Check the life left on your navigation lights

[Dockhead]

Originally Posted by donradcliffe

The horror of it all. I am going to be run down by a large ship because they didn't see my lights until I was 1.5 miles away instead of 2 miles. In reality, they never looked for my lights because they saw my AIS transponder 10 miles away. Lawyers are standing by.

It's good if the lights meet standards, so no downside at all at the owner getting information about approaching end of life.


LEDs -- as I understand it -- gradually lose their luminescence, so one way to deal with this would be to design the lights to exceed the standards when new to such an extent that you get much longer hours of life before they start to fall short.


A mechanism to inform when this is about to happen is nevertheless still very desirable in my opinion.

[Dockhead]

Originally Posted by noelex 77

The standard marine anchor light at the top of the mast is an ideal way to ensure you are displaying the legally required lighting. This is important in the event of a collision.

I think it is sensible to also use lower lights, preferably ones that illuminate the mast or superstructure.

The combination of light at the top of the mast and lower lights provides the best chance for being seen in adverse situations such as when you have a background of bright shore lights or heavy rain. The light at the top of the mast can usually be seen at a greater distance, but the lower lights makes it easier for an approaching boat to judge exactly how far away you are.

The lower lights do not have to be marine certified anchor lights. The collision regulations encourage (or mandate for large vessels) boats to display additional "deck lights" of any type providing they cannot be confused with another navigation light.

Multiple lights also provide a backup in case the marine anchor light fails. With modern LED lights I had judged failure unlikely, but I had not considered that any manufacturer would program their anchor light to deliberately fail completely.

We've had many discussions about this, and I remain of the opinion that anchor lights at the top of the mast are actually useless, as the importance aspect to be visible from is from close by. It's not important that ships see you 5 miles off, and they are not actually visible from nearby.

I've been hit at anchor by a commercial fishing boat who couldn't pick out my mast-top anchor light from among the stars.

So I ALWAYS have other lights on beside this. A deck light, and/or salon accent lights which light up my hull ports, and/or a rechargeable lantern hung from the boom.

[rslifkin]

Originally Posted by Dockhead

We've had many discussions about this, and I remain of the opinion that anchor lights at the top of the mast are actually useless, as the importance aspect to be visible from is from close by. It's not important that ships see you 5 miles off, and they are not actually visible from nearby.

I've been hit at anchor by a commercial fishing boat who couldn't pick out my mast-top anchor light from among the stars.

So I ALWAYS have other lights on beside this. A deck light, and/or salon accent lights which light up my hull ports, and/or a rechargeable lantern hung from the boom.

Seconded. And there's nothing that requires an anchor light to be at the top of the anchor light. It's just an easy place for a builder to put it.

Personally, on a sailboat, I'd make an anchor light part way up the mast by sticking a pair of 225* masthead lights to the sides of the mast. It'll look like 1 light in most situations and can be placed at a more practical height (and the rules allow use of multiple lights that appear as 1 from a distance). On my own boat the 360* anchor light is ~14 feet off the water, so not up crazy high. And depending on where we are I often leave the lights in the helm area on to light the windshields and the windows in the canvas, which makes the boat quite visible.

[Dockhead]

Originally Posted by rslifkin

Seconded. And there's nothing that requires an anchor light to be at the top of the anchor light. It's just an easy place for a builder to put it.

Personally, on a sailboat, I'd make an anchor light part way up the mast by sticking a pair of 225* masthead lights to the sides of the mast. It'll look like 1 light in most situations and can be placed at a more practical height (and the rules allow use of multiple lights that appear as 1 from a distance). On my own boat the 360* anchor light is ~14 feet off the water, so not up crazy high. And depending on where we are I often leave the lights in the helm area on to light the windshields and the windows in the canvas, which makes the boat quite visible.

That's good practice. I wish I had been doing it like that.

Like all stupid people, I had to learn the hard way, from a collision -- don't turn on the anchor light and call it good. That's not nearly enough to ensure your boat is visible at anchor. In fact it's basically nothing at all other than formally complying with the rules.