Deepcreek Designs

[Ralph Johnstone]

Has anyone ordered an LED anchor light bulb from Deepcreek Designs (http://www.deepcreekdesign.com/products.html).Their product appears to be the answer to our limited battery capacity but we have some reservations about ordering these over the net.Any info you can offer would be most appreciated.Regards,s/v Island Hunter

 

[Jon Bastien]

LED Lights

Hello Ralph, I went to the Miami Boat Show (Strictly Sail) and saw some LED lighting kits demonstrated there. While the LED is a dream come true for energy consumption, there were a few things I noticed about it that convinved me to hold off for a while. First, color of the light is a bit different- It's an almost pure white, not unlike a flourescent bulb. It will look a little different in a nav light fixture than an incandescent bulb. I was considering replacing my cabin lights with white LEDs until I saw this- I don't like the pure white lighting. Second, the lights didn't really seem as bright as advertised. Perhaps I was looking at a display that had relatively discharged batteries (I was there at closing time on the last day of the show), but it just didn't seem as bright as I'd expected. Third, The LED clusters will only fit into socket-type fittings- If you have the long, fuse-shaped bulb in your fixtures (like the Perko seried 25 lights) you won't be able to find LED bulbs to go into these fixtures. Last, and potentially most important, is a little legal problem called 'Statutory Fault'. (I AM NOT A LAWYER, BUT) It has been said that if you have an accident, but are not using gear aboard your vessel that has been blessed by the appropriate agency (The US Coast Guard, in my case), then you are at least partially responsible for the accident (The theory being that if I had been using the proper gear, i.e. and incandescent light instead of an LED, then the other boater would have recognized my light readily and avoided the accident altogether). I have not experienced this, so it may just be rumor/urban legend, but I have seen it quoted here before... I recommend you try and find someone who is using this kind of light and check it out, or perhaps check with some dealers in your area and arrange some kind of demo or test set-up, before you commit to a lighting change. I also recommend checking with your local boating authorities about whether or not these lights are legal...--Jon BastienH23 '2 Sheets to the Wind'

 

[Jim Kolstoe]

Ask the Coasties or marie law enforcment

After reading Ralph's question and Jon's reply, only reasonable response seems to be contact your local enforcment agency. They generally are more interested in ensuring adequate safety equipment than in promoting/requiring a limited menu of brand names. I suspect the main issue is candle power/lumens. Reliability and ease of use are issues you should also investigate. A letter from the coast guard saying the particular device is acceptable should eliminate issues of statutory negligence. BTW, the statutory negligence issue is, in essence, you're required to keep your cows fensed up, you failed to do so, I ran into one and wrecked my car because your cow was in the road instead of a pasture, therefore you were negligent and are liable for my injuries. In other words, your failure to comply with a statutory duty was causally linked to my loss, therefore you're liable. -this was a case from 1st yr Torts. (Yah, lawyer). Here, I think the question is more "does it meet the standards", rather than "has it got a prior stamp of approval." In the event of an accident where the function of the light was in issue, the burden of proof would be on you to establish it did meet the standards, where that would be presumed if it already had been approved. Of course, even with approved hardware, the question can be raised whether it was actually working correctly.  To reiterate, contact your local coast guard. They will most likely be happy to talk with someone who's trying to avoid being a problem they have to solve on the water, and you can cover yourself in event of future problems. You might also contact Deepcreek Designs about whether their product(s) are approved.Jim Kolstoe

 

[Joe Remke]

Deepcreek LED's

I ordered LED bulbs from Rob Hoffman at Deepcreek designs and received very good service. His can be reached for questions at 800/500-8837. I have not ordered through the web site.