Search Lites

[Sea Angel]

Has anyone had any experience with mounting a remote search lite on
the brow of a CD25? Sea Angel has a roof mounted (with small wedge)
4KW RADAR. I do have height restrictions for storeage in my marina.

I have tried a 'dummy' lite on the bow rail but it seems to block too much
of my field of view.

If I mount the lite on the roof, I think it will give a 'soft' sector for my
radar view and I don't know what the radar would do to the lite controls
that may be in its head assembly.

Suggestions? Maybe a wedge mount on the brow to allow a lower
placement of the lite base, but high enough to open the center window? I
don't know what the cosmetics would look like. I do have a handheld spot.

Art

[Sea Wolf]

Art-

Difficult problem!

How about a half height (or so) mount between the bow roller and the top of the bow rail to keep it down as much as possible but still forward of the bow rail and it's potential blinding reflections?

A railmaker could bend a tube to fit in there and weld a S. S. plate to it.

Might be useful to mount other things on, too.



Joe.

[Sea Angel]

Hi Joe,

Thanks for the idea. I will have to get my dummy lite 'thingy' and
see how line-of-site is impacted. I don't think I even considered
this approach due to the proximity of the Delta anchor and rigging, but
worth a better look.

There is a spray we used in the TV studio, like an acrlyic spray, that
dulled the chrome on the studio set. I don't know if this would prevent the
type of glare that would impact the night vision. I could also wrap the rails
with a decorative wrap of nylon twine/line. The white line would go with
the hull color; even paint it like the boatswain mates did in the navy. This
may allow for a cabin "top" mount.

Art

[Sea Wolf]

Art- Except for the cosmetic factor, mounting the light on top of the radar dome would keep it above and out of the way of everything. A screwy idea, perhaps, but it would satisfy the "no conflict" problems. The small wires would not interfere with the radar, as mastlight poles don't either. (Too small and too close.)

Joe.

[DaveS]

[JamesTXSD]

Perhaps not the solution you are looking for, but we use a portable magnetic base light on Wild Blue. It "sticks" on the anchor roller and I run the 12v cord back to the helm. No, it's not an elegant, permanent light; but we find we don't do a lot of running at night. It's easy and fast to stick on, and out of the way the rest of the time. We also use a hand held gazillion-watt light to find nav aids and check that there is nothing floating in front of us... yep, the arm out the window.

Best wishes,
Jim B.

[hardee]

Art, It has been discussed here some before, but I didn't find the thread, about spot lights and mounting positions and back glare, from having the light mounted where it lights up the light colored portions of the boat and the glare affecting the night vision. I carry a hand held spot light but have never used it. Until this last week, I have never been underway at night, in the dark. I can tell you that just the brightness from the C-120 plotter display, turned on in the night light mode, still made enough glare on the windows that it was hard to distinguish outside detail. I wound up opening the center window, standing in the center and looking out through the open wind to be able to see to steer. My opinion, (and that just what it is [$0.02]) is that unless a search light was mounted forward far enough to not light up the boat at all it would only make things harder to see, not easier. One caveat, if it could be coned down (to a very narrow beam) so that it did not light up the boat it may work to mount it farther aft than the bow pulpit rail or such.

[Dora~Jean]

I could only find one picture in my album that shows my installation, I put it just above the brow on the slanted forward section of the roof, just in front of the radar. No noticeable effect on the radar. I do get reflections from the bow railing at night which can be eliminated with removable black pipe insulation. This location works pretty good for me.

When installing, make sure you mount it far enough aft to not interfere with the anchor/nav light pole. No noticeable effect having the pole in front of the anchor light either.

.

[Dene]

Art,

I bought a boat with the search light on the cabin as shown by the pictures. Good place to mount but I see little value in the thing. I think a more valuable light is a portable, rechargeable 5000 candlelight flashlight. Store it and pull it out as needed.

My two bits.

-Greg

[Dora~Jean]

Greg,

I thought the same way a couple of years ago, used my handheld. But after having the remote controlled spotlight, it is a real blessing. When you're trying to manuever and avoid objects while working twin engines, it's difficult to pick up a spotlight. Also difficult to tell a crew member to look "over there", then "over here", then straight ahead about every 10 seconds. I haven't used it much, maybe 3 times per year, but I really appreciate it when I need it. My 2c.

[Doryman]

While browsing for magnetic remote spotlights I found this universal rail mount which looks quite substantial. The same company has a multitude of spotlights, a few with magnetic bases.

Warren

[Cosmic C]

There are a couple of pictures of our bow-rail mounted spotlight in our album. We've never had a problem with visibility (it sits above the line of sight) and having t far forward eliminates annoying reflections and glare.

[Sea Wolf]

Here's Cosmic C's bow light:


The off-center bow rail was replaced.

and mine on Sea Wolf:


I don't find it offensive, either, and it works best right there!

Joe.

[Bad Boy]

I have had several boats with spotlight at various locations. The best location that I experienced is on the bow rail. Any spotlight aft of the bow rail invariably shows up as a glare on the rails or on the white of the foredeck.

On my new Tomcat, I chose not to have any spotlight at all, choosing to use the portable handheld, instead. Mounting on the front bow rail looked like it would block my line of sight. I also have the cockpit steering station, so I can take my spotlight to the outside steering station. Generally, I only use the spotlight in short bursts and a handheld enables me to quickly shine it quickly in the direction I want without waiting for the rotation.

[thataway]

I also use hand held both corded and rechargable spotlights (1 million to 2 million CP). I have owned several boats with permently mounted remote controled spotlights--and although they are handy, those on the roof have enough back light scatter to ruin the night vision. Also the bow railing mount is very good, or a low deck mount on the bow--but this often is obscured by the anchor/and causes back reflections.

We also have a "Tractor" flood light/spotlight, with a mag mount, and it mounts very nicely on the Delta anchor. Generally one does not run spotlights for prolonged times--just to highlight items.

Our current favorite light is a Vector, three power, 1 mill cp,(Vector 1555CLFW) it is about 4" diameter, has a pistol grip and three different brightnesses--controlled by the number of trigger pulls. The low power is sufficient to spotlight what we need in 90% of cases when we need a spotlight (which is not very often). We have many of thousands of hours of night cruising, and the use of a spotlight has been in the dozens of times max.

I cannot over ephasize the value of retention of night vision. It will allow you to see that dim running light or a boat against the background lights or stars etc.