Hurricane lamps - might as well not bother if there are town lights

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Sitting at anchor in Mar Menor tonight, there is a British yacht just a cable behind me who is using a hurricane lamp as an anchor light. The colour and intensity of the light is utterly indistinguishable from the distant town sodium lights. There is a slight reflection on the sea surface from the hurricane lamp but it doesn't grab the eye.

If you use a hurricane lamp, maybe it's time to change? Even a garden solar LED thingy would be better.
 
Re: Hurricane lamps - might as well not bother if there are town light

Well the only thing you can say is that perhaps the city lights negate the need for an anchor light anyway.
We do a lot of night races mostly in sight of the city lights such that visibility is remarkably good. But I agree I can't imagine using a hurricane lamp when moder electrics are so convenient and safe.
olewill
 
I am not at all sure that the garden solar lights are bright enough but they do have a sort of blue tint that tends to catch the eye. One trouble is they have to be out all day to charge. No good arriving in anchorage late in the day, fishing it out of a locker and expecting it to work. Also not sure how many hours worth of light you get from them. Enough no doubt in mid summer but may be not late in the season.

On the plus side they don't blow out in anything above force 0.1 like my hurricane lamp does.
 
Re: Hurricane lamps - might as well not bother if there are town light

Electric lights are all well and good, but if i use me anchor light all night, it is a serious battery drain. i have hurricane lamps for an anchor light, and for in the cabin at anchor, as well a fixed gimballed parafin lamps. It would be impossible to do a long cruise on my boat without them.
 
Re: Hurricane lamps - might as well not bother if there are town light

Not found any lights that reliably compete with shore lights including nav aids and running lights, they all get lost at some piont
 
Re: Hurricane lamps - might as well not bother if there are town light

You need something as powerful as Ile Vierge to overcome all shore lights. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
 
Re: Hurricane lamps - might as well not bother if there are town light

I find that anything (LED or tungsten) on top of the mast works well as it is well above city lights well before you hit the boat. Otherwise, as Vic? said, the blue-ish LEDs are good as they stand out (even if they don't necessarily meet the Colregs but don't let's have that particular debate as my point was visibility, not meeting the letter of the law). Most yachts could afford the electricity for a cheapo blue-ish LED. Could even mod a garden solar to run off 12V with no more than a resistor and a cable.
 
Re: Hurricane lamps - might as well not bother if there are town light

There is no single answer to this that fits all circumstances.

Masthead anchor lights are fine except that as you get in closer, as in picking your way through lots of anchored yachts, they make it harder to estimate distance away. In this instance I prefer to see anchor lights lower down and in amongst many anchored boats they don't need to be glaringly bright to work. IMO a good
hurricane light is fine in these circumstances and the flickering light helps show it IS an anchor light and not a shore light. We hang our hurricane light usually on a line between the sprayhood rail and the stern gantry from where it lights up our white decks, cockpit and coachroof very well and it is very clear which is OUR boat amongst the hundreds of others with masthead lights if we are returning from a trip ashore.

Now if we are anchored on the edge of a channel, especially in an area that isn't a recognised anchorage or mooring area, then I would use the masthead light or a good electric one hung lower down or if I were really concerned maybe both.

Garden solar lights are worthless IMO, they rarely last a night before fading out.

Battery consumption is important too, the more so the longer the stay for most boats without the ability to top up the charge without running the engine at anchor. We have both solar and wind generation and I still prefer to save the 7Ah or so per night (35Ah over a 5 day stay) of a 10W anchor light. In your case I know you have a diesel generator that you run daily anyway, so no problem for you, but we are balancing solar and wind versus a big fridge, ice and lights and we never run the engine just for charging.
 
Re: Hurricane lamps - might as well not bother if there are town light

How about a Hurricane Lamp with a Fresnel lens, like they use in lighthouses, they kick out a lot of light.
 
Re: Hurricane lamps - might as well not bother if there are town light

How about a proper oil fired anchor light with a dioptic lense, made for the job, been used for centuries! Doesn't use any battery power, doesn't blow out in a puff of wind, burns 8-10 hours........
 
Re: Hurricane lamps - might as well not bother if there are town light

there's an old trick to see if the light is direct, or alternating current. This helps to differentiate between a "domestic" light (say, ashore) and a "marine" light afloat.

When looking at the light through binoculars, move the objective lens (the big one) in small circles. Any light using alternating current will appear as a series of dashes, and direct current lights will appear as a steady line.
 
Re: Hurricane lamps - might as well not bother if there are town light

[ QUOTE ]
there's an old trick to see if the light is direct, or alternating current. This helps to differentiate between a "domestic" light (say, ashore) and a "marine" light afloat.

When looking at the light through binoculars, move the objective lens (the big one) in small circles. Any light using alternating current will appear as a series of dashes, and direct current lights will appear as a steady line.

[/ QUOTE ]

Well I'm blowed, I never knew that! The things you learn on here. An excellent bit of info - many thanks Sarabande!
 
Re: Hurricane lamps - might as well not bother if there are town light

why do you always chip in before me, Chrusty?
This is exactly what we have been wearing... and it llooks great - from distance as well as closeup.
 
Re: Hurricane lamps - might as well not bother if there are town light

........ and hung at the correct elevation, not at the masthead.
 
Re: Hurricane lamps - might as well not bother if there are town light

Yes! That's what I have. A very powerful proper anchor light with a tubular wick and dioptic lens.

I don't like these masthead anchor lights at all. When I'm finding my way into an anchorage I'm busy looking around me, not gazing up at the sky. [And if the bulb fails you can't fix it without a trip aloft. ]
 
Re: Hurricane lamps - might as well not bother if there are town light

Quite so. And in a crowded anchorage your nearest neighbour's masthead light shines straight into your eyes when you are trying to get to sleep.
 
Re: Hurricane lamps - might as well not bother if there are town light

I'm an anchor light addict. I've got five of them! Two electric and three oil fired.

Oil ones are excellent, baby one is good to F7 the middle one F9 and the "mother of all anchor lights"? I've no idea, but it is a fine testimonial to Victorian engineering.

All burn a drop of oil a night and the distance a properly focused flame can be seen in quite remarkable. Two miles+ on a dark night. The best leccy one is an automatic one from Davis. Kept our boat safe when we left her for a month, by a busy channel in Maine. Locals remarked that it was a very good idea to light up and soon all the boats in the small mooring field followed suit.

The anchor light and ensign were my first childhood responsibilities on my parent's boat.
 
Re: Hurricane lamps - might as well not bother if there are town light

[ QUOTE ]
The best leccy one is an automatic one from Davis

[/ QUOTE ] Available from Force 4 and no doubt others but read carefully because they come with two bulbs. The amazingly low power consumption relates to the lower power bulb but for the full 2 mile visibility you need to use the more powerful one. At least if I am think of the right one...Megalight?

I reckon the answer is a proper LED based anchor light 8 or 10 feet off the deck.

I bought a LED camping lantern from Maplin (Actually I think Lidl or Aldi have the same thing for a fraction of the price) The light output is good but the power consumption is too great at 250mA. It needs a fresh set of 4 AAs every night!
 
Re: Hurricane lamps - might as well not bother if there are town light

Sorry Tiggs.....Pet subject, don't understand folks with this unhealthy fetish for electricity! I use oil nav light too! /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif

Hurricane lamps have a bit of a misnomar I feel, never seen one yet that could stay lit in anything over a 2! Nice warm cosy lights for the cabin though, but I like my gimballed cabin lights better.
 
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