Haulout Spritzig II

[Geoff]

I must have a similar light setup to Ozzie. Port and starboard nav lights, and masthead. No stern light.

[Ozzie]

Spritzig had a stern light actually when I got her but no masthead. As the masthead incandescent bulb was often unreliable I got a cheap bulb steaming light to tape to the front of the mast as high as I could reach and used that if it failed, in conjunction with the stern light. It was fitted with a long chord with matching plug for the cabin top.

Another trick I’ve seen is to have your battery powered emergency anchor light on a bracket with sail slides and hoist it up the mast track with the halyard so it sticks up above the mast top. Just a thought.

Ps if you paint around the bulbs in your lights with vaseline or dielectric grease as they do with car battery terminals it will prevent build up of contact isolating deposits. I even do this with my LED bulbs.

I also have a new sealed LED stern light to fit. It however is sealed like my nav lights so will give zero trouble.

[Geoff]

So am I right that on a boat this size, a masthead light is the only white light you need? As in, you don't need a stern light if you have the 360 degree masthead? My masthead light looks pretty much like yours, and I did what you did before, swapped the hungry incandescent bulb for an led.

[Ozzie]

For NSW an Investigator travelling under power at less than seven knots only needs an all round white light. Technically.

As an ex road designer I have always been appalled at the navigation laws regarding night navigation. They stem from antiquity and were IMHO never intended to meet the requirements of modern boating in crowded urban waterways with high speed vessels and multiple background lights. The fatalities that have occurred on Sydney Harbour a few years back were no surprise to me. It will take a serious multiple fatality to limit night time navigation in enclosed waters to 7 knots or less for recreational vessels . It can’t come soon enough.

To further compound this situation by having them different in each state is &$#$*% and &$##-+ and the persons framing such legislation “+&$$& . And I can’t put it any stronger than that. I won’t mention unlit navigation markers , that’s a topic on its own.

Having come back up the lake after the Xmas fireworks at Warner’s Bay dozens of times in the dark where it’s a free for all with small vessels mixing with huge cruisers creating huge wakes I’m always expecting an accident.

Rant over

[Ozzie]

I can remember fishing one night on the lake with my anchor light on, we were not in a main channel, not even close , some clown in a half cabin was heading back to a mooring area at high speed. Straight at us . I gave him what I thought was ample time to react , switched on the cabin light to give us a better presence, nothing. In the end got my spot light out and gave him two bright flashes then left it on pointing almost at him but not directly so as not to blind him till he changed course. As he passed I noticed he had the ubiquitous and totally illegal 360 degree stern light that pops up about two feet above the transom next to the outboard. Not only are these not visible to most surrounding boats due to being blocked by the cabin, the driver, the outboard or whatever but they blind the drivers night vision . Had we been in a smaller vessel with only a torch we would have been clobbered well and good. Yet this light setup was standard issue on boats for years. My 21ft Swiftcraft cruiser had one as standard til I junked it and put a shielded 360 on a mast above the cabin. They are stiil on thousands of boats in the state . Go figure.

We don’t get polical on here, and I’d state this really has little to do with politics rather operational function of government. I spent my entire working life in the NSW Public Service, two different branches and in various capacities. In a nutshell (and that’s hard to do) the short answer is that very often the people framing policy know very little about what they are dealing with. We used to be regular cruisers and you meet a lot of people on cruises who are all relaxed, on holiday and mostly retired and happy to open up about their work and lifetime perspective on it. Once I struck a retired NSW boating officer who mentioned by the time he left the service they were also becoming overrun with “manager types”

Sadly the stories I get often confirm my own personal perspective. Proactively is a dirty word and reaction is the preferred operation. I have sat in meetings where final decisions have been made on issues by people who have zero and I mean zero qualifications in the subject under reference. Do they have expert advice, yep, but that does not mean they listen to it. Auditing is dead, other than “auditing of form 342 subsection 2a which has a coma missing” type stuff. All the qualified auditors are living in retirement villages in the the Gold Coast . Am I bitter? Well these are not necessarily bad people . They are simply fitting into a operational structure that employs them. Ok, maybe a little bitter, but it’s amazing to see that common sense is not dead. The fact that we are questioning this here is a good example. Occasionally somewhere down the line things happen but it’s a slow process.

Sorry if that waffled on a bit. I’ve decided I’ve got cabin fever

[no way]

Variations from COLREGS in some states is as usual catering to the lowest common denominator out on the water. I'd check with your insurance company before going away from the COLREG requirements.

[Ozzie]

Meant to add the glue/sealant I used was Selly’s Flexiseal polyurethane black. It has 25% expansion and I had good success with it on caravan renovations. Yes I did pay for it... but only because nobody was throwing any out

Hi just thought I should post an update on this earlier post . I have discovered this sealant while very flexible and makes a great gasket does not seem to stick well to smooth plastic. I tried sticking some plastic hooks onto my interior to hold the new curtains. But, under pressure they would come off. Sticks great to my internal painted surface but not smooth plastic. I’m not too worried about the windows as they are screwed in and grouted with sika but im not sure if they bonded too well to the poly.
So can’t say I’d recommend this as a glue only option on windows. Probably Ray’s or David’s suggestions or Cruiser Pete’s gorilla tape would be a better bet.

Sorry for an inconvenience I.e. your windows fell out

[Ozzie]

Well. The boat is finished. It has been fun but overdone. Lockdown fooled me into a longer list than I would have otherwise normally have scheduled . And the lack of travel, visiting friends, family and nightlife gave me time to work at night doing small things I probably would not have bothered with otherwise, like the storm board logo. Unfortunately as conditions have eased we were stuck with a bunch of extras I created which I’ve had to finish.

My boat’s archway came with the timber mast support infills and the louvre door to the head which were very well made but were a bit rough in the sanding and varnish department. So we took this opportunity to sand off most of the original finish and hit them with two coats of Goldspar gloss marine varnish while we did the new shelving with teak fiddle rails which I picked up for a song on gumtree two years ago, it’s no longer available . While it’s a shame to have removed most of the timber from the outside of the boat we’re improving it inside.

The carved timber shell pieces came off two wardrobes my parents bought new in the 50s. When they were later junked about 20 years ago I kept the carved motifs as I thought they may come in handy one day. They seemed to look just right to tart up my “oriental arch” infills at the widest point . I’ve since hung a barometer above one and looking for a clock for the other side

More to come

[Ozzie]

My side shelves were a project I’d wanted to do for years long before I found the teak rail. I did however need a way to fasten it in place without drilling holes in the deck above . I fashioned a hanging bracket that fitted on the bolts beneath the front stanchion bolts on the taffrail.

The ply shelves were naturally council throwout booty which was by the shape of it somebody’s tinnie floor . As it had no rot I figured it had to be 8mm marine ply. After attaching the bracket one end attached the other to the bulkhead either side of the arch.

[Ozzie]

All in all the interior came out pretty well with the spruce up and additional bits and bobs.