Do You Always Show an Anchor Light When Anchored?

[Therapy]

We always used it....except when I forgot to turn it on till after dark once. I heard an outboard and looked around to notice I had fogotten........oops!

We also added two "garden" lights, one on each transom. They are surprisingly bright when it is dark.

[Mark Johnson]

I seldom use my masthead LED anchor light, as I usually anchor in very shallow water, where the predominant threats are usually small craft or drunken sailors, returning late at night in dinghies!

Masthead lights look like a star... So, I use TWO LED lights at 6 & 8' above decks, with one of them swinging in a hanging light housing. Using TWO lights far apart, avoids the boom's blind spot! (My Aqua Signal housing also has a water proof plug, so I can dig it out, tie it up, and plug it in, in 45 seconds or so)... The other one is hard wired to the back stay bridle.

These light the decks and deter thieves a bit, and make it really easy to return to our boat at night, as it looks "different". It's not about the law, its about common sense, and avoiding "MAKING shit happen".

Even if I also use the masthead light, and thereby used all 3 lights, all night, It would consume less than a total of 1 Ah in 12 hrs.

M.

[cal40john]

Originally Posted by Mark Johnson

I seldom use my masthead LED anchor light, as I usually anchor in very shallow water, where the predominant threats are usually small craft or drunken sailors, returning late at night in dinghies!

Masthead lights look like a star... So, I use TWO LED lights at 6 & 8' above decks, with one of them swinging in a hanging light housing. Using TWO lights far apart, avoids the boom's blind spot! (My Aqua Signal housing also has a water proof plug, so I can dig it out, tie it up, and plug it in, in 45 seconds or so)... The other one is hard wired to the back stay bridle.

These light the decks and deter thieves a bit, and make it really easy to return to our boat at night, as it looks "different". It's not about the law, its about common sense, and avoiding "MAKING shit happen".

Even if I also use the masthead light, and thereby used all 3 lights, all night, It would consume less than a total of 1 Ah in 12 hrs.

M.

Your 2 anchor lights are legal if the stern light is lower than the forward. Requirement for big vessels, ok for small:

(a) A vessel at anchor shall exhibit where it can best be seen:

(i) in the fore part, an all-round white light or one ball;
(ii) at or near the stern and at a lower level than the light prescribed in subparagraph (i), an all-round white light.

(b) A vessel of less than 50 meters in length may exhibit an all-round white light where it can best be seen instead of the lights prescribed in paragraph (a) of this Rule

[David M]

It's a good idea if not for anything else, so you can sleep well at night.

[Cotemar]

We do not use a mast anchor light. It is too high up.
We have 10 solar LED lights that we modified to go on the stanchions.
They cost $3 US dollars each and last two or three years.
No power required and they also light up the deck for safe walking.
They work all night.
They are close to eye level so other cruisers can see you better as they dingy around.
Very Easy to find your boat from the other side of the harbor after the ice cream run. Actually from the other side of the harbor, our boat looks like a cruise ship.

To make your own solar stanchion lights.
Drill a hole the same size as your life lines through the plastic tube.
Cut a slot the same width as the hole all the way to the bottom of the tube with a sheet rock knife. Takes ten minutes to make each one.

[Sailor g]

We always use an anchor light at anchor. We also have a small solar lights at bow & garden lights at stern so we can be seen. Ours last all night & shows our boat from stem to stern.

Had a friend get hit by a panga going at pretty high speed-his anchor light was on but it hit them where the anchor chain hit the water & bent their bow roller, channel & e even stainless around the bow where the chain hit it. Our bow light shows our chain as well.

[ozskipper]

There is nothing wrong with using a garden solar light to brighten up your cockpit-as it were. It will also provide some illumination to assist in slumber collision avoidance

[Target9000]

We haven't been "out there" cruising yet so I cannot say anything about that part of the issue, but I can talk about different lights we've tried.

As others have mentioned the Bebi light seemed ideal so I bought one and was skeptical of its performance. I bought the one that turns off automatically in the daylight. It has a 360 degree showing of light as well as a light directly downwards.



Plugging it in and covering over the light sensor lit it up while I was testing it and you can clearly see the light even in broad daylight. I plugged it in and hung it above the cockpit of our boat one evening. It was extremely bright and the downwards shining light light up everything in the cockpit. The boat was hard to miss. With it being the only device on at the time I measured it pulling around .2 amps/hr via our Victron battery monitor.

Not bad for about 50 bucks. At .2 amps, running it 8 hours would cost you only 1.6 amps. That seems almost negligible.

I'm not even sure why this is an issue and why people talk about it. Is 50 bucks and 2 amps a night really that much? I mean the damn thing even turns itself off. As I said, we don't have the experience to comment based on real world cruising experience, but I cannot fathom how something so cheap and efficient can be argued about. Am I missing something here?

[cat man do]

Originally Posted by Target9000

As others have mentioned the Bebi light seemed ideal so I bought one

I have the frugal mans version on my tender
Total cost around $2:50



One of these and an electrical tie on PVC tube

Flexible Car Strip Bulb Light White Waterproof 24 LED N | eBay

[downunder]

Originally Posted by Ocean Girl

Anchor light at top of mast and light in cockpit or hanging at eye level from forestay. Those LED lights Ram talked about work great or I use my parents kerosene anchor lamp they used during their circumnavigation.
Also a neat trick is to put reflective safety tape at your stantions and even up your mast, it catches even the dimmest light making a clear outline of a sailboat. Also makes it easier to find your boat in a crowded anchorage when you are dinking home late at night
Cheers,
Ocean Girl

good suggestion

[Nostrodamus]

Thank you for some excellent replies and advice.
It seems the best thing to do is bring some "Shock and Awe" and light your boat up as much as possible. Now if someone can explain to the seagull that obviously thought my anchor light meant "crap here" I would be grateful.

What about an anchor ball. As has been mentioned most boats that anchor during the night do seem to have at least the mast head light and usually more but seeing a cruising boat at anchor in daylight with an anchor ball seems to be pretty rare. Having said that the boat near to me hung a big round fender in a dark sock from his jib lines. I presume this his his version of an anchor ball but I may be wrong.

[Ocean Girl]

Cat, how'd you make that? Do you have a quick tutorial on how to make for the uh electrically challenged?
Sorry if it seem obvious,my brain ain't what it used to be
Ocean Girl

[Ram]

Originally Posted by Target9000

We haven't been "out there" cruising yet so I cannot say anything about that part of the issue, but I can talk about different lights we've tried.

As others have mentioned the Bebi light seemed ideal so I bought one and was skeptical of its performance. I bought the one that turns off automatically in the daylight. It has a 360 degree showing of light as well as a light directly downwards.



Plugging it in and covering over the light sensor lit it up while I was testing it and you can clearly see the light even in broad daylight. I plugged it in and hung it above the cockpit of our boat one evening. It was extremely bright and the downwards shining light light up everything in the cockpit. The boat was hard to miss. With it being the only device on at the time I measured it pulling around .2 amps/hr via our Victron battery monitor.

Not bad for about 50 bucks. At .2 amps, running it 8 hours would cost you only 1.6 amps. That seems almost negligible.

I'm not even sure why this is an issue and why people talk about it. Is 50 bucks and 2 amps a night really that much? I mean the damn thing even turns itself off. As I said, we don't have the experience to comment based on real world cruising experience, but I cannot fathom how something so cheap and efficient can be argued about. Am I missing something here?

Yes -I have the same one really Great!

[stevensuf]

I always put my anchor light on,makes it easier to find your boat when returning from the pub Like other i also have a couple of cheap solar garden lights, in case i forget to turn my anchor light on or start in the pub way too early

[Thumbs Up]

Those solar "yard" lights have gotten much better (and cheaper) in the last few years. I use four of them, one on each corner of my catamaran. If you replace the battery that they come with with a better quality NiCd (usually AA) they will burn bright all night. Regardless of whether or not you use your masthead anchor light it is good to have deck level lights so that the smaller boats that go through the anchorage at night can see you.