ICW Masthead Bridge Videos

[Captain Larry-DH]

We‘re back from a year of cruising from southern New England to Maine, down to the Bahamas, and back. On the east coast northbound my wife and I went outside when weather was favorable and inlet hopped into the ICW when that was preferable.
There were parts of the ICW we had to avoid because we need 64’6” air clearance, and there are some fixed bridges that are rarely that high. Others are tide-dependent or near the Albemarle/Pamlico sounds favorable wind direction/strength is needed to provide that much water level clearance.
This wasn’t my first experience with this, so I decided to install a wireless masthead camera that sits just above the anchor light. It greatly reduced anxiety. As we approached, if I could see shadow or additional beams beneath the closest beam (from that level) it meant that the camera would clear. (We didn’t encounter any slanted decks). I wasn’t worried about the whip VHF antenna, and in many cases we scraped it along the bottom of the bridge (you can hear the ping sound in some of the videos).
Here’s a link to a YouTube playlist with the videos.
ICW Bridges

 

[dlochner]

Great idea! We're lucky, our mast is only 53' above the waterline. Bridge and power line heights are always very deceptive, regardless of the height there are moments when it looks like you will hit.

 

[brazenarticle]

...This wasn’t my first experience with this, so I decided to install a wireless masthead camera that sits just above the anchor light. It greatly reduced anxiety.....
ICW Bridges

What camera are you using? I've not had any luck with wireless from the masthead and gave up on that project a while ago.

 

[Captain Larry-DH]

REOLINK Argus 3 Ultra, 4K Solar. The solar panel is mounted near the cam on the side of the mast, and the cam is on the masthead top plate on an aluminum bracket I made using stock aluminum bar 3/4” wide x 1/8” thick, bent to form a bridge that raises the cam just higher than the anchor light (so the light isn’t occluded by the cam).
Reolink is the only wireless cam brand I found that doesn’t require an internet connection to function. If the viewing phone or tablet is on the same local WiFi network router you can watch the cam without using Internet. That translates to lower latency, and higher availability in remote places. Cheaper connection costs too if on a metered network (e.g. prepaid SIM card).

 

[brazenarticle]

Thanks for the information. It looks like your camera pans left to right in the Diamond Causeway video but the info on the Argus 3 Ultra appears to be a fixed camera. Mounting a pan and tilt like to Argus PT 4K may complicate things too much though.
Any thoughts on whether the p & t is worthwhile?

 

[Captain Larry-DH]

Any thoughts on whether the p & t is worthwhile?

It is worthwhile. The first cam that I used was the Argus PT 4k but I found out the hard way it could not be mounted upside down because that inverted position defeated the waterproof design. So that was a fail for me. No simple way to mount PT above the anchor light in the waterproof orientation.

 

[Captain Larry-DH]

I think the bar stock was 3/4”” not 1/2”. Will edit the post above if I can

 

[Captain Larry-DH]

Mounting a pan and tilt like to Argus PT 4K may complicate things too much though.

This was the original design that failed because the camera cannot be mounted in that position without flooding from rain. The Argus 3 ultra 4k can be easily put on this bracket without that problem.
if you designed a bracket that comes up wider and higher, mounting the PT camera beneath the bar, and you don’t mind the occlusion of the camera lens in two positions of your panning radius, then a modified design could work for you

 

[brazenarticle]

Thanks again - my air draft is 53 feet so the need to mount above the anchor light isn't absolutely necessary. Order is in for an Argus 4 PT!

 

[Captain Larry-DH]

This was the original design that failed because the camera cannot be mounted in that position without flooding from rain. The Argus 3 ultra 4k can be easily put on this bracket without that problem.
if you designed a bracket that comes up wider and higher, mounting the PT camera beneath the bar, and you don’t mind the occlusion of the camera lens in two positions of your panning radius, then a modified design could work for you

Don’t forget that the PT camera has a fairly wide field of view, so having the legs in the picture would affect a large range of angles.

 

[Captain Larry-DH]

Thanks again - my air draft is 53 feet so the need to mount above the anchor light isn't absolutely necessary. Order is in for an Argus 4 PT!

It is necessary if you want your anchor light to be seen all the way around. Just another thought; you could use a straight bar coming up from the side of the masthead and mount the standard wall bracket that comes with the camera onto that bar, positioning it a bit higher than your anchor light, so your light can be seen.

 

[Rich Stidger]

I haven't watched all of your videos yet, but do you have one that indicates a likely hit where you aborted the passing?