SailVessel headlights

I am pondering fixed night illumination ahead of the vessel for the helmsman.
I have seen spotlights mounted on the spreaders of yachts but these illuminate the headsails and reduce the night vision, as do any fixed spotlights abaft the bow shining on any part of the vessel.
Seems to me to be advantageous for the night helmsman to be able to flick on a good fwd spotlight when confronted at night by a floating unidentifiable object ahead.
Are there any suitable robust waterproof headlights that could be designed into the pulpit? I have seen some fancy remote operated devices but think their life would be short in the bow of a sailing vessel at sea.
The higher the light the better, this would put a narrow beam light to good effect on the mast-top aimed at the water say 100m ahead of the vessel and oriented or baffled to avoid shining on the sails.
A handheld spot is useless since again it tends to blind the helm if used from the cockpit and requires another crewmate to go right forward with it. Since night sailing is often a solo watch a switched fixed light seems best.
Has anyone else looked at this issue.

 

Nightvision

Any light except a dim red and certain wavelengths of blue/green are going to rob night vision. It doesn't matter if you don't have the helm illuminated by the spot light. Just turning it on will make you blind in the dark when it's doused.

Chris

 

Chris

Isn't the issue here that mike is saying is that you are blind on a dark night unless you have light? Night vision returns readily even when badly abused and a well mounted foreward light would be good for night vision!

I have run up onto uncharted fish farm enclosures in the mouth of a large wide estuary in a gale late at night when you could see nothing, black with driven spray blinding any attempt to peer around the windscreen. I often think a very strong fixed light projecting foreward would be a useful addition.

On my yacht one of the crew often gets sent fwd with a handheld spotlight, they inevitably shine the bloody thing on the sails deck, back at the steersman when he/she starts bellowing all this despite being told to shine only ahead of the yacht . Even the light on the pulpit rails blinds the steersman to the view beyond. As Mike says at night you are usually alone at the post. So I think this an idea I embrace with fervour.......Now how to do it please.

Sailing in the Southern ocean from NZ to campbell island in a storm we turned on all the overhead lights and could then see the waves that had been brutalising us so much, the difference psychologically was amazing and I would recommend it. Could still easily see an accompanying vessels lights in the distance.


Michael Bailey

 

For entering harbors at night I have built a couple rigs for solo operation of a spot without blinding the helm.
I used a relatively inexpensive remote control spot called (I believe) a "GoLight".
With some modification to the base it can be built so it is removable. It requires only the power source as the controls are a battery operated remote. It is particularly effective on the forward side of a sailboat mast, as the mast obscures the blinding light from the helmsman and gives it some altitude for better illumination. I think I got them at West Marine.

 

If you try navigating my creek at night during blue crab season, the value of a forward light is obvious. Night vision be damned, although it might come in handy when untangling your boat from a crab pot. I have relied on a crew on the bow with a light up to now, but am interested in such a bow light. I think I would favor a hand held unit temporarily set in a fixture on the bow as far forward as possible and with a switch at hand to the helm. A light with a beam broader than the usual spotlight would be best. Emergency lights intended for road repair on a vehicle might be good. I have one of those and will experiment with that.

Thanks for the boost mike.

 

There are several lights build by a number of manufacturers. They range from fixed countersunk type to rail mounted with remote controllled.

 

I've been toying with the idea of mounting a pair of automotive fog lights in the hull. I've moved the sidelights from under the sheer to the pulpit so I have holes to fill anyway.

At only 5 knots I don't need a great range for the lights, just enough to help spot logs, crab trap makers etc.

I think the low angle, wide beam, and sharp cut off off a fog light would be a good choice. I might try mounting at an angle of about 5 deg, so they would be more effective when heeled.

There are so many logs in Vancouver waters, it makes sailing at night a bit nerve racking.

 

may be worth reading http://www.sarbc.org/nightvis.html

 

Starshell!!!

OK then, how's about a white 'very' light or flare (parachute?)

Goes up high, ahead and illuminates what you need to see, the area in front of the boat. Dies away slowly - OK not that slow! But it gives night vision chance to return. If the object is manned it warns them that somethings coming! and they'll maybe look out too! We all carry a few as per the rules don't we? Worth a thought, and a try!

Just don't do it in a river it will scare the sh*t out of the sheep!

 

I think Im grasping this ; you want headlights or your boat?I dont like them because you can only see directly in front and must steer the boat to see an obstical.you dont like spotlights because you may need an extra man on deck!I work for a power co. we have remote control lights on our trucks ,you can mount one on the bow and operate it from the stearn ;and are very weather proof

 

Mike, RHough: I put a pair of lamps on my boat last season for similar reasons (in my case, though, the floating logs are usually replaced by unlit pontoon party-barges). I have a pair of rubber-gasketted "docking lights" that I picked up at the chandler's clearance sale; they're bolted to the bow gunwales. They tilt up and down manually to compensate for trim/heel angle. A car fog-lamp bulb in each gives me about 50-80 metres range over a total of about 40-50 degrees, depending on conditions. They draw a helluva lot of power but work very well; switch is in easy reach of the helm and they don't screw up your night vision for any more than 4-5 seconds.
Car fog lamps are designed to be down in the bumper cowling, right in the salt spray of that truck you're tailgating on, so they should hold up fine in a boat too.

 

Real night vision takes almost an hour to establish.
Carrier pilots are sequestered in a red enviroment for even longer.

The trick of closing one eye , and loosing HALF the night vision works , but not in too bright lights as the eyelid passes light.

You might just do what inshore and river tugs do ,
get a bunch of light (1,000,000cp) and take daylight with you.

Power might be a concern , as will be the cost ($65. each ) for bulbs.

FAST FRED

 

2 sets of rules (again!)

Truthfully - you shouldn't project that white light forward, in as far as other vessels being able to identiify you, and your course speed and afford you the right stand on / off priveleges...

Soo - for example...Maybe someone will interpret your forward white light - allong woth ruunning lights as a trawler?...in the act of trawling?...(restricted in ability to maneauover, engaged in fishing - whatever) from your incorrect light signal.

If as a result - they mistake your heading speed and a dcollision ensues - you will be at fault, even if you SHOULD have been afforded right of way...(under sail)..

So - basically you shouldn't do it.

That said - everyone does....even those who enforce the rules....sine my vessel which i bought from the martime authorities comes fittefd with a search spotlight remotely operated from within the cabin.....but you see - it's a patrol & rescue vessel - so the spotlight is for rescue purposes.

All the same - someone mistakes me for a pair trawler or whatever - and runs into me - I'm at fault...

Soo..go ahead anyway and install your lights - they are search & rescue lights! (Arent they?) (Sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander as they say!).

New moon nights - can be a b!tch...black as the inside of Joe Loui's left boxing glove!.. Add a bit of salt spray to the front window...I don't care if you got night image intensifying bino's...your still up shyte creek without a paddle.

Sooo - I used my spotlight last time I had to come home in a 30 knot sou wester across an open estuary on a new moon night...none of the channel markers (and theres hundreds of em) except the leading one are lit! Once past the first marker - your in the dark, blind and on your own.

Even with Color Furuno GPS/Chartplotter....AND spotlight...I managed to nudge the mud with the bow on one tight corner in the channel...

Maybe had I had radar I'd a seen the next marker - but it was so far around I couldn't swing the spotlight far enough to pick it up...even when the chart plotter told me roughlt where it oughtta be!

These things just don't update quick enough for close in maneouvering in the dark with no light in a tight (shallow / narrow) unlit channel.

Course the question could be asked - why be out in such crap...but - the prawns were running and I'm a sucker for prawns I'm sorry!

Sooo..damned if you do and likely damned if you don't...and even with a spotlight - you can still goof... Radar mightaa helped but to be honest I still reckon I'd a ate mud...you can only watch so much at one time...

Go for the lights - just be judicious about where n when you use them and have courtesy for other night time water users!

Cheers!

 

I have wondered about bright red/green "headlights" in the bow of my skiff - this would seem to be within the regulations, and provide improved, though imperfect visibility. They'd also be great for nav bouy reflectors (at least heading upstream !-)

With respect to night vision, where I am generally out, a car (or streetlight) can be blinding, and sometimes difficult to avoid. To say nothing of heading downstream from the shipyard (lit like day) and rounding a bend into total darkness.