Deck lighting options

[GILow]

Originally Posted by Wotname

Bugger, that's a setback! I guess there is no expectation to see it again by now.



I recently sent a parcel to Darwin, tracking showed it took three days from southern Tassie to Darwin where it sat for 3 weeks before being delivered. I reckon they only went looking for it after I raised a lost article investigation with them.

Well, your experience gives me a glimmer of hope. I’d sure love to see it again. I raised to issue on Thursday, so they’ve got a few more days before they declare it missing for real.

[Wotname]

Originally Posted by GILow

Well, your experience gives me a glimmer of hope. I’d sure love to see it again. I raised to issue on Thursday, so they’ve got a few more days before they declare it missing for real.

Fingers crossed!

In my case, there was no traction until the official missing deadline had passed so here's hoping that your stuff will arrive.

[belizesailor]

My old sealed beam bulb in a combo fixture is still going strong. I considered replacing it when I had the stick down a couple of years ago, but did not because I rarely use it. However in retrospect I wish I had replaced it w a powerful, but dimmable, LED flood. This would allow me to light up the decks when necessary (anchoring mess or discourage an intruder) or provide dimmer light when we are lounging on the foredeck (the old sealed beam is a bit bright for this and burns lots of juice).

[thinwater]

I've had deck lights. I switched to head lamps for practically all tasks. For one thing, if I am working on something small, my body seems to cast a shadow right where I'm looking, damn it!

[nhschneider]

When we bought our boat, the lighting on it was terrible: One weak floodlight mounted on the forward side of the main mast and nothing else. I added two very bright LED spreader lights to the mizzenmast and another bright light on the mizzen’s forward side, aimed at the base of the main mast. The mainmast got a new very bright lamp that is directed at the foredeck. Our decks are now illuminated enough so that I can read fine print at night when the lights are on.

I can’t count how many times in the past eight-and-a-half years that I’ve had to tuck a reef into a sail in the middle of the night and I always preferred to have all the deck lights on. Often I still use a headlamp but I found the benefit of being able to see clearly while completing my task outweighed the temporary reduction in night vision. Having the lights on also allowed my wife to see what was going on as she would always be in the cockpit if I was going out on deck.

We also liked having our decks brightly lit if guests were coming aboard or leaving. Having the lights on when I was grilling made it feel civilized.

Fair winds and calm seas.

[a64pilot]

I have a Marine Beam combo deck light and if we are sailing and I need to go forward it’s what is used and a headlight.
We also have spreader lights, flood lights, one aimed slightly forward one slightly aft. They are a separate thing and need to be switched differently, but we use them often, someone getting into or out of their dinghy I light the whole area. You hear a bump in the night, turn on the spreaders and if there is a person out there that shouldn’t be, they usually don’t like being lit up. Now these things light up the boat and an area around the boat being floods.
Sometimes I’ll turn them on at night sailing when that power boat continues to look like they are going to run me down. They light up the sails so brightly that if there is someone looking they couldn’t miss you.
I also have cockpit lights that are very dimmable. I have tried many high end LED’s and most can’t the dimmed if you try they flicker, even with high speed dimmers, however cheap auto daytime running light strips are very bright and can be dimmed down to where they can barely be seen, for eating in the cockpit, grilling etc I have them bright, sailing, if on at all they are down to where you can barely see them, depends on lunar illumination, I try to avoid sailing at nights of zero illum.

I like my spreader lights and find them useful

[JPA Cate]

We use the head lamps a lot, and the deck light, as Jim already said.

There is a good use for a deck light, and the fore/aft spreader lights. If GILow's able to find the LED lights for all, I still think separate switching may have its uses.

Hope your pkg shows up eventually. Sometimes it helps to go to the PO involved, and offer to look yourself, as they are sooo busy! [insert sarcasm emoji here] They will say no, but perhaps you can convince someone to look in unusual places for finding things.

This involved the USPS, but we had a package, addressed to us in Tasmania missent to Tanzania. It was returned from Dar-Es-Salaam to some place on the NE coast of the USA, where Jim's heroine sister located it in a dead letter office. We eventually received it, complete with the D-E-S stamp on it.

Another time, we had ordered a propeller from the US for TAS delivery. We paid extra for timely delivery, and it kept not arriving. The seller queried the carrier (DHL Danzas). Weeks passed. Eventually they found it in Massachusetts, in a box marked for delivery to Melbourne, and they sent it! Then Melbourne lost it. Then the airport at Hobart lost it. We finally got it, after 3-1/2 weeks. They did not re-fund the 5 day delivery fee.



Ann

[Emmalina]

Spreader lights are great for squid fishing !

[Reefmagnet]

If you're a cheapskate like me, mini garden LED flood lights make great mini flood lights for boats. Apparently they don't realise they're on a boat and just keep working away. At about four bucks each, they don't break the bank either and are reasonably well marinised except for maybe the brackets which are easily replace with stainless steel if handy with tools.


And, you can get two lights to work independently off of a single dc circuit with the help of a crossover switch and some diodes if you really need to.

[GILow]

Originally Posted by Reefmagnet

If you're a cheapskate like me, mini garden LED flood lights make great mini flood lights for boats. Apparently they don't realise they're on a boat and just keep working away. At about four bucks each, they don't break the bank either and are reasonably well marinised except for maybe the brackets which are easily replace with stainless steel if handy with tools.


And, you can get two lights to work independently off of a single dc circuit with the help of a crossover switch and some diodes if you really need to.

I like your thinking! Both on the budget friendly option and the reverse polarity approach.

I will certainly look at both of these ideas and see how they might apply.

[GILow]

Originally Posted by Emmalina

Spreader lights are great for squid fishing !

Yum!

But how does one prevent the squid from making a mess of one’s deck?

[GILow]

Originally Posted by JPA Cate

We use the head lamps a lot, and the deck light, as Jim already said.

There is a good use for a deck light, and the fore/aft spreader lights. If GILow's able to find the LED lights for all, I still think separate switching may have its uses.

Hope your pkg shows up eventually.

...

Ann

I have a lovely collection of head lamps including one I used for a stern light when I was rewriting the boat.

The one I like the most at the moment was made by Hella and has a weird fish-eye style, almost rectangular lens. It gives the most even and wide light field of any I have found yet.

And yeah, still holding out a faint hope my stuff will reappear, but it is getting fainter by the day.

[PuttingDoctor]

The LED spreader lights draw next to nothing compared to the incandescent “tractor headlights” used on many vessels.
I use the bi-color blue/white combo from West Marine this time vs the very expensive dimmable blue/white units I had on my 38’.
I almost always use the blue vs white. Blue is the new red for eye fatigue.
With luck and planning you may have a chase string already in the mast to the spreader or masthead that would aid in running a new circuit to control just the spreader lights.

[Mauruuru]

I replaced the steaming light combo deck light with LED equivalent. More lumens and much longer life. In addition I added LED spreader lights but of course had to add wiring when mast was down. Love having the extra light on foredeck with spreader LEDs but the ones I used were cheap chinese junk so now after 3 years am replacing them the dual color blue and white combo lights which will give me am ambiance lighting on the hook and serious white light when working on foredeck or just whenever I need to be more visible to others

[GILow]

This blue white thing is interesting. Hadn’t heard about it, I’ll see if I can find out more. Any good links to the logic behind it all?