The AIS works!
It’s a good thing we were paying attention because if we had turned around and been surprised by the big ship heading towards us, it might have been a bit scary!
We spied this ship as we were heading east across the upper gap, in between Prince Edward County and Amherst Island. Our AIS told us that the ship’s name was English River and that she was making 8.9 knots on her way to Bath. We were far enough ahead to cross way in front of her, but when she made the turn towards the Lafarge plant in Bath, she overtook us (on a parallel course) and our AIS started beeping at us.
Whereas the AIS is functioning properly, our deck light is not so much. While at anchor yesterday I took it upon myself to climb the mast to see if I could fix it. Armed with appropriate tools and 1 of every spare bulb we had on board, I made my way up to the light. After solving the riddle of how to open the thing (there were no screws – the lens is held in with a couple of compression snaps) I found that I didn’t have the proper spares. 🙁 Oh well… at least I got to snap some cool pics!
By the way, if anyone reading this could tell me what type of bulb this GE Deck Light takes, I would appreciate it. It would be nice to have them (it takes 2 bulbs) in my hand before I go up again. Yes, I know, I should have taken them out when I was up there, or at least taken a picture of the bulbs. I thought of that after I got down!
The regular, round spreader lites typically are a #44 – also sold as a tractor headlight. I don’t know what yours are tho.
bob
Thanks Bob. I will check into that.
No, wait. That’s a #4411. Sorry – now you have an up close look at how my memory works, or rather fails to work.
bob
I do the same thing. I attribute it to being hit in the head a lot.
Hey Mike. What’s your preferred climbing method? Do you use a bosun chair w/ shackle or do you use any climbing gear?
Rob
This is what we use:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cL0BiDvDPLU
After having done this now several times, both Rebecca and I are sold on the method. It took less than 10 “steps” to get to the spreaders and is relatively easy. The day before I winched a friend up his mast. THAT was not easy (for me on the winch).
In the photo you’ll see that Rebecca is on a winch, belaying me, but she is only there as backup. If I needed to do it 100% on my own, I could easily rig a second Prusik knot on an adjacent halyard to have redundancy.
My hair was a bit shorter in that video. 🙂
Glad to hear the AIS works! We’ll have to see if our budget can afford it at the time but I’d like to have one when we start cruising. I’d feel a lot more comfortable at night!
Yes, this wasn’t a “must have” for us but every cruiser I have read about who has AIS swears by its usefulness.
You will enjoy on the way down the East Coast US, but once you get down here the traffic is so light and you travel during daylight hours, it just becomes another gadget.
Fair Winds,
Mike
I look forward to those times, Mike:)
Don’t you love 20/20 hindsight?!!! At least, when you have to go up the mast again to replace the bulb, you have a really good way to get there. By the way, the pictures are lovely!
🙂
Thanks Helen.
Hey Mike. Have you seen any stats detailing percentage of AIS equipped boats out there in North American waters? I have a newer Garmin 4208 chartplotter and it definitely has AIS functionality. I would just need to buy an AIS transponder/receiver. When I bought it though, I recall reading that few folks currently had it, so its value was limited.
That being said, I’m sure more and more folks are adopting AIS. Assuming the price isn’t too high (ideally less than $400) and the benefit is clearly there, then I’ll definitely buy, but I think the benefit is really only there when you have 50%+ adoption, no?
Hi Rob
No, I haven’t read any stats. My understanding was that commercial vessels were required to have it and in truth, those are the ones I was really concerned about. I could be wrong about that though. Where we have been sailing we see that the ferries are transmitting and the big ship that I wrote about. Not too many others. I’m sure once we get into shipping lanes, closer to NYC we’ll see a lot more.