I am sure there have been many night sails on Hobies! Please tell us about how you've rigged up some lighting using power from a battery in a waterproof container. I'd love to hear some of the stories (good and bad)!

If you are talking about running lights, you can buy a one-piece thingie that has the red light and green light and has batteries in it. You can attach it on your bridle, probably where it meets the forestay.

For a stern light, you could probably just attach a flashlight somewhere at the back of the boat.

Technically, small sailboats are not required to have running lights, and you can just use a flashlight to shine on the sail intermittently. But running lights are a better idea if you are going to do a lot of night-sailing.

Walmart carries a good waterproof flashlight (Duracell brand I think) that takes C cell batteries and is green - we've carried one of these for the last three years on the Tybee 500. We also carry a combination strobe / flashlight on the shoulder of our life vests but I can't think of a single night sail that we turned them on...it absolutely destroys your night vision. A small LED head lamp with a red filter will work pretty well if you need to see a chart or something from time to time.

Jake is right, strobes are a great idea.

Just keep in mind, not only will they blind you, I've heard it from good sources that the Coasties tend to get very upset if you turn them on when you're not in immediate need of rescue.

Hope this helps.

Mike

West Marine sells these glow stick tubes. We have to have lights for some of our CBYRA races. Tape them to your bridles and activate them at dusk. Keep a flashlight ready to light up your sail periodically.

If you go with the red /green light ... make sure you tape the seams welll. ... they leak and won't last long.

cyalume glow sticks work great. Surefire to light up the sail and burn the retina's of other boaters.

You can get red and green and white led lights that are not too bright on the eyes but can be seen for miles on bikes and the batteries last for ages.

I bought chemical lights like that from a party shop and they lasted for 26 hours and never leaked or whatever. They work great and were dirt cheap. An there aren't too bright neither.

Wouter

If you go to the Yahoo! group "TheBeatchcats" there is a guy ken wittlief who put a 12v lighting system on his H16. There are pictures and a discription in the group.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/beachcats/

I carry a water proff flashlight and also have lights (1 green 1 red and 2 white) that run off D batteries. They have what looks like heavy duty saftey pins to hold on to the boat.

Matt

Here is kens post:

Re: running lights

I tried the flashlight thing once. Not fun when you are trapped out,
main sheet in one hand, tiller in the other, and trying to shine a
flashlite on your sails.

I think you can get by with just a white light on the boat
somewhere, but that messes up your night vision.

I presently have running lights under the tramp frame rails and it
works great. I would like to get rid of the big 12V battery.

-Ken W

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/beachcats/message/35235

http://f1.grp.yahoofs.com/v1/MEW8RqQ3uxh...nninglights.htm
How to put real running lights on your Hobie.
Ive gotten into a schedule situation this year where most of my opportunities to sail are after work, or taking an afternoon off. Since the best winds for sailing here in central NY are in the fall, sunset can come early in the evening. Im not really interested in sailing in the dark, or taking any night voyages. Coast Guard regualtions require you to have running lights on your boat after sunset - in fact maybe even before sunset (im too lazy to look it up right now).

Typically once the sun hits the horizon you have about an hour before its completely dark - so even if I don’t sail at night, having that last hour to sail is a great option.
I looked at the options for putting running lights on a sailboat. The min requirements for a small sailboat is to have a flashlite that you point at your sails when other boats are nearby. That’s not hard to do if you are sitting on the tramp - but if you are out on the wire its not fun. I tried using one of those clamp on 2D cell things, could not really find a place to clamp it to. Ended up hanging it on a string from the bridal wires, where it swung all over the place.

I decided to do it right. The other two options for a sail boat are to put a light on top of the mast that shows red and green for 120° and white 120° to the stearn, or to put lights down on the boat that have the same degree of coverage.
The idea of the mast light appealed to me. One light bulb, less power consuption, and it seemed at first it would be easier to run one wire up the mast. But later I realized that would not work well, not on a H16 anyway. The jib battens tend to snag on the mast and halyards as it is. Giving them a wire running up the side of the mast to snag on too doesn’t sound promising.

I ended up getting a set of separate port and starboard lights. They are made by Perko, and are intended to be attached on the top side of a deck or cabin. They have two mounting holes / tabs, left and right. I discovered that if you turn them upside down, and put the tabs so they are fore and aft instead, then they can be mounted under the side rail on a Hobie 16. I figure this is the best place because lights right on the bow of the hulls would be about 2" above the water on the leeward side most of the time, and under the rail there is little chance of a line getting hooked on them. It could happen, but they are pretty much out of the way here.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/beachcats/files/HOBIE%20HOW%20TOs/port.jpg
The only problem is the angle is a little off. Instead of pointing straight ahead and 120° to the side, they are a little cross-eyed, and only point about 90° to the side. I figure its close enough, and I can always mask off the front a little with paint or metal tape to fix the cross-eyed problem.

For the stern I got a 180° white mast light, and put it upside down about 2 feet from one side of the rear cross bar. I made a little block of wood to screw it to.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/beachcats/files/HOBIE%20HOW%20TOs/sternlite.jpg
I've had to seal the heck out of this one with hot glue, and it still gets some water in it which doesn’t drain out. Needs some work to perfect. Maybe I will put a drain hole in it.
Next it was a simple matter of putting a few pilot holes then the side rails, putting sheet metal screws in to hold the lights on, and running wires to the lights. I used 18 gauge twin wire (like lamp cord) to each light. I bought a couple of packages of stick on tie wrap anchor squares, and a handfull of tie wraps, and attached them under rails about every foot or so to hold the wires. The power connector is by the mast.
For info on supplying 12V power to the running lights, see my file on 'how to put real 12V on your hobie'.

I've used the lights a couple times and they work great. They don’t flood the tramp or sails with light, so you don’t loose your night vision, and they are visible for a couple miles at least.

BTW - if you are going to sail at night, it’s a good idea to have a waterproof flashlite on your lifejacket, and to use a lifeline.

I am trying these.

I have something similar. Has Red and Green combined and a shield to keep the light pointing away from the crew.

Strapped it on the end of the spin pole in case I have the spin up.

I guess a head mounted light would work for signaling other boats if necessary, and a red lightstick on your harness to read charts?

I'm going to go with Adventure Lights.


They go for 250 hours on a battery pack that costs $1.50 USD. They have slots on them that allow you to place a green and a red one, back to back using plastic tie-wraps or whatever fastener you prefer.

They weigh almost nothing and are securly sealed with an O-ring. You twist the lens to turn it on or off.

web page

GARY

Thats the best I've seen yet. Thanks Gary.

There is nothing like a sail at night, especially when the moon is up, and provides just enough light to see it's reflection on the water. I have done it on my cat several times at Lake Powell, in Southern Utah/Northern Arizona.

One of the last times I was out I met up with a Park Ranger who wanted to write me up for not having proper lighting. I had front red/green lights and one light (flashlight) duct taped to the back of the boom for stern lighting. The stern light was not powerful enough to be seen from 2 miles (the law). However, I was able to show that I was visible enough that he could see me in the first place, so I was able to get out of the citation.

My advice:
1. Know the law (State and Federal) better than the Rangers, and have brochures showing proper lighting for sailboats.
2. Make sure you have all the other safety items on board (flotation device to throw, whistle, oar, etc)
3. Know your body of water well.
4. HAVE FUN, THERE IS NOTHING LIKE IT!

Here's my quick installation for my bow lights. It is a stainless steel hose clamp on my spinnaker pole. I am going to build one that will snap on and off of the pole. In cross section it will look somewhat like the shape of a question mark.



GARY

picture

Backing plated added to prevent light from being seen from behind.


GARY