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BOATU.S. FOUNDATION FOR BOATING SAFETY & CLEAN WATER
foundationfindings
We See The Light
By Chris Edmonston
Navigation lights for nighttime boating are a federal requirement.
But how visible are they? Some real-world tests prove enlightening
or some boaters, the idea of taking
a nighttime voyage would be just
about unthinkable. While there
are certainly some different and
perhaps more difficult situations
faced at night, a host of new experiences
can make boating at night very rewarding. One constant in any nighttime voyage
is the need for navigation lights. Federal
requirements demand navigation lights on
just about every vessel that operates at
night or in periods of reduced visibility.
The BoatU.S. Foundation has tested
navigation lights and found that commercially available lights pretty much perform
as advertised. Since our first test in the
1990s, a whole new range of nav lights are
now on the market, many using new technology — primarily Light Emitting Diode
(LED) lights. In this latest Foundation
Findings, we take a look at the rules regarding navigation lights, as well as what we
found out in nighttime tests on the water.
F
Rules Of The Road
There have been regulations requiring nav lights since 1838, when the first
requirement for white lights was introduced for steam ships, with red and green
side light requirements first appearing 10
years later in England. By the end of the
19th century, there was an international
agreement governing shipping, and by
extension navigation lights. Shortly after
World War II, the Safety of Life at Sea
(SOLAS) conference revised the rules governing ship lighting: 60 years later, we’re
still using essentially the same rules.
Under the Rules of the Road, vessels
are required to have lights displayed from
sunset to sunrise and in periods of restricted visibility. Lights should also be used
in all other circumstances when deemed
necessary. Just as there is a wide range of
vessel types and sizes, there’s an equally
wide range of lighting configurations that
comply with the Rules of the Road. The
rules governing lights exist, like all the
other rules, to prevent accidents. They
govern the color, placement, and intensity
of lights, designed to help other vessels
determine vessel size and course and know
whether a dangerous situation exists. As
a member of the International Maritime
Organization (IMO) U.S. rules are actually
set by international agreement, not by the
U.S. Coast Guard.
For this test we only reviewed lights
typically found on recreational vessels
under 12 meters ( 39. 4 ft.) in length. We
also tested some portable lights that you
might have on your dinghy. The requirements for the typical recreational vessel
consist of red and green port and starboard
lights, a stern light, and a masthead light.
The stern lights and masthead light must
be visible from two miles and the sidelights must be visible from one mile. One
important note — manufacturers are not
required to produce lights to any standard,
and the Coast Guard does not “approve”
individual lights per se. However, if a boatbuilder includes nav lights on a new model,
they must be installed correctly and comply with Coast Guard requirements. Even
so, operating the lights from dusk to dawn
and maintaining the lights, such as replacing burnt out bulbs, is the responsibility of
the boat owner to stay in compliance.
The Lowdown On Light
Incandescent lights have been with
us for more than 100 years, but appear
to be a technology on the way out, in
favor of newer LEDs. Both types of lights
have distinct advantages and disadvantages, all related to how they produce light.
Incandescent bulbs heat a filament that
glows. An advantage of incandescent bulbs
is that they produce light across a very
broad range of the visible light spectrum,
which makes the light appear warmer and
more natural. A disadvantage of incandescent bulbs is that they take more energy
to produce light because they’re only able
to convert about 10 percent of the energy
used into light. Incandescent bulbs are better at producing heat than light. The high
Improper navigation lights Correct navigation lights Our 11-year-old lens (on the left) appears cloudy and can be replaced for less than $15. BoatU.S. Magazine JAN/FEB 2010 45
Top: Incandescent and LED versions of the
same fixture with brand new batteries. Bottom:
The same two fixtures after five hours of continuous use; the incandescent quickly died.
