search lights

[gar26lw]

Hi,

I was thinking about adding some lights to the boat to help navigate at night. few to many close calls with unlit channel markers.

has anyone else done this and if so what did you go for?

I was thinking perhaps car fogs would be ok. 4wd search lights?

it looks to me like the boat ones seemed to have a narow beam

would I need a second battery?

thanks :)

[tigermullet]

Could I suggest the very occasional use of a hand held spot light when unsure of position within channels.

The idea of using something like a fixed headlight has some appeal until you think about ruining your own and others night vision.

Before setting off on a dark night it might be better to avoid lights to allow the visual purple to build up. It is rare to have a truly dark night and even on those occasions it is remarkable what can be seen if you are patient enough.

Local knowledge helps, as does the counting of beacons. lights etc.

With cautious use a second battery should not be necessary.

I am not totally opposed to the idea after almost colliding with an unlit mark on a very dark and still night but do prefer to rely upon the above.

[mik01]

tiger - i am with Gar on this one.
no need to have them on all the time or even semi-regular, but handy to have fixed when you need them.
but a hand held unit, if powerful enough, might be a good solution although trying to shine it through the clears while steering could be difficult..

what about fixing just one spotlight? is the 4wd 'land' spotties a good solution? ie - is there a marine spottie vs a car spottie?

[Simmo2]

I think supercheap have those remote controlled lights..ie you can point them without turning the vehicle???
Bear in mind, they chew power....so you need the ability to either accomodate or replace the usage current.
I know you can get some real good 'spotlights' in a radome..but they are a bit dearer!!

[death_ship]

we used to put an orange filter on our spotty for beach driving to cut through the old sea mist, and the boat ones have blue as well, i know the plain bulb reflects alot off the mist and spray

[Wear the fox hat]

There is a mob that does a very good marine spotlight with a blue clip-on lens but I can't remember their name. Sorry about that, but I do know that Barra Jacks at Noosa sell them.

You could also try a Blue Eye spotlight, either fixed or handheld. You don't get the reflective glare back off your boat & are very good in fog or light rain also for the reflective glare reason. Whitworths & BIAS Boating have them.

WTFH

[Sea-Dog]

The biggest problem I've experienced with hand-held spotties is that they throw light where you don't want it. Eg. Your front deck, bonnet of the ute when chasing bunnies etc.

All of that reflected light ruins your night vision and you're not heaps better off than without the light.

I have thought that it would be handy to be able to mount a length of PVC pipe to the front of a round spotlight to act as a shade.

Make the shade long enough, and almost no light would be reflected down onto your front deck and back into your eyes.

Perhaps if you painted the inside of the last 200mm of the tube black to cut down on reflection would be even better than the grey/white plastic.

I think you'd have to mount some sort of pistol-grip handle to the underside of the shade to have the correct balance without tiring your arm/wrist.

[Blackened]

G'day

I'm with tiger on this one.

For my tinny, I have rigged up an old 100W 4x4 spotlight to have the mounting bolt sit into an aluminium handle. Long wires to a cigarette lighter connection.

I use it on a semi regular basis, usually when running through the boat passage into the brisbane river pre first light...... can be a bitch of a channel that one.

Have seen a tinny or 3 with a rack of spotties.... looked ok, but a bit crazy and blinding for anyone in their way.
Dave

[Eagle]

I have a "Lightforce" hand held marine spotlight that I use on our property and especialy on our boat. I hold it over the side of the boat and it works fantastic. It has a long pencil beam that really reaches out and can be ajusted to a floodlight if required by rotating the lens. I also use it directly over the windscreen and I can still see well even though there is some reflection off the short deck. This is the best spotlight I have ever used (about 7 inch diameter) and I can strongly recomend it. It is also made in Aust. A number of coloured lenses can be bought to give a different shade of light for different jobs. I was amazed at how many fish came up to the light when I first used it. My advice is to get the most powerful light you can find and get one that can be ajusted from a spot to a wide beam. Its amazing how much light "dissapeares" at long range over water. My Lightforce is good for about 800 meters max but objects are limited to about 400 m or 500 m at most where identifying them is critical. I wouldnt use any other light and I run it off the single battery with no problems. If you aim the light at the shore, The light can be seen for miles and miles. When connecting your light, connect it directly to the battery with spring clips. Do NOT use a cigarette lighter connection that so many of the cheaper lights have, The cigarette style connection cannot handle the amps and will overheat to the point that you cant hold it without getting burnt. This style of connection has no place on a boat where safety is paramount.
Joe

[artesian]

buy a cheap hand held gps, mark the lit (they can fail) and unlit markers.

I agree that a spottie will pick up reflective markers at long range, if you happen to move the light over them, and mounted fog light type lights might help you pick up crab pot floats in the channel if you are going slow enough

Failing the solutions posted here, keep the speed well down,you are a long time dead

[gar26lw]

thanks fellas, this is great info. I think I will try and find that lightforce light Eagle has mentioned. failing that the whitworths. I never thought of the blue light.
use a gps tracker which is great for letting you know where you are in relation to the channel. still came VERY close to an unlit marker that wasnt on the chart the other night. too close.

cheers

gar

[Chris Ryan]

I put a couple of 4x4 spotties (supacheap) on my rocket launcher to keep them well above the boat. They are not the best option, but when you need em, the show up the reflectors which is all you need. Being so high up too, the don't screw with your night vision too badly.

[STUIE63]

I picked up a rechargeable torch 5 000 000 candle power from repco it is better than any spotty i've ever had on a car and the deckie can go up the front with it so it doesn't light up the boat and screw up my night vision
Stuie

[Noelm]

a good handheld light is just about the only way to go! anyone who puts "headlights" on their boat for anything other than (maybe) close quarters docking, has probably never been out in the dark!!! almost any sort of lights will indeed ruin any possibility of really seeing anything, far better off to use low speed, well adjusted eyes and if in real doubt, a mate with a handheld up as near as possible to the bow, to momentarily illuminate the shoreline or markers or whatever.

[gar26lw]

but what about battery life in a high powered tourch ?

[STUIE63]

Gar261w the life I get is not a problem I haven't had to charge it yet out at sea but I have a car charger for it that I can run in the boat I only charge it every 4th or 5th time I go out it was about $50
Stuie

[Wear the fox hat]

Thanks Eagle, Light Force is the one I couldn't remember. Set this up with a blue clip-on lens & I don't think you'll find a better light under $200 for boating.

WTFH

[snelly1971]

http://www.lightforce.net.au/marine.html

His is the link for the lightforce marine lights...i am looking at the myself at the moment for night fishing...around the 1000 bucks for a pair i think

Cheers Mick

[Dreamweaver]

Hi,

I was thinking about adding some lights to the boat to help navigate at night. few to many close calls with unlit channel markers.

has anyone else done this and if so what did you go for?

I was thinking perhaps car fogs would be ok. 4wd search lights?

it looks to me like the boat ones seemed to have a narow beam

would I need a second battery?

thanks :)

Hi Gar

I agree with many comments here:

As Tigermullet wrote - if you are going to use a light, do so if only necessary as it diminishes vision for those with normal or good night vision due to the contrast between normal light and any artificial beam you create. Also, extra consideration needs to be taken if other boats are around - especially coming together bow to bow - indiscriminate use could blind the other skipper, or other skippers that have visibility of the light.

Mik asked the question whether there is a marine spotty - and the answer is yes - of at least I have one. Not saying it's the best (probably isn't) but it's built for a marine environment - and has taken plenty of spray/wash in all sorts of weather, perhaps something to think about if you are going the fixed option with the business end facing the environment.

I agree with Eagle too, it IS amazing how much light is swallowed up on a dark night. Thats 500,000 candle power - I wished I got a lot stronger.

I had one fitted to the top of the targa with a remote joy stick fitted into the helm bulkhead - see photos.

My night vision is not the best, and it's been very handy when underway at night to spot any floating obstructions or hazards at close quarters ahead. It has a 270 degree sweep and the height is such that it's never obstructed or causes any blindness. Having the remote, means you have the best of both worlds, set and forget or adjustable. Of course, as you can see by the close up, without a cover - get done by road bugs - I'll be getting my wife to make one up.

I use it only when necessary and never as a substitute for the all round underway (masthead) light.

The costs was around $500.00 fitted.

Second battery, not sure, but I always run two switched batteries just because I enjoy the extra peace of mind and not just because of the spot.

Hope this helps...

[seatime]

I've used a handheld 'blue eye beam' a few times in unlit channels. Found they work best in short bursts - spot the beacon then switch off - switch on again when nearing where you last saw it.

To compensate for any lost night vision - close one eye when using the spotty in short bursts. At least one eye retains vision in the darkness for the next few minutes.
The old pirate (seamen) with an eye patch came from this technique, not all of them had lost an eye, it was for their night/darkness vision when going below deck during the daytime (there weren't lights or lanterns below deck, too dangerous). When going below they flipped up the patch, returning on deck flip the patch down.

[tigermullet]

I can see it now! Gin palaces with enough generating power to serve a small city, ablaze with 500 million candlepower spot lights, racing between the Gold Coast and the Pin, leaving small tinnies with blinded skippers washed up on sandbanks and shorelines all over the place.

It could be fun.;D

The next purchase for me will be an eye patch. Great story that has the 'ring' of truth to it.

[Eagle]

Its highly ilegal to drive your car with bright blue headlights. The police get very excited about this practice. It's because they use a blue light when "advertising" and if you display a blue light/s you can be done big time for impersonating a patrol/police car. I highly recomend that anyone contemplating fitting a blue light/filter to their boat spotties to ask their local water police if a blue spotlight can be legaly fitted to your boat. Better to ask first than to cop a severe fine and a probable criminal record.
Joe

[seatime]

If you want to research spotlights have look here they're serious about lighting needs;

http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/index.php?

[cormorant]

Some light geek will know the answer to this but

If sunlight is made up of red , yellow and blue light and we see water as blue in colour it means that only the blue wavelenght is reflected. So if you wanted a spotlight to work well on the water i would have thought if it was red or yellow light it would not reflect on the water much and you would see objecs clearly but not the water as it would appear basically black.

I know they use red in helms of ocean racers subs etc as it doesn't cause night blindness when you then go on deck and need to see outwards. All light that escapes the cabin is äbsorbed by the water and not reflected.

So if the theory is right you want a red pencil beam mounted high with a shade that stops any light excaping and hitting deck ot rails.

Saying that I have a hella through cabin spotlight /searchlight and except for some reflection off the front rail it is not too bad on the eyes. We have panited the rail backs black already. Light is good and we replaced the bulb to one that throws and much light but uses less power. It has good range etc but like others have said when you really need it you could do with 10 of them. Mostly we try and run without any light and even cover all but the warning part of the guages and rev needle section at cruise revs with some black felt with cutouts. All my guages have red back globes we have painted half black to have minimum light. It only takes a little white to stuff your vision an unless you are use to the red light distance is hard to judge. Bright GPS etc I have shielded and pointed to my passenger but we have trouble turning their brightness down enough to stop the reflection in the cabin.

We have hella deck flood lights and they are great but in general too bright unless you really wanr to see some fine detail. 2 small red leds at knee heigh provide the best light and make it easy to see most things on deck once your eyes adjust.

Like to hear froma light geek if I should be looking to find a red filter for the hella spotty??