Lightweight Lighted Buoy Development for use as Discrepancy NAVAIDS.

This report presents the development of the Coast Guard discrepancy buoys. A discrepancy buoy is used as a temporary floating aid to navigation while the normal aid is not available due to storm damage, collision, or failure. The discrepancy buoys are also used for special aids such as the temporary marking of wrecks or the control of boats at regattas. The 190-pound prototype discrepancy buoy has survived storms with wind velocities of up to 68 mph and waves in excess of five feet. The buoy provides a one nautical mile daymark visual range of its interchangeable NUN and CAN shapes, a one nautical mile radar reflectivity, a light range of three nautical miles with the standard 155mm lantern, and sufficient battery capacity to provide 40 days of unattended operation with off the shelf batteries. The buoy has potential of extended deployments such as seasonal NAVAIDS by the utilization of solar panels. The buoy has been tested in currents up to five knots and is capable of being moored at scopes as short as 1.71 even at currents of up to four knots. This buoy was designed for ease of handling from a small boat and minimal maintenance. The following is included in this report a project history a description of the pre-prototype and prototype buoys an engineering evaluation of the tentative operational requirements a description of a suitable lightweight mooring system conclusions and descriptions of the sequence of buoys that were studied during the progress of this project. Author