Navigation lights

[GreenLake]

Under sail power, whether the COLREGS or the Inland Navigation Rules apply, all you are required to have is a flashlight. I find myself sailing in the (late, very late) evenings a lot more often than not. Something to do with the winds only picking up after lunch and enjoying having the lake or Bay to myself and gazing at starry skies.

Still, I do like to mount battery powered navigation lights.

These LED bow lightsare not very bright, but better than nothing.

In the DSII Forum I posted a description of how I mount them on the stemhead with a removable bracket.

I'm wondering two things:

1. Are there others who use these or similar lights?
2. Does anyone have a solution for a stern (transom) light?

[Peterw11]

My DS1 had lights already installed when I got it. The bow (red/green) light is actually mounted on the cuddy, ahead of the mast.

The white stern light is mounted on one corner of the deck, adjacent to the stern cleat. Both are the old school, cast aluminum fixture, type, screwed flush to the deck, and wired to a deep cycle battery mounted inside the cockpit, under the rear deck.

I've never sailed after dark, and have never used the lights.

[algonquin]

I use an Aqua Signal clear stern mounted light and front nav red/green lights mounted on a bowsprit on my DSI. My boat is equipped with a 12 volt system with a circuit panel that provides rocker switches for the various on board lights and accessories.

The importance of being seen as the sun goes over the horizon is critical. I do sail into the evening and often a power boat will come along at better than reasonable speed so I also use a hand held flash light to illuminate that main sail if someone is getting to close.

As far as rear battery powered clear nav lights go I have used lights like these on other boats I have owned. Brad

http://www.duckworksbbs.com/hardware/el ... /index.htm

[GreenLake]

Peter: The nice thing about LED's is that you don't need to runt the DS like a "yacht" with "house battery" and all that stuff. A few AA cells will last you multiple seasons of intermittent use.

Brad: I haven't found a true 135° stern light with it's own battery, so I'm wondering whether anyone has been successful. The one you show is an all around one.

The rules are funny. With the DS under power you can use a single all around light at any height (because under 7m and under 7 knots). But the minute you add sidelights, the all around light has to be on a 4' post to be 1m higher than the sidelights on the foredeck.

Also, according to the rules, when sailing, you can either rely on the flashlight, or you have to have sidelights and a true sternlight (with 135° sector aft).

I guess, you could always mount one of these babies vertical, and create a screen to turn it into a stern light by blocking the forward 215° and take the screen off, when you motor.

[talbot]

I got a 360-degree battery-powered stern light from West Marine. Same manufacturer as the R/G bow light. It comes with a long mounting tube and a bracket that I screwed onto the transom. You can raise or lower the light with a thumb screw that holds the tube in the bracket. It got in the way of my stern traveller, and I ended up shortening the tube, but it seems to work fine.

[hightide]

talbot,

I was thinking about one of these. I have been sailing a small 12 dinghy and like to stay out late (or, hate to have to come in). I got the LED bow light with a C-clamp (easier to use of a variety of boats). I also have a C-light PFD LED unit that I mount on my PFD with velcro cable fasterner.

The other day I picked up a little camping lantern for $5 at Walmart. It has a bale handle that can be detached so that it can hand off the end of a boom. It has two white light modes and a flashing red light mode. I'm sure it is fragile and NOT waterproof. Maybe a bit of tape of wax or silicone caulk will help it out. I just carry it in my sailing ditty bag and would use it only if I needed to. The other evening I sailed in full Harvest Moonlight on the local pond with a fair breeze and it was heavenly. I didn't have anything but my PFD light. It was mostly twightlight w the rising moon.

http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/sho ... p?t=188665

The directions for this little lantern warn users not to turn it on then immediately off because it decreases the life of the LEDs. It's just a little lightweight thing and will only "last" if treated with care.

Does anyone know if it is alright to use the flashing red (not to bright) LED in addition to flagging at the end of my mast while towing? JoAnn Fabrics also has a little ($4) LED flashing red clip on button about the size of a quarter. I suspect it's intended for dogs or children (outside or inside the house )

[UCanoe_2]

Do not use the flashing red light on your boat!

A stationary red light means an aid to navigation. A red light is a NAVAID marking the starboard side of the channel for a vessel returning from the sea. A flashing light (as opposed to a fixed light) marks a turn in the channel.

If someone mistook your boat for a NAVAID, it could cause an accident.

Use only the proper lights for identifying your size and type of vessel.

[hightide]

U-canoe,

Thanks. I was not planning on using the flashing red on the boat. I was wondering if, when trailering it over the highway, a -small- red flasher at the tail end of the mast was okay.

On the boat, if caught out after dark, I was planning to use the White steady LED for the stearn of the dinghy. I have the clamp on red/green LED running light (apsltd.com).

[GreenLake]

Hmm, you wrote "towing", that could have meant being towed by another boat on the water.

If you want to get a light for the mast, I would suggest using a bicycle tail light and set it to steady light.

My mast overhangs the towing vehicle, so it does not stick out over the back of the boat very much. I put a strip of red reflective tape on the top of the mast and that makes it quite visible from behind (and I can't forget the tape).

Another reflector goes on the mast crutch which fits in the rudder gudgeons. That puts it a bit further back than the trailer lights, and without having to have reflective material on the boat.

Again, something that's passive and doesn't need to be turned on.

[UCanoe_2]

Hey hightide,

My apologies for opening my mouth without fully understanding your post. I guess that's what happens when you look at boat websites at work and are not concentrating fully.

I think your flashing light is OK on land, but check with your state police.

The $4 light from JoAnn Fabrics might not be durable in bad weather or on rough roads. I have a strobe light that is intended as a rescue beacon for lost backpackers. It has several different flashing patterns. It is supposed to be waterproof, and survived testing in my kitchen sink. I got mine from Blue Ridge Mountain Sports in Charlottesville, VA. I can't find the exact item on their website now, but it was similar to this one for dogs:

http://www.brmsstore.com/php-bin/ecomm4/brmsProducts.php?category_id=&product_id=6506&prev_id=&next_id=6534

[algonquin]

When road towing my mast over hangs the stern by about 4 ft. The boat itself extends past the rear trailer lights by about 3 ft. That’s about 7 ft of boat and mast that extends behind the trailer lights so I suppose hanging a red light off the mast tail would be appropriate to warn tailgaters. Currently I use a 2 inch wide and 4 ft long orange florescent reflective tape that dangles from the end of the mast. Seems to work fine and doesn't need electricity. Brad

[UCanoe_2]

GreenLake,

I have been picking through the Coast Guard rules, trying to find the one you mentioned above:

"With the DS under power you can use a single all around light at any height (because under 7m and under 7 knots)."

After much puzzling and reading the fine print, I think this is only true under International Rules. Note "[Intl]" after Rule 23 c/d on this USCG webpage:

http://www.navcen.uscg.gov/?pageName=Rule23

Nearly all of us DS boaters operate in waters where the Inland rules apply, so we still have to have the combination light 1 meter below the all-around light.

Shucks. It would be so convenient to need only one light, and to not have to worry about the vertical separation.

[GreenLake]

The rules situation is unfortunate, because it's one of the areas the inland and inernational rules actually differ. You are correct, there's no provision for vessels less than 7m in the Inland Rules.

You need to fall back to the rules for power driven vessels less than 12m for which the Inland Rule 23 states:

(c) A power driven vessel of less than 12 meters may, in lieu of the lights prescribed in subsection (a) of this Rule, exhibit an all-round white light and sidelights.

And to find the 40" vertical separation requirement, you have to dig deeply in the annexes.

So, Inland you can't get away from sidelights, and therefore the all-around light must be raised. And thus you avoid the funny situation that by adding sidelights your all-around light could become out of compliance (under the international rules) for being too low.

I think that fitting sidelights is preferable, even where not technically required. The additional light, and the fact that they are in color make you more recognizable, and recognizable as a boat. Useful where there are lots of lights on shore.

Incidentally, you might be surprised about the number of DS sailing in waters covered by the International rules...

[Alan]

"Finally, in a power-driven boat of less than 23 feet (7 m) traveling at less than 7 knots, a single white masthead light will suffice, although sidelights should be displayed if practicable."

--The Practical Encyclopedia of Boating, by John Vigor, copyright 2004, 2008

Just my two cents. And since the book doesn't seem to specify the source of the rules, maybe it's one-and-a-half cents.

[GreenLake]

Yep, that "finally" refers to international rule 23(c)(ii), which has no counterpart in the Inland Rules (The entire Inland rule 23(c) is equivalent to international rule 23(c)(i)).

For those of you who like hardcopy, "paradise cay publications" selsl a side-by-side version of the international and inland rules.