Battery question

[talbot]

True, the nav lights are for others to see you. And a dark secluded cove is by definition not a place with a lot of traffic.
Still, there are an unfortunate number of boats on our lake after dark with no lights at all. That's a situation where it's important for me to see them and where I would not want to turn off my own lights.

[GreenLake]

This seems to have morphed a bit into a nav-light discussion.

I can personally attest that attaching a bow light while underway can be detrimental to your health. At least I needed about a dozen stitches (from ramming the foredeck cleat into the space between my fingers...not recommended). And I have a lovely set of bloody fingerprints all over my sails .

If I remember to put them up before leaving the dock, that would not be an issue (and usually I would know in advance that they are needed).

As for permanently installed 12V systems, I would think the best solution would be to mount them directly under the rub rail (or deck joint). The units are waterproof after all, so some splash shouldn't be an issue. Below the rub rail you would avoid all issues with reflection from the boat's superstructure.

For lighting the jib, I have the following proposal: grind through a circular area of the gelcoat on the foredeck (and sand off the paint on the underside of the deck). That will leave you with a clear port, as laminate is transparent. (Use transparent gel coat from a gelcoat repair kit, to level the deck again). Now, mount a strong 12V flat LED light on the underside of the deck. With a flick of a switch, it will brightly illuminate your jib, identifying you as a sailboat. (It's like the working lights on bigger boats, except that instead of shining down the mast, you illuminate in the reverse direction.) If you place this just forward of the cuddy, you would not get any direct light from where you sit in the cockpit. It's still going to impact your night vision a bit, but especially if you put a switch were you can get to it quickly it's a great solution when somebody looks like they haven't seen you.

I don't have a 12V battery system for lighting, so I make do with carrying a strong flashlight on my person that will light up any sail if directed upward.

Another tiny tweak would be to mount a directed light on the cuddy side pointing to the mast tip. That's, if you have a Windex there. (Well focused, but not very strong light would be ideal). With a bit of reflective tape on the underside of the Windex, a short tap on a button would give you the current wind direction. Even very weak lights really show up when you use reflective tape.

[TIM WEBB]

Thanks Tim. As I said previously, almost everything in this design I cribbed from someone else on here who came up with it first, maybe even you?
I use the atwood battery lights on my little tin can fishing boat, even though it's got a starter battery in it. They're cheaper than a 12v system and work really well. I love sailing at sunset though (viewtopic.php?f=8&t=4810), and figure if I was already going to run the wiring for the trolling motor, may as well do the lights too.
The Powerfilm R13 is apparently akin to a factory second R14. Dimensions are similar and wattage is (perhaps) only slightly less. The first comment on the product from Amazon is enlightening: "Simple put the R-13 at $125 dollars is a bargin when compared the the other versions such as the R-7, R-14, R-21 and the R-28. Do a search on the prices and you will agree. You basically get a R-14 for less than the price of the R-7. You could buy 2 and connect them together and have 26 watts, a little less than the R-28 , and you still save some money.
I attempted to find some info on the R-13 on the internet but I could not. I contacted the good folks at PowerFilm to find out is this a new product or a obsolete one, turns out it is neither. Basically when they have extra matterial left over from a production run they use it to make the R-13. So they make some, put them on Amazon, sell them. And then latter when they have some more they do it all over. So basically they are not available all the time!
15.4 operating voltage, 13 watts. When I tested it connected directly to a 18 ah battery I measured 823 milliamps current.
So if you want a good product and want to save some money, hurry while they still have them available."

I've been watching for a while and it seems like they put up a few 'factory second' R13s every couple of months or so. I think I'll wait until next summer to bite that bullet though.

The light pole does rake back slightly. In that last picture of the light in my post, showing the cover, I held the camera pretty well vertical, so the angle of the pole apparent there is real. There is probably no more than 2 inches of clearance- horizontally. The light is above the boom, but the boom is not long enough to hit it. I didn't know how that was going to work out- I kept the receipt when I bought the light. Just got lucky.
I'll try to remember to take a picture next time I have the mast up. But, fair warning, I will probably forget to do so. When the mast is up, the boom on, and topping lift tied, taking photos seems to be far from my mind...

You're welcome, but if you cribbed anything from me, it's highly likely that I cribbed it from someone else, so I can't take any credit ... ;-P

Now that I think about it, when I was shopping for a solar panel, I do recall seeing the R13 as being "limited availability" or some such. Guess that explains why!

Oh, OK, now I get how your boom clears the light pole: duh Tim, the boom doesn't reach that far back!

I hear ya on taking pics of stuff: I always have the camera along, but totally forget what I want pics of! CRS disease I guess ... ;-P

For the bow navlight mount I made this simple bracket, using the attachment base that comes with the light:

Bow navlight mount.JPG (249.53 KiB) Viewed 4681 times

Really easy to just snap the light on, and doesn't interfere with anything.

GL, I find that a decent LED headlight (the kind that has a strap that goes around your head, and tilts up and down) works great for both illuminating the main as well as the windex. The Davis windex I have came with reflective tape already applied to the bottom and sides.

[GreenLake]

My LED navigation lights use a home made bracket.


(Not shown in the drawing is the hex bolt I embedded so I can screw on the light or the bungee cord I use to secure the fitting around the forestay. The bungee is visible in the photo).

I would find a full headlamp too much light. I have a cap with a very small LED in the visor, that works really well for when I absolutely need some light. But turning it on for each glance at the Windex is inconvenient. Hence the thought of perhaps installing a dedicated light. If it's set up correctly, so that it doesn't illuminate anything in the normal field of vision, it might even be left on permanently. Will have to experiment.

[TIM WEBB]

I found that putting the headlight on while wearing the Tilley keeps glare to a minimum, and does a great job of illuminating both main and windex ...