NavList:
A Community Devoted to the Preservation and Practice of Celestial Navigation and Other Methods of Traditional Wayfinding
[off-topic] Buoy Terminology
From: Lu Abel
Date: 2004 Oct 12, 16:30 -0700
From: Lu Abel
Date: 2004 Oct 12, 16:30 -0700
I know this list has a world-wide audience; this is a question of American navigation buoy terminology. I've searched the Web. I've polled friends in the US Coast Guard Auxiliary. And I haven't been able to get an answer to what seems to be a dreadfully simple question. In addition to buoys with specific shapes: nuns, cans, and spheres (spar buoys are, to the best of my knowledge, not used in US waters), there is the standard buoy with an open truss or framework. It's what the US uses for lighted and sound-producing buoys, but they can also be unlighted if the CG wants something larger than a nun or can. I even know they come in various sizes like 7 x 17, 8x26, etc (where the first digit is the diameter of the float and the second is the overall height, both in feet). But I've been unable to find a name to them. WHAT ARE THESE THINGS CALLED? IE, I want to be able to go down to my buoy maker and ask for abuoy and then take it home and paint it red -- or green, or red/white, or red over green, or green over red, or yellow, or ... well, you get my point. The closest I've been able to come is a "pillar" buoy (eg, see http://www.tpub.com/content/administration/14067/css/14067_149.htm), but that looks like it has a tapered framework, not the constant-width framework typical of US buoys). Thanks Lu