Patent ID: 7244156

Claim:
A navigation buoy comprising: a cylindrical body of lighter construction having an interior and an exterior; a ballasting chamber in a lower portion of said body interior, adapted to store a liquid ballast, said ballasting chamber having a circumference, the ballasting chamber including an inner cylindrical wall, said inner cylindrical wall having a circumference smaller than said ballasting chamber circumference, said inner cylindrical wall having an aperture open to said ballasting chamber; and a connection used to ballast and vent said ballasting chamber allowing liquid communication between the ballasting chamber bottom and the body exterior, said connection being within said inner cylindrical wall; whereby the buoy can be ballasted and de-ballasted by a liquid supplied to and removed from the ballasting chamber so as to duplicate the dampened motion of the conventional heavily constructed buoys when deployed, said liquid being supplied to the connection within said inner cylindrical wall and into the ballasting chamber through said aperture.