Is there a time when only bow lights are used? I have a switch on my nav. panel that says "Bow Lights". I know when to use only "Anchor Lights", "Navigation" Lights" for sailboat under sail at night, "Navigation and Anchor Lights" for sailboat under power at night.
bow lights
- Thread starter stevieb
- Start date
- Status
When being followed by pirates at night? The green and red lights (navigation lights) in the bow are generally not considered bow lights. Some boats are equiped with a set of headlamps or landing lights to help dock the boat at night or navigate channel markers. It may be that your boat at one time was so equiped and were latter removed. Follow the wiring behind the panel to see were it leads.
On my ODay 27 my bow light switch is for my steaming lights. It's an old stock panel and might be an original for my ODay.
I'd like to know what a bow light switch is for too.
I'd like to know what a bow light switch is for too.
"Bow Light" was the common term for the steaming light, nothing to do with the bow. Go figure.
Attachments
Take a look at page 27: http://www.uscgboating.org/assets/1/workflow_staging/Publications/420.PDF looks like a handy guide to keep onboard.
I don't know where others get their nomenclature from, but in 27 years of sailing, "Bow lights" have been the red/green navigation lights, and the "stern light" was on the aft end as a navigation lights, so both were on the same breaker as they are used at the same time. "Steaming light" definition seems opinionated, but is on the front of the mast to use when motoring and is also called the "masthead light". I'd have to pass on what power boaters call their car-like headlights. Lights up on the spreader pointing down, lighting the deck, are "deck lights".
The COLREGS use the term 'Sidelight(s)' to refer to the red and green, forward-facing (and up to 22.5 deg. abaft the beam) navigation lights. Most vessels use separate units, and they're not usually anywhere near the bow, but small boats are permitted to use a single red/green light for both, and it's usually at the bow, hence the term 'bow light'. But it doesn't have to be at the bow, and it doesn't have to be a single unit, and won't be over a certain vessel size (20 meters or greater, I think).
The 'Stern Light', the single white rear-facing light, is always on when the sidelights are on, under power or sail, and the side lights and stern light are usually identified collectively as 'Navigation Lights'.
The 'Masthead Light', aka the a steaming light, is white and sweeps the same horizontal, mostly forward, arc as the side lights, and is only used under engine power (to identify the boat as a power boat, even if the sails are up), but never alone. It doesn't have to be on the mast, and certainly not at the top of the mast, despite the name, which probably was derived from power vessels with a stub mast over the pilot house where the light would be at the top of it. Some have them on the face of the mast, others at the top of the mast (my H340 had a combined masthead and anchor 2-bulb unit up there - front and rear bulbs together made for an all-round white anchor light).
All this stuff is defined in ghastly detail, including particulars about rate of intensity reduction with angle (both planes) and such, in the COLREGS and additional referenced documents (33CFR-84).
I suspect the terms on the OP dated back to before they were standardized. An interesting discussion, and a beautiful old electric panel.
The 'Stern Light', the single white rear-facing light, is always on when the sidelights are on, under power or sail, and the side lights and stern light are usually identified collectively as 'Navigation Lights'.
The 'Masthead Light', aka the a steaming light, is white and sweeps the same horizontal, mostly forward, arc as the side lights, and is only used under engine power (to identify the boat as a power boat, even if the sails are up), but never alone. It doesn't have to be on the mast, and certainly not at the top of the mast, despite the name, which probably was derived from power vessels with a stub mast over the pilot house where the light would be at the top of it. Some have them on the face of the mast, others at the top of the mast (my H340 had a combined masthead and anchor 2-bulb unit up there - front and rear bulbs together made for an all-round white anchor light).
All this stuff is defined in ghastly detail, including particulars about rate of intensity reduction with angle (both planes) and such, in the COLREGS and additional referenced documents (33CFR-84).
I suspect the terms on the OP dated back to before they were standardized. An interesting discussion, and a beautiful old electric panel.
A steaming light is not the same as a masthead light on a single masted sail boat. A steaming light is some distance above the deck, but not at the masthead, showing 225 degrees. A masthead or anchor light is a 360 degree light which cannot be used in conjunction with the side lights and a stern light, but could be used with the sidelights and no stern light while under way, under power, but not sailing, though I've not seen it done that way.
The label (US boats) running or navigation lights on a panel should indicate the side lights and the stern light are on and no other lights. The steaming light should be on a separate breaker for operating under power in conjunction with the running or navigation lights.
The USCG defines the 'masthead light' thusly:
Rule 21 - Definitions
(a) "Masthead light" means a white light placed over the fore and aft centerline of the vessel showing an unbroken light over an arc of the horizon of 225 degrees and so fixed as to show the light from right ahead to 22.5 degrees abaft the beam on either side of the vessel, except that on a vessel of less than 12 meters in length the masthead light shall be placed as nearly as practicable to the fore and aft centerline of the vessel.
Elsewhere in the COLREGS (33CFR-84) is a requirement that it be 1 meter or more above the sidelights for under 12m vessels, and 2.5 meter or more above the gunwales for 12m but less than 20m vessels.
§ 84.03 Vertical positioning and spacing of lights.
(a) On a power-driven vessel of 20 meters or more in length the masthead lights shall be placed as follows:
(1) The forward masthead light, or if only one masthead light is carried, then that light, at a height above the hull of not less than 5 meters, and, if the breadth of the vessel exceeds 5 meters, then at a height above the hull not less than such breadth, so however that the light need not be placed at a greater height above the hull than 8 meters;
(2) When two masthead lights are carried the after one shall be at least 2 meters vertically higher than the forward one.
(b) The vertical separation of the masthead lights of power-driven vessels shall be such that in all normal conditions of trim the after light will be seen over and separate from the forward light at a distance of 1000 meters from the stem when viewed from water level.
(c) The masthead light of a power-driven vessel of 12 meters but less than 20 meters in length shall be placed at a height above the gunwale of not less than 2.5 meters.
(d) The masthead light, or the all-round light described in Rule 23(c), of a power-driven vessel of less than 12 meters in length shall be carried at least one meter higher than the sidelights.
There is no restriction against having the masthead (steaming) light at the top of the mast (the masthead - hence the confusion), and as I said before, my last boat had a 2-bulb unit that covered the 225 deg. masthead (steaming) function, and when you add in the 135 degree rear bulb, would cover the full 360 degrees to serve as an anchor light. There isn't a requirement that an anchor light even be at the top of a mast; only 'where it can best be seen', and there is mention in the 33CFR-84 that it can have it's horizontal sector be broken for up to 6 degrees of arc, at least as it applies to small boats.
The confusion in terms stems from the difference between the USCG's definition of a 'masthead light', particularly its performance and function, and the physical location on a boat of the masthead, which is the top of the mast.
- Status