Novel anchor light?

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SpottedBlue

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Anchored in Totland Bay Saturday night next to a yacht displaying 3 solar panel garden lights on the foredeck.
Could you sleep soundly using these?

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Yes, at least you can SEE them. I don't look up at the night sky when i'am trying to anchor at night! an old torch laid on the fordeck is better than the top of the mast.

<hr width=100% size=1>http://www.jersey-harbours.com<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1>Edited by rich on 06/09/2004 23:38 (server time).</FONT></P>
 
I've seen several boats using them this summer. Personally I don't think that they are bright enough.

I thought about using one until I looked out of my bedroom window one night at about 3.00am, the one in our garden had stopped. They throw out light for a few hours but will not keep going throughout the hours of darkness particularly at this time of year. Fine for the garden, not up to the job on a boat.

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yes, but the lawn mower and wheelbarrow made a hell of a racket banging about in the garden shed I constructed on the pushpit.

<hr width=100% size=1>Julian

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Ditto .. I bought a couple to experiment with and IMHO they would be a waste of space on a boat with any intention of being visible!

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But see the article in the Oct PBO. The author claims his to be visible for two miles and to last through 'til dawn from late April. I guess that means that after late August it won't. One drawback would seem that in order to get the maximum number of hours operation they have to be in bright daylight all day. I wonder what is the limiting factor; the output from the solar panel or the capacity of the battery. If its the latter, could a larger battery be fitted? Or if it's the former could the unit be charged more fully from the ship's supply?

<hr width=100% size=1><font color=purple>Ne te confundant illegitimi.</font color=purple>
 
My missus bought 6 from QVC (see's a fan) we un-packed them from the box, brushed stainless steel jobbies, planted them in the garden and the first night they all went out after a couple of hours, next day they got a charge and have been happily turning themselves on and off all summer throughout the hours of darkness without a problem.

I would have no problems about carrying one for emergency use, the light is sufficient to do the job.

BTW I still rely on the good o'll hurricane lamp, but as I say for emergency use no probs.

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Good ones work fine in the Med in summer but I would not use mine if I was anchored anywhere outside a recognised anchorage.
There is one Dutch yacht owner in the Ionian who uses a strobe light on his boom wherever he anchors, together with the white light on his mast head. Maybe he has had a difficult experience.

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I thought using a strobe light anywhere on a boat was verboten, because of possible confusion with a cardinal light marker?

<hr width=100% size=1>Nickel

Being paranoid simply means - having all the facts.
 
the ones we bought for £3.99 recently contain 2xAA rechargeables. the limiting factor would seem to be the amount of charge the tiny panels can put in during the day.

compared to our expensive automatic anchor light they seem quite bright.

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Re: They\'re fine

The white ones show up from a couple of hundred metres OK and they stay on all night.

They're robust too but you need a good bright spot for the charging.

They're as reliable as any light and don't require smelly parafin.

You can easily rig one in the fore triangle, where anchor lights should be.

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Re: They\'re fine

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an old torch laid on the fordeck is better than the top of the mast

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and<blockquote><font size=1>In reply to:</font><hr>

You can easily rig one in the fore triangle, where anchor lights should be

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We often hear remarks like this, on the lines of not putting an anchor light at the top of the mast. But how does this provide all-round visibility which is, erm, small detail here, a statutory requirement? Any light mounted in the rigging is going to be obscured by other bits of rigging. A light mounted 2m from a 20cm-wide mast (quite a long way, and quite a slim mast) is going to be obscured over an arc of about 11.5 degrees, or just over a point. That ain't "all-round".

Er, that's not right is it? Think I got me radius & diameter mixed up there - but what's a factor of 2 amongst friends? The fact remains that 360 degree viz. can only be obtained witha single light on a raggie from the masthead. Are multiple lights (as described in the original post) legal?

<hr width=100% size=1><font size=1>Nobody is perfect.
I am nobody.
Therefore I am perfect.</font size=1> /forums/images/icons/wink.gif<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1>Edited by beachbum on 07/09/2004 14:41 (server time).</FONT></P>
 
Re: I dont actually strive for perfection

I have always hung my anchor light in the foretriangle, I suspect my great granfather did too. If I'm slipping about in an anchorage after dark I find you can normally see vessels pretty well. The anchor light over the foredeck just confirms to me that he's at anchor. Does it without my needing to look upwards and I find it easier to judge distances with the light nearer eye level.


I can change he bulb without risking my neck too.

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Have used mine all summer, as I am on a fairly exposed swinging mooring.

It has come on at dusk every night according to my parents (boat is moored off their house) and can bee seen from over 400 meters.

Mine sits on top of the GPS aerial and seems quite happy there with no degradation of the GPS signal.

Oh and by the way I'm up in the far north - at the edge of the world and the nights are fair drawing in here.

Great little things - and I got 2 for £6.99

Regards

Donald

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Main advantage I find is you can leave the boat anchored in the afternoon, If you don't comeback till after dark/closing time, the light will have switched itself on and you will be able to find the boat on a darknight. Fine until everyone starts using them.

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Obscured lights

Colregs cover it in Annex II, para 9(b):

"All-round lights shall be so located as not to be obscured by masts, topmasts or structures within angular sectors of more than 6 degrees, except anchor lights prescribed in Rule 30, which need not be placed at an impracticable height above the hull."

As a reasonably accurate guide, an object obscuring the light over a 6 degree angle would have to be as wide as one tenth of its distance to the light. 2 metres from a 20 cm mast would just satisfy the 6 degree requirement.

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Bought a stainless steel one this summer from safeway, £6.99 but just seen the same in a £1 shop yesterday for £4.99. It has proved its worth in gold, has 2 replaceable re-chargeable batteries and uses an LED light that is very bright but has a slight blue tinge to it. I leave mine tied up the backstay during the day to charge then it provides light to the cockpit area through the night, also acting as an anchor light.

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