NIGHT BOATING & SAFETY

[lynnstrick01]

Hello all:

I am the new girl, and certainly do not want to PREACH to you guys who probably know far more about boating than I ever will, but I just feel the need to share a story with you all.  Maybe it could save a life.

The hubby and I prefer night time boating for many reasons, .. not so many other boaters out, not so darned hot, and well, we just love the Florida summer nights on the water, but on one of our very 1st night trips we had a terrifying experience.

We didn't put her in the water until around midnight, (mistake number one).. we had a good GPS and a great spotlight for spotting markers, We had our legally required Nav lights and some good lights on the interior for changing lines and etc. So we thought we were good to go.

So here we are in our 24'8 XF clocking thru the channel at about 25 mph (2nd mistake) when we noticed navigation lights from a smaller boat up ahead... then we noticed tha the other boats lights would seem to dissappear and reappear, as we got closer we realized that it was in fact a small flats boat anchored out of the channell (just where he should be) but when he would drift in a particular direction his lights were not visible.   Needless to say we slowed WAY down to almost an idle till we reached our destination.

What if his anchor had broken loose and he had drifted into the channel? we all know that can happen and at night you might not notice it.

What if the same scenario happened to us.  

My point here is simple:  I will NEVER leave the dock after dark again.  If I MUST be running after dark it will be at a MUCH slower speed and most importantly:  the legally required Navigation lights are not enough to keep you safe on the water at night[/color]

I found a way to make ourselves more visible and want to share it with all of you:

I went to Home Depot, purchased some white rope lights (found all year round in the lighting area)
On my big boat i ran them all aroud the T-TOP, on the smaller  16 foot flats boat I secured them to the top rim of the boat.  We carry an extra battery just for the lights and accessories, and added a small ac/dc power inverter so they can plug right in. the lights will run 10 hours without killing the battery and there is NO WAY anyone could never NOT see us.  the lights also provide a good non glare soft light for baiting lines and walking around on the boat. Our only fear now is that planes from TIA (airport) could think we are a landing strip.

i was able to equip both boats for just a little over $100,   A small price to pay for Safety on the water.

So now, not only are we safer, but it looks pretty cool too. I will be adding some pics of the boat " all lit up" in the next few days.

As I said I know most of you are far more knowledgable than I am,  But I just wanted to share this story in case some people dont realize how little those nav lights actually show up at night.

Be Safe out there!!!

Lynn

[Marcq]

Thanks for sharing Lynn   The little boat,should of have is anchor lights on  :evil: We never know what to expect out there, specially in the dark

Btw, keep on preaching, I'm a noob at it :)

Marc..

[Aswaff400]

here's a story of the last night trip i had...

while we where cruising a steady 7 knots in a lighted channel, we had all of the nav lights on, port/stbd, aft and mast lights, along with 2 halogen flood lights on getting the poles rigged... to sum it up you could see us from a few miles away. and one jacktard in a solid black donzi going atleast 20 knots with only an anchor light on nearly plows the port side of us and all we hear is him cussing at us (thats how close he was)... because of the free credit give away, i refuse to go boating around here on weekends... i deal with enough inexperienced boaters at my job as it is :ncool:

[DOCREED]

They are everywhere.  
It seems that flats boats and go-fast boats do not have to pay any attention to either slow speed zones, lighting requirments or even common sense.  Not all are bad, but it seems like a lot more are than are not.  I almost ran over a flats boat with no lights at all.  He flashed a spotlight at me as I went by or I WOULDNT EVEN HAVE SEEN HIM.

then there are the jet skiis.................dont even get me started