Nav lights: your preference

[agprice22]

I am at the point of re-equipping my restoration project Telstar 28 trimaran, and I am thinking of replacing my nav lights. I could keep the bow and stern lights mounted to the pulpit rails and replace the bulbs with LEDs, or I could get other, deck mounted lights, or I could use mast-top, tri-color lights with anchor light.
I am wondering how people feel about these options in terms of usual boat use, visibility, longevity, mounting and maintenance, or other factors I have not thought of.
I sail this boat on a large lake, rarely go out at night (but would like to start anchoring out or mooring), I step my mast yearly, and I make safety a priority.

What are people's preferences or recommendations?

 

[Terry Cox]

Hi Andrew, our 1991 running light fixtures are original, except the bulbs are all now LED from MarineBeam. If we were ever to head off shore, a try-color light might make sense, but doubt that will happen. So for now all our fixtures are traditional and will remain. Seldom do we spend time in a marina; anchoring is our first choice and have done so hundreds of time all over PNW waters.

 

[Rick D]

FWIW I prefer rail mounts if you can get the angle right. Deck mounted ones get clobbered and I almost hit a guy twice heading to the finish line because he had a mast top light which I couldn't see in close.

 

[dlochner]

Andrew, I'm guessing on Seneca Lake the big issue is the go fast boats, they won't be looking at your masthead.

While somewhat open to debate, the masthead tri-color is really for ocean going boats or boats sailing at night in bigger waves than you will be sailing in on Seneca Lake. The deck or pulpit lights are only 6 feet or so off the water, in waves they would appear and disappear regularly, in those conditions, a masthead light would be better and visible over a longer distance.

I can't cite a source, but there is information out there that says a nav light is only CG certified with the bulb it was designed for. This means that if you change an incandescent bulb to a LED, the CG certification is void. Not sure if that is true and accurate, it is worth further investigation.

 

[agprice22]

Wow. See. That is why I ask here. I inherently felt a mast-head light would not be as useful on my lake. And I had not thought about wave height in effect for nav lights. My feeling is that I want a bright light in the face of the Nascar Boaters. There was a terrible accident on our lake years ago where a night-time accident resulted in death.
And I did not think about whether the LED would render the fixture non-compliant which may be important in relation to insurance coverage in an accident at night away from the dock.

Thanks guys. I think I will get new rail mount LED lights. It allows me to keep the wiring intact too.

Thanks,
Andrew

 

[capta]

IMO, after a lifetime as a professional seafarer, I think the masthead tricolor is the most dangerous lighting system anyone could use. All you present is a disembodied light, red, green or white that gives absolutely no indication of the distance from the viewer the light is or how big the vessel is.
They do not shine on the sails or the sea, as deck mounted lights do. If the observer is standing on a ship's bridge, that single disembodied light flailing about in the sky gives virtually no usable information. I know; I was the observer on the bridge and very nearly ran down a sailing vessel I presumed to be a mile or so away when I sighted it, but it was in fact nearly under my bow. That sailboat slid down my starboard side, just feet away from the hull of my ship.
Stick with the conventional running lights manufactured as LED lights. They have heat sinks and are completely sealed, which any navigation light you can change the bulbs in certainly is not.

 

[Bill Roosa]

dito capta's observations on tricolor lights. Saw on on the bay and could not tell distance off or how big a boat.....
Lights that get bashed during docking are not recommended either. If safety is your biggest concern get a 2 million+ candle power 12 volt spot light and keep it handy at night. nothing gets your attention like a spotlight shining at you. You can also play it on your sails to get their attention. Go fast boats at night are not going to be looking for a light up in the air so an anchor light down low and as bright as possible.... I have used a Coleman lantern from the burgee halyard

 

[BlowMeAway]

Andrew, we've replaced every incandescent light bulb or fixture with LED's. I was amazed at how easy the entire swap was. The LED's are super bright and my favorite replacement was the bow and stern nav lights. The Hunter has flush mounted lamps for port and starboard and I found these on Amazon. Two screws and two wires...done.

https://www.amazon.com/SeaSense-LED-Teardrop-Lights-Green/dp/B004XAD5DW

 

[Capt jgw]

Sounded like the OP was considering having ONLY the mast- top tricolor, which if there's an engine on the boat would not be legal. Can be used under sail alone only.

 

[SG]

Unless something changed, I believe you can only use the Tricolor when sailing, not when motoring.

We use our tricolor offshore because the bow lights are distracting when sailing on moonless nights or in rain. (they reflect off of the jib).

If you're in 5 or 6' waves, your tricolor is more visible to boats over greater distances. If you're inshore (like on a lake, river, or bay -- then I think that the deck level lights are much better because a lot of times, or people aren't looking up.

The distance perspective for others is more useful when your steaming light is on, in my opinion. However, at a mile, your stern light can get lost in your side lights anyway.

 

[Maine Sail]

I prefer any nav light that is properly installed and that carries a USCG / ABYC certification / meets the COLREGS and Code of Federal Regulations legal requirements. It's Federal Law that our navigation lights be compliant....

 

[Parsons]

I just completed a change-out of all my incandescent nav light bulbs to LED using the existing fixtures except for the anchor light which was rotting up there (both yellowing and corroding). I bought all of my new bulbs from Marinebeam and found their quality and customer service first-rate. Not to knock any of the other vendors, just saying that I had a good experience there.

One common cause of light failures is corrosion in the fixture -- perhaps even more common than burned out halogen bulbs which are pretty long-lived. As you replace your bulbs (and annually because you will not replace your LED bulbs ever again!), inspect the bulb and wire connection points. I'm not familiar with the completely sealed LED fixtures they are selling now, but my concern would be hidden corrosion - I don't trust anything on the water that I cannot personally inspect.

I am not as concerned as DLochner and Agprice22 with the exact color as I am with the safety aspect. LED's are much brighter than the equivalent halogens, and I like that extra security. I followed Marinebeam's suggestion of replacing white lights (stern and steaming) with cool white, and bi-colored bow with warm white to keep the hue close to halogen. I do not believe that Coast Guard, local police, or insurance companies are out there measuring wave-length and intensity. If you have a collision, there are probably much more important things you should be worrying about. As far as anchoring, I always hang a lantern in the cockpit off of the boom to further illuminate the boat when anywhere near a motorboat -- they just do not look 50 feet in the air.

 

[Ron20324]

...I do not believe that Coast Guard, local police, or insurance companies are out there measuring wave-length and intensity. ..QUOTE]

IMHO, Probably wrong with that statement, Parson. The insurance company WILL be concerned if you have an accident any they can make a case for not paying due to non-compliant nav lights.

 

[justsomeguy]

you will not replace your LED bulbs ever again!

'Til you get struck by lightning...

 

[dlochner]

I do not believe that Coast Guard, local police, or insurance companies are out there measuring wave-length and intensity. If you have a collision, there are probably much more important things you should be worrying about.

As a rule the CG will only worry about your lights if they aren't on at night or properly displayed.

However, the kind of lights that you have can make a difference in court and to your insurance company. A few years back there was a big case out west. Can't remember the exact citation, however, a person was killed when a speedboat hit another boat at night. One of the issues was running lights and the kinds of lights being shown. There were also other issues involving the sheriff's handling of the case.