Mrwooley Posted March 20, 2009 Share Posted March 20, 2009 G'day all, The other night I had a few mates over for a BBQ & beers when the subject of boat lighting came up. Someone asked what additional lighting on boats was allowed. Now I'm aware of the rules & regs regarding nav lights & all-round whites, but know nothing about the use of additional lights. Is it OK to have other lights, of what-ever colour, fitted on the boat, other than a white "working light"? His reasoning was "to be seen", as a safety issue. Any idea? I might be able to win some beers on this! Regards, Barry Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pelican Posted March 20, 2009 Share Posted March 20, 2009 (edited) Nav light still have to be able to be clearly seen. By the look of the party boats around the harbour the disco look is in along with some doof doof. We leave a light shining on the water or a front cabin light to make us more visable as with all the shore lights we know it is hard to see anchored boats. Lights on the water if consistantly on will attract small bait fish to the boat as well and saves that total night blindness when someone turns on a brighter light to re-rig. Edited March 22, 2009 by pelican Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fisho.sid Posted March 20, 2009 Share Posted March 20, 2009 mate i was at the marina off spit bridge and saw a nice boat with blue lights beaming from beneath his boat. It made it looked awesome at night and definately visiable when not moving. It was so visible it caught my attention from the road. anyways im sure its ok to have more lights - my question is - does fish support it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tide'n'knots Posted March 20, 2009 Share Posted March 20, 2009 I have a white light on top of the canopy and it throws out a good light to the back of the boat while at anchor and is not blinding because from under the canopy it isnt in your eyes. If you paint the rod tips white they stand out like the preverbial!! and every little bite can be detected very easily. About 6 weeks ago the waterways were checking boats on sydney harbour at night and the guy was very impressed with my set up as it was high and vey visible from all directions. Pete. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
glennmreid Posted March 20, 2009 Share Posted March 20, 2009 I have a white light on top of the canopy and it throws out a good light to the back of the boat while at anchor and is not blinding because from under the canopy it isnt in your eyes. If you paint the rod tips white they stand out like the preverbial!! and every little bite can be detected very easily. About 6 weeks ago the waterways were checking boats on sydney harbour at night and the guy was very impressed with my set up as it was high and vey visible from all directions. Pete. Hi Pete, Have you got a photo of your anchor light set up. I wouldn't mind doing something like that as I have a bimini as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
numbnuts Posted March 22, 2009 Share Posted March 22, 2009 my tinnie has a removable allround white that sits behind me when Im at the tiller and then sits at the bow when Im fishing out the back.That way it is never in my eyes. I also have red leds under the gunwhales so I can rig or bait up without losing my night vision...works very well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pelican Posted March 22, 2009 Share Posted March 22, 2009 my tinnie has a removable allround white that sits behind me when Im at the tiller and then sits at the bow when Im fishing out the back.That way it is never in my eyes. I also have red leds under the gunwhales so I can rig or bait up without losing my night vision...works very well. Your "never in my eyes" comment reminded me of a night recently where an underwear change was required. Just make sure it is 1m higher than your port and starboard lights and is visible when you are the tiller 360 deg and that means above bimini and not next to a rod rack or one of those bloody enviro nets. I nearly nailed a tinny at 20knots which was drifting in the middle of the main channel the other night as his body was blocking the white light and we were approaching from the stern. Scary moment and we spoke with the bloke so he understood why we didn't see him. He commented he normally hangs his fishing rag on the light as the glare is bad for him. Dark blue hull and motor , no visible lights, little moon and clouds , sounded a bit drunk , fishing alone and a death wish. Put decent globes in them or at least buy quality bright LED ones as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jewgaffer Posted March 22, 2009 Share Posted March 22, 2009 (edited) Hi Mr Wooley There's some good information on 360 degree visual compliance regarding all round lights in Pelican's post About the work area lights, it seems you are also in the Campbelltown arera, come over to my place if you like and discuss a few ideas I have for a good floor area set up for work area lighting....... Back to all round lights for a minute- Not to mention that my boat was originally fitted with a tinted windscreen, a no brainer for night driving as far as I'm concerned, I was getting too much glare in my eyes from my all round light which is positioned in the centre on the top of the frame of my side console windscreen and complies with the new requirements.... What I did was use a stronger globe and cover the front of it with removable transluscent tape which dims the light in my eyes somewhat and still complies with the 360 degree all round vision requirement. Donny Numbnuts I might come over to your place later and take a look at these side gunnel work area lights of yours and see how you set them up ay, because I know you looked around a lot before you managed to find the right work lights arrangement for the new boat which is an open boat like mine. At this stage, I like the idea of half moon type, inside gunnel side lights that direct all the light down onto the floor area and below is the pic of the type of light I'm looking at which are the same work area lights I saw on TunOfun's big Quintrex boat during a session I had with Brett and his Dad.... The pic was sent to me by one of our members Geoff Aka Geoff on fishraider.... The important thing is that lights, once installed in an open area on a boat, are of good quality for external use and made to last. Here is the deck light pic that Geoff, who is helping tweek up my set up to be ready and perfect for when I recover from my coming back op, was kind enough to send to me recently. These are the 12v half moon Perko gunnel mount deck lights that I'm considering for lighting up the work area.....I might be wrong here but I'm a little concerned by the cheap price of these lights compared to full size led lights whch are fully round and might well be too bright for work area lights, whereas the lights Donny Numbnuts decided on for his new boat may well be just the right lights we need for the job and nicely in between dull and bright Cheers jewgaffer Edited March 22, 2009 by jewgaffer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wantingaboat Posted March 23, 2009 Share Posted March 23, 2009 Jewgaffer those lights look like exactly what i am looking for to light up the inside of my tinny. I was thinking of 4 of them spaces out along the gunnels. If anyone can shed some light on the quality of these and also where they can be purchased i would be grateful. Cheers. Mike. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mrwooley Posted March 23, 2009 Author Share Posted March 23, 2009 Guy's, Thanks for your responces, but I think the point my mate was trying to make refered to additional external lighting, other than the required "nav" and 'all-round white". As an example, would it be illegal to have four ( 4 ) white lights the same as in the pic in Jewgaffer's responce, mounted externaly, say two forward & two aft, both sides? His view is that it would light-up the water and boat, making it more visable to all, therefore safer. Regards, Barry. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jewgaffer Posted March 23, 2009 Share Posted March 23, 2009 Jewgaffer those lights look like exactly what i am looking for to light up the inside of my tinny. I was thinking of 4 of them spaces out along the gunnels. If anyone can shed some light on the quality of these and also where they can be purchased i would be grateful. Cheers. Mike. Hi WB...., Regarding the half moon lights pictured in my post, it appears the half moon shapes are exclusive to and made in Asia for Perko U.S. but they are available over here from Perko stockists. They are at a rather cheap price for what you would expect to pay for an external quality marine light but it seems that they are up to the job and last ok......... Cheers jewgaffer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geoff Posted March 23, 2009 Share Posted March 23, 2009 Jewgaffer those lights look like exactly what i am looking for to light up the inside of my tinny. I was thinking of 4 of them spaces out along the gunnels. If anyone can shed some light on the quality of these and also where they can be purchased i would be grateful. Cheers. Mike. In respect to quality , the light in the pic came with the boat which is now about 2 years old. Perhaps that provides some indication Geoff. PS It appears your PM box is full & will not accept any further mail. Perhaps some mails can be dumped. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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