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 Author  Topic: Identity of 80' ELCO bridge fitting?
Bob Steinbrunn

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Post a Reply To This Topic    Reply With Quotes     Edit Message     View Profile of Bob Steinbrunn   Send Email To Bob Steinbrunn Posted on: Feb 3, 2016 - 9:59am
I'm new to this forum so please forgive if this subject has been brought up before. I've gone back through several years of posts and haven't seen any mention of this........so here goes:

A number of photos of ELCO 80' boats show an airfoil-shaped object athwartships atop the bridge, just above the windscreeen. I'd guess its dimensions to be somewhere around 12" in chord and the width of the bridge.

A 3/4 starboard bow view photo of PT362 shows this item clearly. Another photo of an unidentified boat taken of the bridge from the rear shows a wire running out and down from the port side of this item.

Other photos show this item was tilted down a few degrees - in a sort of negative angle of attack - perhaps to have it pointed straight at the horizon when the boat was bow-up on the plane.

Question: Am I looking at some early sort of radar antenna?

Cheers!
--Bob



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Drew Cook

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Post a Reply To This Topic    Reply With Quotes     Edit Message     View Profile of Drew Cook  Posted on: Feb 3, 2016 - 10:20am
Bob,

That device is a purpose-built wind deflector, and could be raised over the cockpit or lowered onto the charthouse overhead when not in use.

Its purpose was to deflect the wind over the open cockpit of the 80' Elcos at speed at sea.

Others on this Board will know what series of boats had these wind deflectors fitted.


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Bob Steinbrunn

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Post a Reply To This Topic    Reply With Quotes     Edit Message     View Profile of Bob Steinbrunn   Send Email To Bob Steinbrunn Posted on: Feb 3, 2016 - 10:39am
Thanks Drew; much appreciated! Would the wire leading from the left side of the deflector downwards have provided electrical power for the (supposed) motor for raising and lowering it?

Cheers!
--Bob

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Drew Cook

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Post a Reply To This Topic    Reply With Quotes     Edit Message     View Profile of Drew Cook  Posted on: Feb 3, 2016 - 10:54am
Bob,

Don't know what the wire could be, as I'm pretty sure the wind deflectors were raised and lowered manually.

Those things confused me for years -- until I found out what they were -- when watching "They Were Expendable," as they appear on one or both of the tops of the charthouses of the 80' Elco PTs in the movie.




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Jeff D

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Post a Reply To This Topic    Reply With Quotes     Edit Message     View Profile of Jeff D   Send Email To Jeff D Posted on: Feb 4, 2016 - 8:12am
Welcome Bob!

2 different Elco drawings for the airfoil wind deflector show the airfoil itself was 9" x 3" with a width of 68":
PTs ??? (unreadable, 196 is the only photo I have of the 103-196 series showing it installed) and 314-367
PTs 372-383, 486-545, 546-563, and 731-760 (different stowage)

Photos I checked show them missing on many of the above boats.

Like Drew mentioned, they had a locking device built in so I don't know what the wire / cord you are seeing is.



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Bob Steinbrunn

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Post a Reply To This Topic    Reply With Quotes     Edit Message     View Profile of Bob Steinbrunn   Send Email To Bob Steinbrunn Posted on: Feb 7, 2016 - 12:30pm
Okay Jeff, thanks much for looking!

Cheers!
--Bob

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