No Horn & No Wire?

[Keeping Up]

Are you saying that we must have a working electric horn to go through a tunnel, (we're doing the whole Trent & Mersey from Barton to Preston Brook in a couple of weeks) ?

 

Or would it be OK to have a lung powered one?

 

Serious question - I genuinely don't know (in my offshore days, it was fine to use a lung powered horn as a foghorn).

 

Many Thanks

 

Richard

 

AFAIK the only requirement is that you have a light (and then only if the tunnel is more than a quarter of a mile long). I've never used my horn in a tunnel.

[Richard10002]

Thats about 10-1 in favour of lungs very reassuring,

 

Thanks again.

[Timleech]

No wires necessary.

This should be louder

 

Tim

[The Pipe]

This should be louder

 

Tim

http://www.shiphorns.com/faketyfons.html

Not saying it is, these type of horns are still made. I would like a Gamewell horn.

[Timleech]

http://www.shiphorns.com/faketyfons.html

Not saying it is, these type of horns are still made. I would like a Gamewell horn.

 

The one I linked to is a modern version, mainly plastic, unlikely anyone would bother to fake that.

 

I'm in the process of reinstating the original Tyfon horn on my boat, but it does need compressed air.

 

Tim

Edited September 26, 2011 by Timleech

[WotEver]

Alternatively put an electric horn near the back so that you don't need a long cable.

Exactly what I was about to suggest.

 

Tony

[Guest]

Air horns, while nice to look at (?) and ***** loud, are a bit of over kill, so a moderately priced electric horn is quite adequate.

 

Also more of a faff to wire as they need a relay to work properly..

[alan_fincher]

Are you saying that we must have a working electric horn to go through a tunnel,

 

AFAIK the only requirement is that you have a light (and then only if the tunnel is more than a quarter of a mile long). I've never used my horn in a tunnel.

 

No special requirement for tunnels I'm aware of.

 

But the bye-laws require you to have a "whistle", whether going through tunnels or not.......

 

Sound signals 12. (1) Every power-driven vessel navigating on any canal shall be furnished with an efficient whistle.

 

and from the "Definition of Terms:

 

“whistle” means any appliance capable of producing the prescribed short and prolonged blasts.

[Chertsey]

No special requirement for tunnels I'm aware of.

 

But the bye-laws require you to have a "whistle", whether going through tunnels or not

 

Nice to know I'm ahead of the game for once... Now just got to learn those signals.

[bottle]

That's easy;

 

right, one

 

left, two

 

And

 

centre (reverse) three.

 

There are more but that should be enough to get on with, when you have mastered those, come back and I will give you the rest.

 

But

 

As you know, it will be very doubtful the boat steerer coming the other way will know them.

[Alan Saunders]

That's easy;

right, one; left, two and centre (reverse) three.

There are more but that should be enough to get on with, when you have mastered those, come back and I will give you the rest.

 

But, as you know, it will be very doubtful the boat steerer coming the other way will know them.

 

I can only recall using my horn to signal to another boat on one occasion. I intended to go straight across a large basin to the waterpoint. It was busy but I judged that I would pass well ahead of the next boat approaching from my right. The approaching boat started to turn right, ensuring a collision course. A one second blast on my horn awakened them to my intention, they even said thank you as they resumed their course and passed astern! I guess most of us drift along the canals in a relaxed stupour and may need a 'wake-up' call occasionally?

 

Apparently I signalled "I am turning right" (not true). Had they not resumed their course (maybe they were also heading for the waterpoint) I would have gone astern - at this point. I had no idea of the correct signal but I guess many short blasts might convey the idea that I was not only going astern but also 'out-of-control'.

 

Mixing it with professional Boatmen (e.g. in Bristol Harbour) is daunting. Mostly, they seem to stay out of your way; making obvious course changes helps others to assess your intentions. Your signal of intention may be ignored; I barely passed the Lift Bridge at the back of a queue of boats before it closed.

 

I now have a mechanical 'Klaxon', operated by a plunger. The raspberry is a much more friendly, fun way to say 'wake up' than the nasty tone from my cheap, plastic auto horn or my stainless steel, single electric trumpet.

 

Alan

[jonathanA]

only thing I'd add is that the simple horns should have two terminals (insulated return ) and not be 'earth return' as most car types are. The cheap simple ones (£12-14 online £16-20 at chandlers) don't take very much current, think i measured mine at less than one amp and consequently aren't terribly loud. I fitted a second, mainly becuase the first went faulty so bought a new one then found the old one was very easy to repair (just needed to clean the 'points' inside it) so with two its now loud enough for me to hear at the back of the boat.... I noticed a BW work boat with two small horns recently too.

 

Also with a small current draw you don't need to run a huge cable front to back. some two tone air horns need a big supply (10A+) to power the compressor to run them.

Edited September 27, 2011 by jonathanA

[Bobbin]

Hi,

 

Our boat has a button for a horn on the throttle post, but there is no horn, and I can't find the wire exiting somewhere around the cratch. There is evidence that a horn was fitted at some time.

 

Without running a cable from stern to bow, is there likely to be an existing circuit that we could piggy back off, as a short term solution?

 

I was thinking the headlamp circuit..... I think this would need a switch at the headlamp end so that it wasn't shining permanently, and I guess the headlamp would dim when we used the horn.

 

Is there likely to be another circuit we could use?

 

Many Thanks

 

Richard

Hi Just for safety sake why don't you get a gas cannister horn to tide you over while you are working out what to do? I have one and it's so loud it's scary.