Flood light for night time manoeuvring

[simonfraser]

Yes i know it’s unlikely to be according to coll regs

At times i move my boat at night and need to see the marks and other unlit boats in the river

The flood light i have at the moment sits on top of the roof, shines straight into the helm station through the deck hatches. So that does not work.
I have a dark fabric cover for the hatches, but i still get plenty of glare back from the pulpit and sided guards.

So the only place i can think of is forward of everything, will look orrible and exposed to everything.

Any suggestions ?

 

[Cockaigne]

Any suggestions ?

Yes. Please think about the effect your spotlight will have on other skippers' night vision.

 

[longjohnsilver]

A decent torch?

I’ve had floodlights in the past and never used them. It’s surprising how good your night vision can be .

 

[stelican]

Waste of time night vision is best unless some idiot shines a spotlight towards you

 

[sarabande]

FLIR.

Ocean Scout.

 

[Piers]

FLIR

Agreed. Unaffected by someone shining a spotlight at you.

 

[longjohnsilver]

Agreed. Unaffected by someone shining a spotlight at you.

But at what financial cost?!

 

[Piers]

But at what financial cost?!

Aha - good question. Simple answer - expensive.

 

[oceanfroggie]

Waste of time night vision is best unless some idiot shines a spotlight towards you

+1

We have a super remote controlled narrow beam search light but never use it. It is mounted on our radar arch so does not shine any light into the helm area, but as others have said night vision mk1 eyeball is much better, especially with a dark cockpit (i.e. instrument display lights covered or dimmed). There is a lot more ambient light than you might imagine and water reflects the light well. Sure have a good hand torch for mooring, etc. Radar is also useful for avoiding buoys and moored vessels on river passages at night. Obviously you will be limited to displacement speeds most of the time.

 

[Zing]

I clip a torch onto the bow rail using a bicycle handlebar adapter bracket. Any other location will cause so much glare that you lose your night vision and will worse off than using no light.

 

[LittleSister]

Just turn your underwater lights up to 11.

 

[longjohnsilver]

Aha - good question. Simple answer - expensive.

Surely you mean reassuringly expensive :encouragement:

There’s a spotlight and infra red searchlight featured in the latest MBY, best part of £20K!!

 

[Seastoke]

Yes i know it’s unlikely to be according to coll regs

At times i move my boat at night and need to see the marks and other unlit boats in the river

The flood light i have at the moment sits on top of the roof, shines straight into the helm station through the deck hatches. So that does not work.
I have a dark fabric cover for the hatches, but i still get plenty of glare back from the pulpit and sided guards.

So the only place i can think of is forward of everything, will look orrible and exposed to everything.

Any suggestions ?

do the police know

 

[BruceK]

Surely you mean reassuringly expensive :encouragement:

There’s a spotlight and infra red searchlight featured in the latest MBY, best part of £20K!!

For that price I could put enough spot lights up to light all the way to the horizon 360 degrees. Everyone will be able to see!

 

[Bazzer]

We have a small stainless steel plate that attaches to the same pole as the running lighting light and creates a shadow over the deck, perfect night vision and complies with colregs

 

[[70521]]

A good head torch with the beam set to very narrow, of you really need to use a light.

I find that my night vision is far better without the use of a torch.