Captains Bell

Need it or not, the bell looks cool. Especially when it’s shined up. I keep an old tennis ball over the clapper so I don’t hear it banging around, but easily removeable in the very unlikely event that I actually ever need to use the bell.

Our "dinger" is cover in duct tape from the prior owner. In 3'-4' chop you can still get it to ring but you really have to try for it :)
 
Our "dinger" is cover in duct tape from the prior owner. In 3'-4' chop you can still get it to ring but you really have to try for it :)
Mine has a slit tennis ball on it. If a person actually needed to use the bell it would be easy/fast to make it ring. I really can't see the bell being very effective on my boat with the canvas up anyway so I make sure the hailer fog horn is working and also carry a handheld compressed air airhorn.
 
It was really surprising to me too, and I went to show him the CG rules, which was of course silly, since he knew them better than me. I never had a bell since the CG regs didn't require it. The local CG Aux examiner, who happens to be their squadron commander, said he knows a bell isn't required for my boat on federal waters, but some states enforce their own rules in their coastal waters. So, they warn folk as a courtesy because although if you have a Coastie board you it's no problem, if its a state agency, and you're in "state waters" (tidal waters out to 3 miles offshore), they may cite the state reg's, which state:...

Be-prepared,

Just out of curiosity, where did you mount your bell?
 

I mounted the slide in "mount" for the bell on the radar arch behind the helm seat. I have had the bell in there only one or two times, the rest of the time it sits in a case under the helm seat. When it's in, I find it's not used for alerting other boaters... it's used more like the bell at your favorite bar :) It's 5 o'clock somewhere...
 

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