Anchor light - time to join the 21st century?

VicS said:
mine blows out in a calm if the boat is rocked by the wash of a passing mobo.
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You need a better one then. My best is an all-brass Feuerhand with secondary shielding round the chimney, but I don;t think they are made any more. they cost me fifty quid each, twenty five years ago ...

MagicalArmchair said:
Force 10 at anchor? Cripes, I get fidgety in anything over a force 4 :)
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Could have been more, as the forecast for Malin was F12. Luckily I was in the Sound of Ulva, which is a bit kinky and so the fetch was only 30 yards or so. Ferocious wind, barely a ripple. 35 fathoms of chain out, bar taut, in 6' of water ...

KevO said:
The Dietz ones are very good, so are the genuine German Feuerhand ones. They don't leak and are much better made than the cheap carp chinese copies. I bought 3 from Germany and they were about £16 each I think plus small postage. They get used a lot and we haven't had any problems whatsoever.
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I bought a brass Dietz from Crinan Chandlers a few years back. The glass was cracked and they promised me a new one. However, they couldn't get one and no Dietz dealer I have tried since (most recently Ardfern) has been able to come up with one. I'm not that bothered any more, because after three years in the garage it is corroding to bits. Expensive rubbish.

Now I use either a brass Feuerhand (see above) or buy a generic Chinese one for under a fiver and expect to chuck it after a couple of years.
 
G12 said:
Yes Aladdin.... Very nice lamps, lots of variety..
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You do have to be careful about the Genies though

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VicS said:
4 C cells.

Also found that the light output is 18 lumen

According to the annex 1 of the Colregs a light with a luminous intensity of 4.3 candela is required for a visible range of 2 n.miles when the meteorological visibility is 13 n. miles

The total light output from 4.3 candela would be approx 54 lm if distributed over an entire sphere ( 1 candela producing 1 lm/steradian and there being 4pi sr to a sphere ) however if concentrated by the lantern into a beam 1/3 of a total sphere or less 18 lm would give the 2 n miles visible range required by the Colregs.
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Strange to be talking about 18 lm to make sure no one runs you down in the dark, whereas if there thread was about shooting rabbits at night the discussion would be about how many thousands of Lm you can get from cheap LED torches. :)
 
dancrane said:
To be honest Niffler, I got it a little while after I'd posted - I noticed the capital 'F'...but it hadn't made me laugh even inwardly, so I didn't bother updating. Sorry.
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You got there in the end and that's what's important. Thank you for the explanation though, I was worried for a while.
 
lpdsn said:
Strange to be talking about 18 lm to make sure no one runs you down in the dark, whereas if there thread was about shooting rabbits at night the discussion would be about how many thousands of Lm you can get from cheap LED torches. :)
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All we need is an arms race like the AIS fiasco. God preserve us all.
 
JumbleDuck said:
I like my hurricane lamp because (amongst other reasons) it's normally the only one, making spotting my boat dead easy.
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you'd spot it Ok with a 2000 lumen anchor light....... so will the mobo driver coming into the anchorage at a zillion knots... he wont see your hurricane lamp until it comes crashing though his windscreen :)
 
VicS said:
you'd spot it Ok with a 2000 lumen anchor light....... so will the mobo driver coming into the anchorage at a zillion knots... he wont see your hurricane lamp until it comes crashing though his windscreen :)
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Oh, come on. Since when has a mobo driver ever entered an anchorage, particularly at night?

That said, I do not think my lamp is significantly dimmer than the electric ones, just a bit yellower. I take the trouble to keep the wick trimmed and clean the glass.
 
Niffler said:
Anchorages with 30 anchor lights each pumping out 2,000 lumens. Lovely. Not.
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For a start, pointing out that there are cheap, efficient LEDS that are far brighter than a bare minimum 18 Lm is not advocating everyone uses floodlights. LEDs have come on a long way in the second decade of the 21st century.

You may anchor where an anchor light is merely a form of decoration, in fact I sometimes do myself, but I also visit places where it is important to be clearly visible.

It's not unknown for MoBos to speed at night:

http://www.maib.gov.uk/cms_resources.cfm?file=/SootySynopsis.pdf
http://www.maib.gov.uk/cms_resources.cfm?file=/Sea Snake.pdf

Personally, I'm more worried about fishing vessels heading out at night after closing time.
 
JumbleDuck said:
Oh, come on. Since when has a mobo driver ever entered an anchorage, particularly at night?

That said, I do not think my lamp is significantly dimmer than the electric ones, just a bit yellower. I take the trouble to keep the wick trimmed and clean the glass.
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Your ald light is in the right position to be seen, as well.

I have always found that the biggest challenge entering an anchorage at night is not avoiding those boats with lights but those without - which are sometimes in the majority.
 
Agreed, and in order of helpfulness, least first:

1. A masthead anchor light, might as well put a light on the actual anchor for all the good a masthead one does.
2. A light in the rigging, better but draws attention to the light not the boat
3. A light that also illuminates part of the front third of the boat - the best solution and marks out the boat nicely. Of course it makes the ones with no light practically invisible, but anchoring without a light is just plain dumb.
 
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