Anchor Lights & Flare Disposal

[Geoff]

Spoke with Maritime officers at the Rosehill boat show this morning , mainly about anchor lights.

The 3 key requirements,

** 360 degree display. This means 360 degree above the higest point on the boat , eg canopy / bimini cover etc. Not the deck or gunnal

** Light not to be less than 1 mt above the port / starboard light

** The light to display for a distance of not less than 2 miles. To acheive that , LED are recomended but Maritime could not advise how an officer was going to measure the distance

It was interesting to note , from all the boats I looked at only 2 dealers complied , one of those being Huett Marine.

In respect to flares , expired flares can now be handed into any Maritime office. I was also advised that it's OK to have expired flares on board provided a set of flares with an expiry date in the future could be produced.

Not sure if that is 100% correct but did not debate the point

The show is larger than last year & with free parking & entry was a popular attraction

Geoff

[jewgaffer]

Geoff The interpretation of the requirements for all round lights also known as anchor lights or mooring lights, and more importantly the practibility of installing same in my opinion hasn't been considered thoroughly enough to be the best interests of safety on the water. As to practicibilty, so many allowances from boat to boat for this and that would have to be made on the spot by the officers concerned, otherwise hundreds of boats would be ordered off the water. People could be fined because of the same impractibility to properly comply with the 360 degree / height regulations in their utmost capacity, and particularly where apart from Huett Marine and one other no other boat dealer or boat manufacturer at a full on boat show complied with the all round light regulations despite the fact that they not only have an obligation to customers that the boats they sell will at least comply with boating regualtions, they have a legal requirement to do so. By the same token any all round light that doesn't comply with the regulations should be outlawed, pulled off the shelves and be no longer available for sale anywhere.

Whilst it might be fine for a spokesperson to regard a 360 degree all round light as being a legal 360 degree all round light provided that it can be seen over 360 degrees from all directions for at least two miles when in fact the light may well have 360 degree vision as such from the top and from the sides but may not even have any vision as such from underneath when mounted on a cabin or a bimini particularly if flush mounted as such or mounted on the shortest light pole combo available because of height or cost reasons for example - a collision could occur between a smaller cabin boat - (which also could be deemed to have an illegal light on top and therefore could be classed as an obvious danger to an eight foot canoeist where a regulation can be either adjusted and forgiven on the spot or policed in it's entirety later - and a larger boat where either the full amount or a certain amount of light would be blocked by the cabin, or the bimini etc of the higher boat which would obviously not comply with the full 360 degree regulation because policing and practicably in meeting the regulation has either been overlooked by the pundits or not taken into account carefully enough.

Cheers

jewgaffer

[bluebottle18]

I observed the same thing as you about the white light Geoff at the show. In fact I was disgusted what

some companies called lights.One had to read the fine print in regard to one operator who advertised a

boat with a 40hp but had a 50hp hanging off the transom. Many other boats were under powered that were

being sold as drive away deals. These cowboys will bring a very bad name to the industry when first time buyers get stung

by this type of selling.

It certainly got off to a good start with the carpark nearly full @ 9.30am.

I enjoyed my time there with a very good selection of boats on display for a free entry.

[Geoff]

I observed the same thing as you about the white light Geoff at the show. In fact I was disgusted what

some companies called lights.

I spoke with several rep's about the lights being non complient. They were unaware of the reg's & the basic response , "that's how they are set up"

The concerning thing , people buy a boat in good faith assuming all is OK & ready for launching. Get to the ramp or on the water & if an inspector comes by , the owner could be fined.

Personally I would not be a happy camper & be back to the dealer very quickly.

I think Maritime need to take some responsibility for comunicating changes to the reg's. There is definatly room for improvement. Even the officers I spoke with agreed.

Geoff