dosjers wrote:
ELM wrote:
All I used was 3 x Tectite lights and a small white led for the top of the mast.
1st Tectite is the 4 LED with a white cover and I fit it on a short pvc pole mounted just behind the seat as my 360 degree white anchor/stern light.
2nd two Tectite's are 1 LED in both green and red lens which I have made mounting tubes from pvc that clip onto the lug and velcro to the rear aka brace at the bend above the amas.
Small LED is mounted on the top of the mast and I am currently looking at a different type of light and mount as the last one fell off and was not bright enough.
Elm,
There are rules that must be followed when displaying lights on a boat. The lights you display tell other boats things like whether you are a power boat or a sail boat and what direction you are going in relation to other boats. As an example if you have red and green side lights and a 360 degree stern light you are a power boat so other boats might treat you as such when determining which boat is the give way vessel. (When looking at a boat sailing at night you should only see one light if you see either a red or green plus a white you're a power boat.)
Making your own lights is difficult but possible but it sounds like you went with the more is better rule instead of complying with the rules.
The rules are very simple. When sailing you should display red and green bow lights and a white stern light. That means when you look at the boat from the front you only see the red and green lights and when looked at from the rear you only see a white light. These lights are readily available from any chandlery. You can optionally mount a tri-color light on top of your mast and use it instead of the 3 separate lights.
A 360 degree white light mounted on top of your mast is an anchor light and should only be used when you are at anchor.
For sailboats less than 7 meters you have the option of carrying an "electric flashlight or lighted lantern ready at hand to be shown in time to prevent a collision.
I have spent a lot of time on the water sailing and motoring in the dark and displaying improper lights can be very confusing to other boaters. It would also be very difficult to see a TI or AI displaying proper navigation lights. My recommendation is that if you have to be out after dark carry a very powerful flashlight that can be used to light up your sail when close to another boat. The down side of this is that when you turn it on you will ruin your night vision. As they say there is no free lunch. Personally I don’t sail after dark.
The civil penalty for violating the Inland Navigation Rules is not more than $5,000 for each violation.
For more details on navigation lights go to Chapman Piloting Seamanship & Small Boat Handling.
Thanks dosjers, I do know I am not doing it completely right and need to do so.
I will check out your link as well.
I do only use the anchor light when at anchor, but agree I do need to bring the red green together. I do also have a head torch & hand torches (dive lights) that I carry, one a 21 watt HID but once it's turned on, it has to stay on, blinds the poor bloke at the other end as well. Once it's on, I either stick it in the water to keep it cool, if there are a lot of boats around, then it goes inside the hull to light it up (fluro banana
) .
When I started out, I honestly took no notice of the light regulations and just threw some white lights front & back and like you said, the front light really does bugger your night vision. I then removed all the lights and just used a torch (even at anchor) but after a few near misses I decided to make myself a little better seen. I do not mind dropping the mast to turn on a light for anchor and think it is best seen from there. My two coloured lights I know they are supposed to be together but the width and low profile of the amas always worried me, so I added the two (red/green) off the amas.
I love sailing at night, as it's so quiet on the water, no jet ski's and the fisherman that are out, are generally already at anchor and in for the long night. Some times I just stay in close to the beach and troll deep divers so the bounce off the shallow sandy bottom or some surface lures. If I see any small sand octopus, then I net them up, put them on for a live bait and head out to deeper water and either anchor or troll them deep on the downrigger.