A most sophisticated piece of kit....
Nov 27, 2010 17:31:25 GMT -1
Post by gerryw on Nov 27, 2010 17:31:25 GMT -1
This is probably the most sophisticated review that you will read on this forum by the way….. but do please read on. All will become clear in the end!
For sometime I have been searching for a ‘cheap’ 6” buoy.
Have you ever tried to ask for a cheap six or seven inch ‘boy’ in the presence of other adult males? I now know why the Yanks call these things ‘booey’ rather than ‘boy’. To save blushes, embarrassment or worse. If this was the Deep South…. 
There’s nothing cheap in a ships chandlery and so I decided to spend some time on the internet searching for my six inch buoy. During this my wife came in with a cup of coffee and asked what I was doing. To her amazement I replied, ‘I am looking for a six inch ‘buoy’’ – which sounded like ‘boy’ to her of course. This moment coincided with Google revealing just what I could get in the way of six inch ‘buoys’. Two mistakes here – firstly I had mis-spelt ‘buoy’ as ‘bouy’: secondly I had not reset my browser to at least ‘moderate filtering’. No…. just don’t ask why!
What was revealed in front of me was a wide and colourful selection of 6” boys in a variety of positions. Google had converted my mis-spelling to ‘boy’ instead! By this time my wife was just a little more than concerned and hurriedly left the room with me quickly following behind, trying to convince her of what I was really doing on the internet, alone, in my spare room searching for a ‘buoy’ which was all down to a certain forum of which I was a ‘member’. I explained that Terry had invited me to be an ‘old hand’ and I had accepted gladly but none of this helped the situation.
Eventually, she calmed down and listened to my explanation! Marriage saved but nookey reduced…..
You might say that I did all this to save you the expense and embarrassment of doing this yourself. Gifts and words of thanks will certainly be welcome…. ;D
Anyway, back to the review.
I am of course talking about a buoy which is used along with your kayak anchor mechanism (usually an SMB reel – this stands for ‘surface marker buoy’ which is used in sub-aqua diving to show the presence of a diver underwater to other surface craft). The reel is clipped to the buoy enabling a quick release to be used in the (rare) event of catching a large fish which needs to be played not at anchor or if the anchor gets stuck and you wish to return to it later etc.
Ebay has proper 7” buoys at about £10 posted. Usually the orange or yellow ones which show up better are a little more expensive. And if you wish to have a handle on it then the sky’s the limit.
But here is a cheap, very cheap alternative.
This is a ball float as used in a toilet cistern or water tank which is six inches in diameter. It is available from B&Q priced at a mere £2.18 (as at 27/11/10) and is made by Wirquin with a bar code ending in xxxx124299 part number 19055001.
It is made from hard plastic and is shatterproof, naturally sealed and has a M8 brass thread connection to the base. To this you can add a threaded ring connector to a shackle through which your anchor line can be passed or your SMB reel connected. A very robust piece of kit.
Now the geeky bit!
As the volume of a sphere is calculated as 4/3 x pie x (r cubed) where r is the radius and pie is 3.14. (I can’t find the ‘pie’ key on my computer!) and the radius is 3” or 7.62cm, then the volume is 1770 cubic centimeters. That is 1.77litres by the way. Why is this important – well a float works by displacement. It will support an object about equal or less than the weight of water it displaces. That is how your kayak works too. As 1 litre or pure water (as found around Anglesey) weighs 1 kilogram then the 6” buoy in theory will support 1.7kg. However, it would be floating on the surface but you wouldn’t see it. So to be seen it must only be partially submerged.
Are you lot listening - I'll be asking questions at the end
As it happens the weight of your SMB will be about 0.5kg which is less than 30% of the displacement of the buoy. So it will float about 2/3 above the waterline of the buoy. Ie. It works fine.
So what have we learnt?
1. You can for once save money by shopping at B&Q
2. A 6” buoy works fine
3. Pie (I wish I could find that key) = 3.14
4. The volume of a sphere is shown above (I’m not typing that lot out again)
5. An SMB weighs about 0.5kg
6. If you wish to save embarrassment and your marriage:
a. Don’t sit in your bedroom on the internet searching for a 6” buoy
b. If you must make sure you spell ‘buoy’ correctly
c. Make sure your filtering is set to ‘moderate’ or ‘all’
Now where else can you learn such important things as on this forum?
Gerry
For sometime I have been searching for a ‘cheap’ 6” buoy.
Have you ever tried to ask for a cheap six or seven inch ‘boy’ in the presence of other adult males? I now know why the Yanks call these things ‘booey’ rather than ‘boy’. To save blushes, embarrassment or worse. If this was the Deep South…. 
There’s nothing cheap in a ships chandlery and so I decided to spend some time on the internet searching for my six inch buoy. During this my wife came in with a cup of coffee and asked what I was doing. To her amazement I replied, ‘I am looking for a six inch ‘buoy’’ – which sounded like ‘boy’ to her of course. This moment coincided with Google revealing just what I could get in the way of six inch ‘buoys’. Two mistakes here – firstly I had mis-spelt ‘buoy’ as ‘bouy’: secondly I had not reset my browser to at least ‘moderate filtering’. No…. just don’t ask why!
What was revealed in front of me was a wide and colourful selection of 6” boys in a variety of positions. Google had converted my mis-spelling to ‘boy’ instead! By this time my wife was just a little more than concerned and hurriedly left the room with me quickly following behind, trying to convince her of what I was really doing on the internet, alone, in my spare room searching for a ‘buoy’ which was all down to a certain forum of which I was a ‘member’. I explained that Terry had invited me to be an ‘old hand’ and I had accepted gladly but none of this helped the situation.
Eventually, she calmed down and listened to my explanation! Marriage saved but nookey reduced…..
You might say that I did all this to save you the expense and embarrassment of doing this yourself. Gifts and words of thanks will certainly be welcome…. ;D
Anyway, back to the review.
I am of course talking about a buoy which is used along with your kayak anchor mechanism (usually an SMB reel – this stands for ‘surface marker buoy’ which is used in sub-aqua diving to show the presence of a diver underwater to other surface craft). The reel is clipped to the buoy enabling a quick release to be used in the (rare) event of catching a large fish which needs to be played not at anchor or if the anchor gets stuck and you wish to return to it later etc.
Ebay has proper 7” buoys at about £10 posted. Usually the orange or yellow ones which show up better are a little more expensive. And if you wish to have a handle on it then the sky’s the limit.
But here is a cheap, very cheap alternative.
This is a ball float as used in a toilet cistern or water tank which is six inches in diameter. It is available from B&Q priced at a mere £2.18 (as at 27/11/10) and is made by Wirquin with a bar code ending in xxxx124299 part number 19055001.
It is made from hard plastic and is shatterproof, naturally sealed and has a M8 brass thread connection to the base. To this you can add a threaded ring connector to a shackle through which your anchor line can be passed or your SMB reel connected. A very robust piece of kit.
Now the geeky bit!
As the volume of a sphere is calculated as 4/3 x pie x (r cubed) where r is the radius and pie is 3.14. (I can’t find the ‘pie’ key on my computer!) and the radius is 3” or 7.62cm, then the volume is 1770 cubic centimeters. That is 1.77litres by the way. Why is this important – well a float works by displacement. It will support an object about equal or less than the weight of water it displaces. That is how your kayak works too. As 1 litre or pure water (as found around Anglesey) weighs 1 kilogram then the 6” buoy in theory will support 1.7kg. However, it would be floating on the surface but you wouldn’t see it. So to be seen it must only be partially submerged.
Are you lot listening - I'll be asking questions at the end
As it happens the weight of your SMB will be about 0.5kg which is less than 30% of the displacement of the buoy. So it will float about 2/3 above the waterline of the buoy. Ie. It works fine.
So what have we learnt?
1. You can for once save money by shopping at B&Q
2. A 6” buoy works fine
3. Pie (I wish I could find that key) = 3.14
4. The volume of a sphere is shown above (I’m not typing that lot out again)
5. An SMB weighs about 0.5kg
6. If you wish to save embarrassment and your marriage:
a. Don’t sit in your bedroom on the internet searching for a 6” buoy
b. If you must make sure you spell ‘buoy’ correctly
c. Make sure your filtering is set to ‘moderate’ or ‘all’
Now where else can you learn such important things as on this forum?
Gerry
