Lights at night

[stephen25]

Hey guys just wanted to see whats out there. what kind of lights do you use at night and how are they on battery consumption?

 

[Scott Danforth]

Re: Lights at night

just the navigation lights and all-around light are allowed by law.

unless you are talking about courtesy lighting inside, than almost anything goes. however when underway, only the navigation lights and all-around light

if youre refering to the docking lights, those are used only momentarily and only for docking

 

[MinUph]

Re: Lights at night

Yes lights while underway will ruin your night vision. And are illegal I believe. There are no headlights on a boat like a car. Dock light are only for use while docking but generally in my experience not needed. Some people use lights while fishing to attract the fish. I don't know how well it works.

 

[stephen25]

Re: Lights at night

courtesy lights was what i was prefering to sorry

 

[MinUph]

Re: Lights at night

There are some nice LED courtesy lights out now that take very little juice.

 

[richard.prince]

Re: Lights at night

I just bought a new truck and was looking at bed lights so could see what's in there with the cover on and only the tailgate open and found that they sell a led light strip that uses like 4 AA batteries. I am thinking about buying two for my boat as they are advertised to be waterproof.

 

[glust]

Re: Lights at night

Great question. I have a pontoon and wanted some small accent lighting when anchored. I found some blue LED light kits that I think are used for motorcycle applications. They already come with the sticky backing on the brackets. I just stuck them to the tops of my seat pedestals and had them pointing down. Wired them all together (15 of them in all) and ran them to an accessory switch on the helm. Very simple, very nice at night, and pulls very little juice. I agree though with earlier posters and always have men off when underway. Good luck with your project Be safe.

 

[idonthaveaname]

Re: Lights at night

Great question. I have a pontoon and wanted some small accent lighting when anchored. I found some blue LED light kits that I think are used for motorcycle applications. They already come with the sticky backing on the brackets. I just stuck them to the tops of my seat pedestals and had them pointing down. Wired them all together (15 of them in all) and ran them to an accessory switch on the helm. Very simple, very nice at night, and pulls very little juice. I agree though with earlier posters and always have men off when underway. Good luck with your project Be safe.

Like glust I bought the LED strips with adhesive backing. They are waterproof and can me cut to length and modified as needed. My plan is to arrange some of them (white) on strips of aluminum, wire up, and use as flood/spreader lights on my T-Top. When I am done I will post the pictures. I have also bought red and green strips to utilize as additional running lights (navigation) on the control box. A word of caution when looking for LEDs. There are 5050 and 3528 LEDs so here's a link to help you .... What is the difference between 3528 LEDs and 5050 LEDs |SMD 5050 SMD 3528

You can buy them fairly cheap if you google. My 5050s were about $7 a roll and the 3528s about $15 or so.

 

[Fleetwin]

Re: Lights at night

Any kind of WHITE light kills human night vision.

When I used to Night Fish for Walleye's, in Minnesota, I took great pains to keep the anchor light (white) out of my field of vision but still visible to other boaters.

We used RED lights, inside the boat cockpit, for visibility for baiting, changing lures, etc.

People tend to think that light is their friend at night. Nothing could be farther from the truth.

Humans, actually, have pretty good night sight. The trick is to not look directly at what you want to see. Use your peripheral vision. The night (dark) seeing sense, in our eyes, is much more pronounced in the peripheral. It's a Rods/Cones thing in our eyes.

 

[garbageguy]

Re: Lights at night

...I have also bought red and green strips to utilize as additional running lights (navigation) on the control box...

is that legal? although I don't understand where they would be - "on the control box"

 

[Fleetwin]

Re: Lights at night

is that legal? although I don't understand where they would be - "on the control box"

Good catch! Didn't notice that.

Don't mess with Nav. lights!

Best case, some Coastie/LE cites you. Worst case, you are responsible for an accident with someone NOT seeing you and have non reg. lighting.

My post above, regarding anchor light, needs to be understood. I was 100% sure that the anchor light could be seen 360*. I just focused the light out of the cockpit.

 

[WaterDR]

Re: Lights at night

As a former naval officer, qualified navigator and OOD, I take navigation lights pretty seriously.

Glad you are getting good advice here.

 

[idonthaveaname]

Re: Lights at night

is that legal? although I don't understand where they would be - "on the control box"

I didn't say remove the nav lights from the bow and I didn't necessarily mean use the control box lights underway. We fish and shrimp a lot at night and I would prefer to be seen while sitting still rather than relying on 2 small nav lights on the bow. I am well aware of the laws. Regarding the other question ref: where they would be. My fault...I was referring to the electronics box (regional dialect) under the T-Top.

 

[idonthaveaname]

Re: Lights at night

As a former naval officer, qualified navigator and OOD...

WaterDR - Thanks for your service. Our son is a current naval officer and navigator (P3) currently serving in a project management role.

 

[NM-jim]

Re: Lights at night

Good topic, for many years I have camped on my pontoon boat. I use a chemlight for an anchor light. I activate the white chemlight then tape it to the anchor light making sure the light has 360 deg visibility. The red chemlights also work great as deck lighting. I also keep a few red chemlights in my boat tool kit in case I lose a trailer light and need a new source of red light. Several times I have done this and cops drive right by, as long as you have both trailer lights they don't notice the type of light used.

 

[kfa4303]

Re: Lights at night

just the navigation lights and all-around light are allowed by law.

unless you are talking about courtesy lighting inside, than almost anything goes. however when underway, only the navigation lights and all-around light

if youre refering to the docking lights, those are used only momentarily and only for docking

This. Nav lights and anchor lights are really all you should use. Anything more actually decreases your vision and is a hazard to others.

 

[bruceb58]

Re: Lights at night

I also keep a few red chemlights in my boat tool kit in case I lose a trailer light and need a new source of red light.

Not a bad idea.