What are you feelings on boat headlights?

John Robinson

John Robinson

Well-known member
Over the past few years I've noticed some pretty cool headlights mounted on Brad Taylor's boats and maybe some others. One guy I hunt with has one of those mega-watt-trillion candle power spotlights mounted on his foredeck, you can see him coming from far away, he looks like Close Encounters of the Third Kind. My Snow Goose buddy likes a handheld spotlight or flashlight. My position is different, in general night time travel conditions I have always preferred to let my eyes adjust to the dark and retain that night vision by avoiding spotlights and such until we are nearing the entrance to whatever slough we are hunting that day. In normal night time conditions it is surprising how well you can see. You can see star and moon reflections off the water, anything really dark is probably an obstacle.

Now since my accident where conditions were not normal, overcast sky, no moon or stars and steady drizzle that reflected any light we shone back in our face, I am re-thinking my position on lights for driving. I will for sure have a 12 v dc plug at the forward and aft end of the cockpit to plug one of those mega watt floodlights into. I am considering one of two forward mounted fixed headlights mounted just below my overhanging bow deck. What do you guys do when underway at night in general open water or larger river conditions?

John
 
Weather permitting I use a 2 million CP handheld. If not I just run real slow and use a 6 volt lantern (doesn't reflect as badly in rain snow or fog). Headlights that are permanently mounted IMHO are just too easy to break.

Main thing is knowing where you are and running slow at night. I'd rather get beat to a particular spot than to hit a log etc. at speed.

Be safe,
Harry
 
John,

We've got headlights on our pontoon boat. The only time I've found them effective is when we are docking at night. When we're on the open lake they just attract bugs and don't offer much help in navigation. My personal preference is a handheld spotlight for occasional viewing. I prefer to let my night vision do most of the work and only use the spot light to double check my surroundings. The spot lights are much more powerful and do a better job than any of the headlights I've seen on boats.
 
Hi John,
I have headlights on my boat. I like them on my car (helps me drive when its dark), so I thought I might get the same effect on the boat - turns out they help! Not to be too flip, but I will never own a boat without them. Hand held lights are great, but do you really need another thing in your hand while driving? Mine are hard wired to the switch panel, and easy to control. Easy to use with one person in the boat. Pipe frame makes a simple frame - and some protection. If they break - they are cheap to replace. ( I have 3 seasons of heavy salt water use and no worries) The frame is also a good spot to tie that bow-line that I hold onto while driving with my tiller extension...(separate post)

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There are other boat builders on this site with better implementations (Brad Taylor, NC!), but lights are a great asset. There are also some other posts about this, try searching and you can find them.

Cheers,
Dave
 
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John,

I've got a couple of off road lights mounted on a bar that I can clamp on to the bow of my jon boat. They are a pair of Grote 100w lights (about $25 a piece), I've got them set up to hang down below the bow to minimize glare. Some of the areas I hunt we run through some narrow channels, they are really nice to have in these situations, hands free to pilot the boat. On the open bodies of water I usually don't even put them on. Use the hand held spotlight to light up the questionable spots. I probably should make a permanent mount & wire them back to the console so they're available at anytime.

http://grote.com/product.php?product_number=64541-5

Here's the link to the lights on the Grote website. I had a pair of these on my old Cherokee, never used the highbeams.

Jim S
 
John,

I run with a spotlight in my hand the whole time. Like you, I allow the moon to guide me and the dark objects are usually hazards. I shine the spot "occasionally" even if I don't need it, I still shine it every 3 minutes or so...

I pay attention to the surface of the water looking for weird stuff. We have a lot of navigational aids in our bay and some of them have reflective paint a lot do not.

As to having lights on the boat, I don't think they'd help as I am running the bow at too many attitudes, i.e. way up sometimes and straight, etc. A quick flash of the jillion candle pretty much gives me the brain info I need for the next few minutes.

But you knew all this already ; )
 
Weather permitting I run dark with only nav lights and use a small high intensity flashlight to check things out or to reflect off a navigation aid.

Is anyone using red or yellow lenses on their lights to preserve night vision? We do this fox hunting at night and it works great. It does reduce your visisbility compared to white light but does not kill your night vision and will still light up reflective objects way, way off. This might be a good compromise.

Like Andrew said, fixed bowlights for me would be pointed all over the place. I guess wide angle floods might be usefull but directed beams such as car headlights wouldn't do much good. Atleast I don't think they would, never tried, might be wrong.

Best wishes,
Gene
 
I also rely on a handheld spotlight while running in the dark. It never leaves my right hand as I'm using my left for the tiller. In general, I let my eyes adjust to the darkness and run with nav lights only. I run my sneakbox flat out most of the time (tide permitting). But I know the areas I hunt frequently very well. But, with that said, if I'm in a new area....... I run at just enough throttle to keep it up on plane. And am always scanning the area with my spot. For me, fixed lights wouldn't cover enough water to be effective.
 
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I too prefer to let my eyes adjust to the dark. With the exception of my navigation lights I just wear a headlamp and usually keep that on night vision while setting decoys. I do have a cheap million candle power handheld spotlight that I usually use for about a minute just so I can find my way into spots. It's nice to have the spotlight though in case you need it.
 
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Here's a similar light question... does the white light in back bother you? And do some of you put some black tape on it to shield the white light coming into the cockpit?

I personally think that the white light is dangerous given that it hurts the ability to get used to the dark...

I'm thinking of putting about an inch of black tape over the section of light that shines into the cockpit.

A.
 
Andrew,

A better solution is to lengthen the pole the light is on. Every one I have has been lengthened so as to be above my head when standing on the floor of the boat. At that height, you will not be blinded by the glare and the light is much more visible to other boaters (which is what it's there for in the first place). Putting tape on it would not be an option for me.
 
I agree the lights could help, like the guy's said running at different bow attitudes may not help all the time.

For me it's a 500 watt hand held with the blue dot in the middle of the lens. The blue cuts the fog/haze really well.
 
Andrew,

When you raise it up, you can also put a disk of some sort, plastic maybe if you're creative, underneath the light like a collar. That will block light coming into the cockpit. I have been meaning to do this for awhile, but I won't be able to store my light the way I am currently storing it if I set it up this way. If you think of a removal way to do the collar, let me know.
 
I noticed that too Andrew when I drove your boat. I think getting a longer pole would do the trick. Also, blocking part of the lens off is techniquely a no-no I believe. I don't have the rule in front of me but I think it's something like "A white stern light visible for 360 degrees".

In addition to a longer pole, there are certain lenses that project more of a horizontal plane of light that seem to help.
 
John,
Have made many many trips both ways. Logged many hours behind a Northstar GPS, 2 Raytheon Radars, Northstar LORAN and a Ritchie Compass. No extra light on deck or the water, as many have stated, that it kills off your Night Vision, which is quite good without extra light. But, these were open water situations in bigger boats with hazards aplenty, just not the same as confined inland waters in a small one.
Have also ran many hours with the front and the stern of the vessel lit up like a Hollywood Set. Working boats tend to at night.
For crowded inland water trips I like a hand held in a small boat for the attitude issue mentioned, and the ability to look to the sides easily. Most guys don't go for the Adj bow light with remote control on a duck boat, but they work. The thing I hate is the dope in the other boat who doesn't understand that it is Critical to turn the "Car/Handheld/Whatever" light off if another vessel is in the area of operation. Unless you are in VHF contact with the target, you and he have no idea what each other are doing if the Nav lights are not visible. And they are not, most times on small boats with Approved Minimum light size setups. Esp if the other operator is blinded by looking at a gigawatt beam in the retina.
Think Bigger Nav lights for better visibility. Andrew is right, in a small boat the white all around in the stern usually screws with the drivers night view, but without a tower to put it on it is what tells the others you are going away. A 36 inch stick helps some.
Most, myself included have failed at times to follow the "maintain a safe speed for the visibility rule" because even with head lights and the rest, stuff in the water is just not as easy to see at night or fogged in or rain or snow or whatever.
Slow ahead is better than dead
and I have to remind myself that when the vis is out the window.
We have lost the idea of displacement speed as a society, and planning is usually too fast most times in the above rule.
 
I have done quite a bit of night time running, offshore, inshore fishing and duck hunting duck hunting. I carry a hand help spot. I don't hold it in my hand but it is never far away should I need it. I prefer to let my eyes adjust also. My stern light is way over my head and the light does not bother me. I'll use the spot to check markers or if something doesn't look right. Thats about it. Fishing at night, a spot can run the fish off the flat in a heartbeat.
 
Dave, Ben and Pete (sorry John for hijacking your thread...hopefully there is some parallel).

What I'll probably do is put the white lamp on the center console and shine it above my head... I know blocking it is a no/no, but, it's a tradeoff.

Thanks, A.
 
Andrew,
I forgot that you built a console
You could easily make a 7 foot pole with a light on it that would quicktatch to the steering station and then stow after arrival. No night gunning, so its not in the way during hunting and its up, out of your eyes running. Also truly visible all around.
This would not work for the tiller set up as easy.
PS
I hope I didn't sound patronizing above, just relaying some experience and admitted mistakes. No one is perfect. Hopefully I learned from some of it.
 
This isn't a hijack, definitely related to the original question. Bob's post is a good one as it combines my open ocean experience, preserving and using night vision even, actually especially when approaching hazards, with his additional inland workboat experience. Flexability and good judgement are the keys, go dark when you judge that best, use a spot light when you think you need it, only go as fast as you can see.

Thanks for all the replys, I'm going to forego the headlights and set up some remote plug in locations for spotlights. I rarely hunt alone and I will be sure to thoroughly brief the forward guy on how, when and where to spot.

John
 
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