Glow in the dark things on board

[ltcom]

Doing alot of night sailing at moment for excitement.
And prep for later.
Do others have glow in the dark items or paint items so they can be found easily?
I like to preserve my night vision so a lightly glowing blob on items means i dont even have to turn red head torch on.
What do you think? Or do?

 

[[163233]]

I keep a small torch on me and close one eye when it's on.
Obvs. won't work if you're a proper pirate and only have one eye.

 

[rogerthebodger]

I tried some glow in the dark paint on some of my switch panel back engraving and it did not work too well as the inside was not light enough to "charge" up the paint.

Next time I will go for red LED backlighting behind the back engraving.

I haave also used red/green twin colour LED's to indicate position and if the switch is turned on

 

[duncan99210]

Glow paints aren’t that good as they rely on daylight to ”recharge” the glow, which fades quite rapidly.
If you’re trying to mark specific bits of kit, then you might try looking at beta lights: they use tritium gas in a glass tube coated with a fluorescent chemical. The tritium is mildly radioactive and this makes the coating glow.
You can buy them off eBay here 3MM X 25MM FISHING ISOTOPES BY ICEATOPE - GTLS Vial Trigalight BETALIGHTS carp | eBay for marking carp fishing gear but there are any number of them out there: just search for beta light. Not exactly cheap but they do just what they say on the tin.

 

[RupertW]

We do a lot of night sailing most years and don’t find night vision after lights too much of a problem so use normal cabin lights etc and white head torches - I occasionally also use the deck floodlight if I have to do something unexpected and that really is bright for the person on the foredeck and at the helm.

I find eyes adjust almost immediately to lights in the darkness which is all I find we need. It does take a few minutes to start seeing waves and the horizon on a dark night but they are more interesting than necessary to see.

 

[[70521]]

I find an normal LED head torch with adjustable setting, very dim or search light, depending on the task in hand works wonders. We are not raising a periscope and firing weapons.

 

[Catalina36]

I used to have something which glowed in the dark though I never needed to look to see where it was.

It seems to have a flat battery these days.

 

[HissyFit]

That's weird: I was only researching (idly googling) reflective paint today, and came up with this site:

Reflective/Dayglo/UV paint and resin

They have some very interesting stuff. You could paint what you are looking for with UV paint and use a UV torch so that you don't light everything up.

 

[ltcom]

I really like to enjoy the night scenes, sky, waves, where any tangled lines might be..........hence i try to avoid any white light of any intensity (sailing where no navigation except compass needed..... no charts or plotter.....only at night).
Shut one eye is good. Dont lose night vision better. We all know about cones and rods and peripheral vision and 10 minute minimum time and rhodopsin and green and blue light and animals with tapetum tissue. Hence glow in the dark stuff in compass and on anything i may want from below.
For Catalin 36 if they are talking about a torch and taking the mick.......
Night vis
More
Heavy reading

 

[Catalina36]

I really like to enjoy the night scenes, sky, waves, where any tangled lines might be..........hence i try to avoid any white light of any intensity (sailing where no navigation except compass needed..... no charts or plotter.....only at night).
Shut one eye is good. Dont lose night vision better. We all know about cones and rods and peripheral vision and 10 minute minimum time and rhodopsin and green and blue light and animals with tapetum tissue. Hence glow in the dark stuff in compass and on anything i may want from below.
For Catalin 36 if they are talking about a torch and taking the mick.......
Night vis
More
Heavy reading

Not a torch, much more precious to me than that sadly.

 

[ltcom]

Bit too cryptic for PBO section?

Glows in the dark but never needs to be looked for to be seen?
May or may not have been powered by a battery {as 'it seems to have a flat battery these days' could not be meant to be literal}

Not a torch, much more precious to me than that sadly.

 

[DoubleEnder]

I use an LED rear bicycle lamp as a courtesy/night light in the cabin. It runs for ages on a single AAA battery and I can pick it up to illuminate what I need to see

 

[differentroads]

Glow paints aren’t that good as they rely on daylight to ”recharge” the glow, which fades quite rapidly.
If you’re trying to mark specific bits of kit, then you might try looking at beta lights: they use tritium gas in a glass tube coated with a fluorescent chemical. The tritium is mildly radioactive and this makes the coating glow.
You can buy them off eBay here 3MM X 25MM FISHING ISOTOPES BY ICEATOPE - GTLS Vial Trigalight BETALIGHTS carp | eBay for marking carp fishing gear but there are any number of them out there: just search for beta light. Not exactly cheap but they do just what they say on the tin.

Betalights are the dogs danglies for things that you want to find in the dark. But incredibly expensive for what they are. That said, I've used them to illuminate the compass in my monocular. Pointing a torch in it was just daft. Also the hands of the clock that faces my helm so one can count down the minutes to your time off watch without blinding yourself with a torch or phone screen. When I get round to buying some more I'm going to put one at the crown of my wheel to tell me when to reef (or perhaps I should put a pair at 15° offset to tell me that). One one the handle of the emergency knife. Oh, the possibilities are endless

 

[ltcom]

Beta lights are excellent. If in polycarbonate unbreakable tubes ok, but if not i would be worried about breakages coz of the tritium.
Tritium in beta lights

 

[Concerto]

I use a head torch that has a dimmer built in, so use minimum light. You can also get head torches with a red light. Would not bother with glow in the dark paint.

 

[LadyInBed]

At night I always put a small torch in my pocket. If I only want a dim light, I put my fingers over the lens before switching on.

 

[ltcom]

Uk annual av radiation dose is 0.27 rads. Small beta light will give off xrays of 0.1 rads per hour {or over 800 rads annually} at surface though beta radiation is kept inside.
So dont keep next to skin.
Buy from reputable sources so u know they are using TRITIUM { low power electrons .....beta radiation.......} to glow the color in the tube and not some nuclear waste or gamma radiation source!!!!!
Also found out a transatlantic flight gives more radiation than a chest xray!!!!
'A bare, cylindrical vial GLTS constructed of 0.1 mm thick glass that is 10 mm long and 0.5 mm in diameter will yield a surface dose rate of 100 millirads per hour' ......from wiki link under SAFETY section.
Links.......
From govt
From wiki
Got head torch. Thanks for info on what you do.

 

[ltcom]

Now i want to know what Catalina 36 riddle meant.

 

[penberth3]

I've stuck some glow tape on a few items. It works OK but I've never found it useful, could live without it. Seemed like a good idea at the time. I found reflective tape more use, easy to pick up by a quick flash of torchlight.