boating at night

T

tonyjh63

Petty Officer 1st Class
Joined
Apr 23, 2013
Messages
242
Hey folks, just wondering how people set up their boats for night time boating. Mine has the navigation lights, of course, but nothing to help me see where i'm going (no headlights).
What kind of set up do y'all use? Thanks!
 
NYBo

NYBo

Admiral
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Oct 23, 2008
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7,107
Re: boating at night

Headlights are illegal when underway. They wreck night vision and present a confusing picture to other boaters. A portable spotlight, used for a second or two at a time to, say, verify the location of an aid to navigation, might be helpful. You can see surprisingly well at night once your eyes fully adapt; this can take up to an hour, depending on your age.
 
25thmustang

25thmustang

Lieutenant Commander
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Mar 20, 2008
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1,849
Re: boating at night

I just drive. No need for lights unless a quick spot onto something you see. Go slow and only boat in areas you know well.
 
kfa4303

kfa4303

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Re: boating at night

+1. Boats aren't cars, they don't and shouldn't have "headlights" of any sort. Instead, you'll actually want to use as little extra light as possible to allow you eyes to adjust to the dark. One trick is to go full on pirate and use an eye patch over one eye. Seriously, it helps. While underway, you only use the red/green Nav lights on the bow. At anchor you then turn on the all white, stern/anchor light in addition to the bow lights.
 
bonz_d

bonz_d

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Re: boating at night

Guess I'm fortunate that all the lakes I visit are no wake after sunset.
 
U

UncleWillie

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Oct 18, 2011
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Re: boating at night

kfa4303 said:
.... While underway, you only use the red/green Nav lights on the bow.
At anchor you then turn on the all white, stern/anchor light in addition to the bow lights.
Click to expand...

That would be a bit backwards.

While NOT Anchored ... Red, Green, and White
WHILE Anchored ... White Only!
 
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LippCJ7

LippCJ7

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5,431
Re: boating at night

Yeah like others have said as little light as possible, I even go one step further and have a short person sit in the seat between me and the red/green nav light on the bow, not much you can do with the anchor light, its not that bright but then again on a moonless night it seems as bright as the sun!!

I have Docking lights and at first thought the same as you, headlights for my boat but you quickly learn how they can hurt your night vision even though they are pointed downward, for retrieving they are awesome, light my trailer up even in pretty muddy water, but in open water they are not to be used.

I do carry a handheld 6 bazilion candle power spotlight but its for locating shore or anything else and emergencies only, Caught the kids giving each other sunburns with it once....ONCE.

I also installed blue LED lights under the Gun Whales and various other places to help with lighting up the floor of the boat so people can move around a bit and that helps a lot, maybe even spice the mood up a bit for you and the wife.... But they are never in the direct view of me as I drive only the glow from them, they can be adjusted for brightness and I have found that to be a pretty nice feature.
 
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spdracr39

spdracr39

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Re: boating at night

I wish I had a sniper rifle for everytime I see dock lights going across the lake at night especially when it is crowded after a fireworks show. They blind everyone and show how retarded the boat captain is.
 
V153

V153

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Apr 16, 2011
Messages
1,764
Re: boating at night

Ya just don't go too fast on a dark moonless night. Even if you've been through the channel a bazillion times ...
 

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500dollar744ti

Senior Chief Petty Officer
Joined
Jul 23, 2012
Messages
691
Re: boating at night

When I went to the fireworks this year, I had to navigate 30 miles downriver after they were over in the pitch black and it took some getting used to. I had to do it at planing speed as well which was a bit scary but I got used to it. Once your eyes adapt it's not too bad. The scary part is not being able to see the water while your eyes are adapting.
 
C

Chris1956

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Joined
Mar 25, 2004
Messages
27,158
Re: boating at night

Remember the navigational scheme the Titanic used. Go as fast as you can, with only marker lights on the hull and post lookouts to look for hazards. That was the actual strategy for oceanliners in those days. Didn't work out well for Titanic, but most of the other ships came thru fine....

Night boating stinks, at least I do not find it to be relaxing.
 
dingbat

dingbat

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Re: boating at night

A good chartplotter and radar. When I get rich I'm going to install the FLIR :D
 
emilsr

emilsr

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Dec 16, 2010
Messages
774
Re: boating at night

On a clear night with a full moon it's amazing how well you can see (once your eyes adjust). Dark nights (cloudy, no moon) can get a little hairy sometimes.

A lot of it depends on where you're boating. When we were at Lake of the Ozarks we went out at night a lot; since the shoreline was fully developed (and lit) if the area in front of you was dark, it was wet. On that lake, if it's wet, it's deep.....so it was really easy to get around at night, even at the 30mph night time speed limit. Stay out in the main channel and you're good to go. The hardest part was picking out the boat traffic against the lights on the shoreline. On many lakes though it's just about impossible to see the shoreline on a dark night (unless you're too close to it). In cases like that, idle speed is your friend....better yet, don't go out at all.
 
Fleetwin

Fleetwin

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Nov 23, 2011
Messages
1,141
Re: boating at night

EVERYTHING changes at night. Familiar waters become frightening. Your depth perception vanishes.

Go slow. Don't look directly at any lights. Dim your instrument lights.

DO NOT run with white lights pointed forward. As stated, they wreck your night vision and are completely illegal.
 
lncoop

lncoop

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Re: boating at night

spdracr39 said:
I wish I had a sniper rifle for everytime I see dock lights going across the lake at night especially when it is crowded after a fireworks show. They blind everyone and show how retarded the boat captain is.
Click to expand...

Amen Brother!
 
MH Hawker

MH Hawker

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Re: boating at night

Grins, I have a real 1.5 million candle power air craft focused beam landing light bulb in my search light. it has broken many of them. I can see them cringing and covering their eyes at 1/2 a mile.

I run at night as much or more than in the day on small mountain lakes in a huge amount of fog at nights, so the search light is often very needed to keep track of the shore line. and it is often needed to spot channel markers and so on.

The first rule of night running is never ever go faster than your willing to hit some thing because you will.
 
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Thalasso

Thalasso

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Jan 18, 2011
Messages
2,876
Re: boating at night

You can get yourself a Flir system and you will be able to see in the fog (to a degree)
 
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