Boating at night

[clayhubler]

Several times since we've had Hammerhead we've either launched in the dark, or been out past dark. We have a spotlight on the roof, and I initially thought that would work great for motoring around at night. Problem is the glare that I get off the forward deck and bow rail. The spotlight is only good for looking around.

I've seen other boats with lights in the bow, below deck level. I've learned that these are called docking lights. I thought that would work great. I bought a set, this set:
https://www.westmarine.com/buy/aqua-sig ... fsQAvD_BwE
I then hooked them up to a battery at night and was not impressed.

So I looked around some more and bought these:
https://www.fisheriessupply.com/sierra- ... ghts/95001
I hooked them up and was very impressed. Problem is, the flange is too big. It will hang over the edge of the 'lapstrake'. Yes, I should have verified this when I ordered them, but these lights are honestly just way bigger than I thought.

So I am wondering what most of you use when motoring around at night? If anybody has lights on the bow or bow rail that you are very happy with please post a pic or a link. I like these 'docking lights' because I think they would look better than big lights mounted on the bow rail.

I am a little concerned that one may get broken years down the road and I will have cutouts in the hull and not be able to get a replacement, but I don't know what to do about that. Maybe 3D print a new housing...

 

[ssobol]

For the most part running with "headlights" on your boat is against the CG regulations. Even running with your spotlight on when "motoring around" is against the rules. You risk damaging the night vision of the operators of any other boats that are around.

Docking lights are just that, they are for use when docking.

I think that you will find that with a suitable cabin lighting environment and after allowing your eyes to fully adjust to the dark, you will see much better than you think.

Having a radar can help in avoiding things. One rule of boating at night is don't go any faster than the speed you are willing to hit something at.

Also, for the times you want to turn on your spotlight, putting black gaffers tape on the side of the railings facing the cabin can help with the glare.

 

[gulfcoast john]

Taking measures to preserve your remarkable innate night vision (a dim red headlamp, instruments on night mode etc) will allow you to see much more and much better than trying to light up the water landscape with bright white light.

That's why airline pilots flying at night don't use 500 billion CP headlights to fly after dark. They would actually see much less and be much less safe. Allow your eyes to accommodate to night vision, and use it. You'll see much more and be more safe.

Best,
John

 

[Peter & Judy]

I have never had to boat in the dark, so I consider myself lucky. I did install a bow light on the front rail of the boat. I put it in more as a docking light or as search and rescue light in case of man over board or something similar. When I tested it, I discovered tremendous glare of the anchor, so I painted the anchor flat black.

 

[colbysmith]

That's why airline pilots flying at night don't use 500 billion CP headlights to fly after dark. They would actually see much less and be much less safe. Allow your eyes to accommodate to night vision, and use it. You'll see much more and be more safe.

I use to hate it flying airliners, when the captain would turn on the cockpit lights at night after we got to altitude. Of course they always turned them off prior to beginning our descent to get our night vision back, but it sucked for enjoying the night sky and ground. But once we got in to the landing pattern, it was nice to have the landing lights on for landing!

There are appropriate times to use a spot light at night. (Even the USCG uses them.) No I wouldn't just drive around with them on, but if you are coming into a debris field, or trying to locate buoys coming in at night, and not aiming at other boats, a spotlight is handy. Two options. Some folks have those that they just plug into a cigarette lighter and hold them out the window. The other option is a remote spotlight mounted up on the bow rail. That's where I have mine. I took a piece of aluminum, riveted it to the front center bow rail and then mounted the remote spot lamp on that. You can see it in this photo:

 

[thataway]

We have voyaged many thousands of hours at night. (You don't stop when crossing oceans.). Radar, FILIR (infra red heat visions), the units that used high amplification of light:SiOnyx Aurora Sport are about $400. I have not used them. I have used Gen II night vision scopes and we have an older FLIR Systems hand held unit. Problem with FLIR is the ordinary window glass stops the IR. FLIR makes a less expensive version now: FLIR Scout TK for about $600.

We always have red lights only (and dim at that) when running at night inside of the boat. Our navigation, depth finder and radar screens. are all turned to dim. If not dim enough, then red plastic film can help dim the light more.

We have a docking floor light forward and aft. They are only used for docking, fishing etc. Some boats run with high intensity LED displays which light up the ocean. Not only illegal, but not appreciated by fellow boaters.

We use a hand held spotlight if necessary to mark buoys, debris etc. Never run at night any faster than you can stop before you come to an obstruction or debris in the water which might cause damage---this means not at a plane . The PNW is an especially dangerous place--light or not. I know of even sailboats who hit a dead head--and it put a hole thru the boat. We were racing on a boat which hit a container at night--because of the construction of the boat, it did not sink or cause a hull breach--most boats would have sunk. About 1/3 of the around the world sail racers in the Vande Globe have hit unidentified underwater objects.

Another way to diminish rail flair is to put the grey foam pipe insulation around them. But there will always be some flair from the deck.

The in the hull lights are not effective and not made to be sured as "headlights".

 

[ggray]

For lighting daymarks, crab pots and the like, these are amazing.

https://store.marinebeam.com/marinebeam ... lashlight/

The technology produces a very narrow beam less likely to strike and reflect back off your boat.

Even their small ones are very impressive.

Nice not having a cord. Nice not to have a rechargeable battery die at the wrong time.

 

[SnowTexan]

Bear in mind I am new to this... I have put myself in the middle of lake chop at night a few times now under controlled conditions to see how disorienting it is to navigate using my eyes alone. Conclusion: in any kind of Nasty sea state without instruments i would be up on rocks or taking water over the wrong end of the boat. I am too green to be out there at night when it’s not perfect. Add in saltwater swells, traffic, uncharted rocks, no thanks! One night I Shut down, drifted, let the wind spin me, waves crash into the side of the boat. It was a nasty night. Firing up all systems And checking radar and I was completely turned around, could see absolutely nothing in the pitch black with spray. I opened the window, leaned out with my flood and lit that sucker up. Result: same condition as before but now blinded by light reflecting off raindrops, lake chop, and the white hull. I truly see the value of a very simple backlit compass at the helm. Redundant gps and radar Is even better, but that simple compass seemed to me to be the most valuable piece of night equipment on the boat.

I have motored around parts of the Columbia and fished a bit at night since those tests but with plenty of moonlight and no wind. Love being out at night And planning to upgrade lights for fishing and just hanging out at the “secret beaches” in summer, hitting markers, etc.

My question is does anyone have Red/Green colorblind issues? And those who do, what do you use to preserve night vision? Ever try to read a chart with red and green letters washed out by amber light? All those depth markers just disappear.

Apologies for the thread sidetracking. Maybe it should be a new thread?

Edit: have seriously considered used gen2 night vision. My neighbor is a pilot and uses NVG at work and seems like the way to go, but that is some spendy kit! Although less so if you start adding up the price of docking lights, go lights with remotes.
Nigel

 

[ssobol]

... My neighbor is a pilot and uses NVG at work and seems like the way to go, but that is some spendy kit! Although less so if you start adding up the price of docking lights, go lights with remotes.
Nigel

For NVG you also need a NCG compatible cockpit (helm). I'm not sure that they make NVG compatible chartplotters/radar displays for rec boats.

 

[SnowTexan]

... My neighbor is a pilot and uses NVG at work and seems like the way to go, but that is some spendy kit! Although less so if you start adding up the price of docking lights, go lights with remotes.
Nigel

For NVG you also need a NCG compatible cockpit (helm). I'm not sure that they make NVG compatible chartplotters/radar displays for rec boats.

That would definitely be excessive for my needs. Pretty hard to beat the price of staying home when its nasty, and having the family lean out the sides with flashlights for docking!

 

[T.R. Bauer]

I don't boat at night. There's my advice.....LOL....

 

[olsurfdog]

In my area (Central Calif) commercial fisherman have started using big led arrays to run at night. I’ve not been near one at night but it would be blinding to be in front of and look at. Last week at Half Moon Bay I saw a crab boat from Alaska with a space age looking pod on a mast forward with 5 or 6 rows of 40 - 50“ led light bars facing forward. Would be impressive to see at night. Seems be expensive enough to be more than just a fad. Must work??? Certainly new to me. Anyone else seen this setup?

 

[Marco Flamingo]

One rule of boating at night is don't go any faster than the speed you are willing to hit something at.

A naval architect once told me to always keep in mind that boats aren't supposed to hit anything harder than water.

I have a little Golight wireless remote spot light that works well. I probably have the wimpiest model. On the 16, there's not a lot of deck in front of me to light up and impair vision. The bow rail can be a bad reflection, so I put gaffer's tape on the back side of it to cut the glare.

http://www.c-brats.com/modules.php?set_ ... _photo.php

 

[thataway]

In my area (Central Calif) commercial fisherman have started using big led arrays to run at night. I’ve not been near one at night but it would be blinding to be in front of and look at. Last week at Half Moon Bay I saw a crab boat from Alaska with a space age looking pod on a mast forward with 5 or 6 rows of 40 - 50“ led light bars facing forward. Would be impressive to see at night. Seems be expensive enough to be more than just a fad. Must work??? Certainly new to me. Anyone else seen this setup?

Fishing boats with large lights are nothing new. We saw some in the early 90's going up the coast of CA/Oregon. These were huge halogen lights--maybe some sodium, based on color. Lite up for miles. LED's are also used by gigging boats in Florida. We see them regularly in some parts of St. John's river at night.

 

[T.R. Bauer]

I'm pretty sure a working fishing boat must have it's lights on at all times. I'm not 100% sure on that, but that is what I have been told from those who should be familiar with it. It could be a corporate thing, or it could be a CG thing - beats me, but they are always on when they are at work.

 

[thataway]

There are specific lights for fishing boats: They do not include the bright lights: The place I first saw the bight lights was in fishing for squid.

From Boater Ed:

Vessels engaged in fishing (Other than trawling) display a red all-round light over a white all-round light. Additional lights that may be displayed include:

A white all-round light that points in the direction of any fishing gear extending more than 150 metres horizontally from the vessel
Red and green sidelights and a white sternlight when the vessel is underway

From Ace boater:
Vessel when engaged in trawling
A vessel when engaged in trawling, which means dragging a dredge net or other fishing apparatus through the water, shall display:

two all-round lights in a vertical line, the upper being green and the lower white. When making way through the water,
sidelights and
sternlight.

There are slight variations in larger vessels and inland waters..

 

[olsurfdog]

The fishing boats I’m referring to are not using the lights strictly for fishing. Lots of them use light (very bright ) for fishing, around here squid boats for example. The headlights are being used for steaming to or from the fishing grounds.

 

[thataway]

The fishing boats I’m referring to are not using the lights strictly for fishing. Lots of them use light (very bright ) for fishing, around here squid boats for example. The headlights are being used for steaming to or from the fishing grounds.

This issues comes up on The Hull Truth often, where a new boater wants "headlights'. They are told it is illegal, even by a current Coast Guard Safety officer, yet proceed to buy a large LED display. People still do it. It makes it almost impossible to see the navigation lights so that others can see what is going on...I don't know of any citations or litigation, but that will happen sooner or later.

 

[T.R. Bauer]

If you can't see the channel markers because the lights are on when they should not be, I think we have a big problem.

 

[hardee]

Adding LED lights, (Driving, Fog and Scene lights or side lights was something I wanted to do when I first got my boat too. Still think about it.) I have seen the big fishing boats on the Oregon Coast, Puget Sound and on the BC Coast, big lights, Sodium, LED and Halogens. These are generally facing forward, with other lights down on the aft deck and I have seen some with spot lights generally aimed towards net gear. I have also talked to some of the First Nations fisherman who say their best fishing is on new moon nights, with no lights on anywhere so the fish do not see the nets. I liked the idea of the LED lights and even designed a light mount scheme for under my radar dome.

In the cabin, I changed all my cabin lights to LED with both white and red options. Both work at the dock, but the red lights in the cabin are WAY TOO BRITE to use for navigation. I found that as an option to no light, I use a headlamp with a red LED and put it on face backwards, (still bright) so I put a red bandana over it. Gives just enough light to give some peripheral vision. Also, All the lights on all the nav gear are turned down to minimum. Some don't go dark enough so they get a cover of some sort.

For the handheld, portable spot light, used to spot land marks when at anchor mostly, I have a paper towel roll cardboard that just fits into the light bezel, that helps keep light off the boat, water or anything else reflective.

I very rarely boat at night. I boat in the PNW and there are always things in the water here. Can't say I have seen many at night, but I have seen them in the daytime and I don't think they evaporate at night.

Boat safe, and stay careful. Boating at night has it's own whole new set of challenges.

Harvey
SleepyC :moon