Boating after dark - options?

[vocz]

Sionyx Nightwave. It takes stress out of night boating. I love it.

 

[Fishtales]

As everyone states, radar is required. I'd have large light bar facing forward under the radar on the hardtop a hand held spot, led marker and mast lights and a good set of cockpit lights. You want to see and be seen.

 

[Hookup1]

Forward lighting isn’t legal. It blinds everyone else. Radar is good for a few miles if you know what you are looking at. Night vision is good for close in stuff if no fog. Ideal to have both.

 

[Timcan]

Im currently in the middle of testing an ip camera with good night vision. So far I have less then $200 invested in it. I tested the camera in the lake in daylight at different speeds and the lag time is about 1 sec. I was very happy how it performed. Next will be to test it at night that will probably be sometime next week. I boat in an area that has dense fog at times so I didn’t want to spend the money on Flir or Sionyx because they don’t work well in fog.

 

[Sardinia306Canyon]

Im currently in the middle of testing an ip camera with good night vision. So far I have less then $200 invested in it.

I was thinking about a similar setup as the expenses for other things on my Canyon are already high.
Let us know how it works as it will be very interesting how well a considerable cheaper will do.
Chris

 

[Ekea]

Im currently in the middle of testing an ip camera with good night vision. So far I have less then $200 invested in it. I tested the camera in the lake in daylight at different speeds and the lag time is about 1 sec. I was very happy how it performed. Next will be to test it at night that will probably be sometime next week. I boat in an area that has dense fog at times so I didn’t want to spend the money on Flir or Sionyx because they don’t work well in fog.

thats pretty cool. saving money is nice

 

[Peter A]

I just need some of those military night vision set-ups to wear on my head

 

[Fishtales]

Forward lighting isn’t legal. It blinds everyone else. Radar is good for a few miles if you know what you are looking at. Night vision is good for close in stuff if no fog. Ideal to have both.

Yea so is not stopping fully at a right on red. Prob 50% of boats have a forward light. I have one and use it time to time as needed if I'm in the dark at night. I don't run with it, but I have it if needed.

 

[Hookup1]

Yea so is not stopping fully at a right on red. Prob 50% of boats have a forward light. I have one and use it time to time as needed if I'm in the dark at night. I don't run with it, but I have it if needed.

Spotlight are ok Just don't use them like headlights! You have to be careful not to put your spotlight on another boat head on. You will night blind them for a few minuets.

 

[Fishtales]

Can see a lot of light options here.

Amazon.com : marine lights

www.amazon.com

 

[wmassey9]

THE key is to see ( flood lights) and be seen

 

[Fishtales]

Yes, spots really are useless but except for spotting bouys. But the light bar is huge if you need to be seen.

 

[Ekea]

nav lights are for being seen

 

[Sardinia306Canyon]

nav lights are for being seen

Yep!

Yes, as brighter the light bar is as more far a boat can be seen from front, but not what course a boat has and in most cases it blinds the oncoming boat.
And that is the reason why any other than standard navigation lights during low light navigation are prohibited.
The use of any light bar, search light or any other forward shining light should be avoided at all cost.
It may be acceptable in a small channel or for docking reasons, but not there where other boats rely on the legal navigation lights to decide what action regarding their course and speed is to take to avoid potential dangerous situations.

I understand that when navigating the ICW or similar water bodies with a lot of un- or insufficient marked obstacles a additional light would be helpful, but that is a dangerous way of thinking.

The laws for safe boating at night are:
1° to be as slow as possible to limit damage in case of a collision
2° a radar what is installed in such way to be able to detect small buoys or other objects in front of the boat
3° the knowledge how to use, setup and interpret the radar
4° for tricky or crowded waterways a Sionyx or Blackoak night vision camera will do much better, disturb others less and is perfectly legal
There should be much less expensive solutions, one of them is under construction by Timcan in this actual tread
5° Have a strong handheld (or hardtop) mounted spotlight ready to switch on in case of doubts and to use only for a short time to check if there is a obstacle, or not. Handheld lights come also handy (more than a hardtop mounted spotlight) to find a overboard fallen and floating object, particularly a human or animal...

Following the above and 95% without a radar i managed it to ride back safely in high light full moon nights same as in pitch dark no moon nights, but now with the radar on the Canyon i feel much safer. But next project would be a night vision camera as they are the best solution for seeing also small objects.

I could see a midsize round fender used as mooring buoy on the Garmin dome on my Venture 34, but it took me several attempts to correct it's level to "see" enough flat to detect small objects like the mooring buoy 60ft+ in front of the boat.
The radar on the Venture 34 was only for bird spotting as she was moored in the bay of Herradura where at night no Taxi boat was available. However, i have hundreds and hundreds of hours night time fishing here in Sardinia, and i love it to fishdueing a warm summer night.

Yes a pedestal can work wonders, however when installing the level of the radar must be adjusted to boats running level to be able to see objects in front of a boat.

Chris