antics of rec boaters let alone commercial craft which they tend to accept a tad more....even though they are boaters themselves... Many don't even know sound signals are required .

We used to get complaints all the time when I first started assistance towing and followed the Navrules to the letter.
 
We live in a light house and the large boats, while not required to, often "salute" the light with either one or two signals depending on the direction they are going, even in clear weather. I just love the sound.
 
jimisbell said:
We live in a light house and the large boats, while not required to, often "salute" the light with either one or two signals depending on the direction they are going, even in clear weather. I just love the sound.
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Very cool. As a kid we had a lot more sense foggy days and I recall laying in bed hearing the horns of the ships and tugs as they went up and down the sound. Loved it.
 
jimisbell said:
We live in a light house and the large boats, while not required to, often "salute" the light with either one or two signals depending on the direction they are going, even in clear weather. I just love the sound.
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Well, that explains a lot! :hide:
 
Live one and two miles from the BNSF (freight only) and Union Pacific (freight and passenger) railroad mainlines. Here the horns sound quite frequently particularly because of the many passenger trains passing through Martinez. Residents have no right to complain about the many required horn sounds. The railroads existed long before the residents.
 
jimisbell said:
We live in a light house and the large boats, while not required to, often "salute" the light with either one or two signals depending on the direction they are going, even in clear weather. I just love the sound.
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Not unusual for us to give a prolonged toot passing under a major bridge. ... The usual practice for cruise ships passing westward during daylight hours under the Golden Gate bridge is to sound a prolonged blast. People love it.
 
Interesting. You guys traveling in fog also use the bell while anchored in fog?
I have yet to operate my boat in foggy conditions in my non-commercial life although it was a common enough occurrence when I was a working deck officer many moons ago. But as a recreational boater my philosophy is if the forecast is fog I’ll just hang out at the marina. You also know that the foghorn is not just for fog, right? It is for restricted visibility. Twice this year I have been running on the ICW when overtaken by heavy downpours that required restricted visibility procedures, reduce speed, foghorn and nav lights on, radar on short range. On these two occasions I encountered boats who just stopped in the channel and drifted. One was a pretty decent sized trawler that was dead ahead and stopped crosswise in what was a pretty narrow section of the channel. I saw him at about 100 yards out and backed down hard while giving five short blasts. He was hidden on my radar by a radar reflector on the channel marker that I believe he was trying to keep in sight til the deluge passed. After I maneuvered past him I notice he turned to follow me using my wake as his magenta line. So I presumed no radar on board. But please don’t just stop in the middle of a channel in these conditions. Find a place to anchor out of, or near the edge of the channel if you can’t run.
 
Yup, one of our VHF sets has automated fog horns, with selectable signals for underway, at anchor, stopped, adrift, etc. The PA speaker goes into listen-back mode between signals so that we can hear other traffic.

I was aboard a friend's boat years ago in thick fog off the northern end of San Juan Island, creeping along and using an automated fog signal (no radar). Out of the gloom came a large powerboat blasting along at about 30 knots, no signals, no radar, nothing. It was the closest I've ever come to a collision.

Trivia: seems like most folks don't know that the frequency of a vessel's horn is regulated in the COLREGS. In other words, you're not allowed to give the impression that you're bigger than you really are.

kahlenberg2.jpg


My Standard Horizon VHF comes programmed to give a fog signal at 400 Hz, though this can be set by the user. Likewise, I chose the boat's main horn to have an appropriate frequency.
 
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Sabre602 said:
...

Trivia: seems like most folks don't know that the frequency of a vessel's horn is regulated in the COLREGS. 70-200 Hz is for ships over 200 meters in length, 130-350 Hz for vessels of 75 to 199 meters, and 250-700 Hz for vessels less than 75 meters in length. In other words, you're not allowed to give the impression that you're bigger than you really are. ...
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Notice that there is lots of overlap in frequencies. For instance, a less-than-75-meter boat can have the same frequency as a ship 75 to 199 meters, such as 250 to 350 Hz.
 
markpierce said:
Notice that there is lots of overlap in frequencies. For instance, a less-than-75-meter boat can have the same frequency as a ship 75 to 199 meters, such as 250 to 350 Hz.
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Yeah, and I edited my post to put that table in it instead. If you Google "note xxx hz" you'll get a YouTube video with a tone at the specified frequency.
 
Notice that loudness is not upwardly limited by vessel length. The sound levels required are minimums. My 11-meter boat has level III horns (one mile range) while the required minimum is class IV (half-mile range). Note that a less-than-20-meter vessel is allowed to pretend to be up to a 200-meter vessel by frequency.
 
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Reading through this thread, I was reminded by my crew mate that we did use the hailer a couple times to sound at anchor in fog, where we were in a place there could be traffic and there weren't other boats nearby over nighting... Walburg Creek GA (in the north/south stretch) and off Napatree Beach RI to be exact. had the boat lit up well too. She commented that while it didn't bother us in the aft cabin, how annoying it would be to be anchored near someone sounding the thing at night.
 
COLREGS international ....you no longer need a bell under 20M, but must still sound an appropriate signal...whatever that is on can only guess.

Inland still shows bells for 12M to 20M...but the USCG has accepted the international change and is not enforcing the currently published Inland rule.

From the Navrules under International...
RULE 33
Equipment for Sound Signals
(a) A vessel of 12 meters or more in length shall be provided with a
whistle, a vessel of 20 meters or more in length shall be provided with a bell
in addition to a whistle, and a vessel of 100 meters or more in length shall,
in addition, be provided with a gong, the tone and sound of which cannot be
confused with that of the bell. The whistle, bell and gong shall comply with
the specifications in Annex lIl to these Regulations. The bell or gong or both
may be replaced by other equipment having the same respective sound
characteristics, provided that manual sounding of the prescribed signals
shall always be possible.
(b) A vessel of less than 12 meters in length shall not be obliged to carry
the sound signaling appliances prescribed in paragraph (a) of this Rule but if
she does not, she shall be provided with some other means of making an
efficient sound signal.

..........

(i) A vessel of 12 meters or more but less than 20 meters in length shall
not be obliged to give the bell signals prescribed in paragraphs (g) and (h) of
this Rule. However, if she does not, she shall make some other efficient
sound signal at intervals of not more than 2 minutes.
(j) A vessel of less than 12 meters in length shall not be obliged to give the
above-mentioned signals but, if she does not, shall make some other
efficient sound signal at intervals of not more than 2 minutes.
 
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This has almost nothing to do with anything, other than being a fog horn in a fog horn discussion, but I found this tour and demonstration really interesting and thought others might too, especially those living around the SF Bay or similar areas during the time they were still used.

Land-based historic fog horn in SF Bay with that iconic two-note 'fog horn sound'. Skip ahead to the 10:15 mark if the tour doesn't interest you.

 
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" We were born before the wind
Also younger than the sun
Ere the bonnie boat was won
As we sailed into the mystic

Hark, now hear the sailors cry
Smell the sea and feel the sky
Let your soul and spirit fly
Into the mystic

And when that fog horn blows
I will be coming home, mmm mmm
And when the fog horn blows
I want to hear it
I don't have to fear it "
 
I've had the FogMate for almost 15 years now. Wouldn't be without it. Then again, I spend a lot of time Down East.

Mine is activated by a double-throw switch at the dash. Down for underway, up for UW NMW. There are options for sailing, etc, which don't apply to me.

I can run the foghorn option on the VHF through the hailer, but it's no where near as loud. Sometimes in harbors when the fog isn't too bad I'll do that.

Standard practice when we hit visibility less than about 1/2 or 1/4 mile (depending on where we are) is to turn on the FogMate, lights and radar, and all hands are on watch. Other than that, we don't really change our plans just for fog. Usually the seas are calm and winds light when it's foggy. That's often the best time to go!
 
The fear in dense fog is the monkey tail.

One boat has a radar and 3-10 will follow close enough to keep the leader in sight.

So encountering a leading boat properly may contain a huge surprise following.
 
My trawler had a FogMate which was used as required connected to twin air horns.

This boat has a useless electric horn and no FogMate (yet) and no hailer (maybe someday).

Don't get much fog here and tend not to run the boat in same. Will estimate intervals, pending a Fogmate, for sounding the horn if I do while watching the radar very closely.

Not a distance cruising boater anymore.
 
Wayne in Huntington Beach

I used my hand held fog horn. My biggest concern was the freighters in the Catalina channel.
 
Makeshift auto fog horns

Slightly off topic-- but this reminds me of when I was a kid sailing back from Cuttyhunk MA to Jamestown RI. Thickest fog I'd ever seen. Being a sailboat sans-radar,sans-anything really, parents instructed my sister and me to sit on the bow and continuously blow the two airhorns we had aboard. I remember if I looked back at the cockpit, I couldn't even see my parents.

I guess that is one version of an automated fog horn!
 
Foghorn Use

I live in Nova Scotia where there is lots of fog, even in summer, and I use the VHF auto horn on my Mainship 430 regularly when in fog. Not many other pleasure boats out in fog, but I've been 'caught' a few times and make sure to put it on. Better safe than sorry. If you have one, use it, and if you don't, I suggest you get one and learn how to use it before you need it.
 
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