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Tunnel lights


Timx

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This evening, walking down towpath to shroppie fly, I passed the first lock , I never had the torch on as it was reasonable light in the half moonlight, I came across a grey bearded man walking in opposite direction, just as we passed I said, "alright" with a smile, as you do, and he screamed at me FUCK OFF at top of his voice, I asked again if he was ok, he then apologised a couple of

times then walked on his way, mumbling inconherently..

i carried on walking past the next lock and there is a boat approaching, but they have two led powerful lights at the front of the boat, lighting up the whole canal and towpath ahead of them, the steerer also has a light at the helm, I shouted, dip your lights no one ahead can see, I had my torch on then, pointed at my feet, there light was blinding.

They shouted back they can't dim them, I shouted DIP not dim., I then saw a man with a windlass on the towpath following them down, I said tell him he needs to adjust his lights , he is a danger, but fair enough, he was off the coal boat just helping them down. and said its nothing to do with him.

when I walked back that way tonight to the marina, I noticed both gates had been left open on last lock.

i hate going through tunnels , because the boat approaching you feels the need to light up everything.If boating at night the same common sense should be used.. Rant over ?

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I agree. The modern flat LED lights that people are fitting are really antisocial because they have a very wide spread of very bright light. We have an enormous Francis searchlight on our boat but it can be defocussed in tunnels to give a ring of light with black in the middle (ahead) to avoid dazzling oncomers, and I can also dim it.

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The two incidents I mention, within a few minutes may be unrelated, but travelling in the dark can be rewarding, but only if you can do it without hassling other people, I had a similar occasion a few months ago when I was on my boat trying to make the salt barge on Trent and Mersey, I had to stop and pull to the side till a boat happily passed me,front lamp full beam straight ahead, and did not know what I was shouting about.

 

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1 hour ago, nicknorman said:

I agree. The modern flat LED lights that people are fitting are really antisocial because they have a very wide spread of very bright light. We have an enormous Francis searchlight on our boat but it can be defocussed in tunnels to give a ring of light with black in the middle (ahead) to avoid dazzling oncomers, and I can also dim it.

 

Can you also focus it and aim it at the steerer of the oncoming boat with a light brighter that the sun, to illustrate to them what it's like?

 

 

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Guilty as charged for a few weeks.

 

A few members of our club fitted these powerful LED lights a few years ago. Quite amazing, I thought, lit up the canal ahead like daylight..... so I bought one and fitted it. Did the job as far as I was concerned..... night sailing was like daylight, with no "peering" required.

 

Anyway, shortly after fitting it, I got a few grumpy comments from cyclists on the towpath, (some of whom had equally powerful lights). In addition, when moving the boat from mooring to watering point one dark evening, I saw a fellow member on the towpath shield his eyes from my light.

 

I didn't travel at night again until I'd removed and disposed of the light, and replaced it with a 55W foglight - quite adequate, and much more friendly to oncomers.

  • Greenie 3
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Excessively bright  headlights in tunnels are sometimes a problem, but in my experience a rare one. Most boaters do seem to understand what's sensible and get things right. Once they've experienced facing an oncoming boat with too bright a light a few times, the cogs go round in the brain and they get their act together!

 

I've had the odd occasion when I've been on a boat that struggled to show enough light! The solution has sometimes been to use my magnetic "Blitzwolf" LED torch with several brightness settings, which I usually take when I go boating; it can be placed on any flat steel surface e.g. a boat roof, and it's handy for moving around a boat or walking along a towpath in the dark too.

On one occasion, crewing for someone off the forum a few years ago, the boat's poor electrics and the absence of my torch meant the answer was to kind of hotwire the headlamp to a dodgy old battery placed in the cratch, which had just enough power left in it to produce a weak light all the way through Blisworth!

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These modern LED tunnel lights are the work of the devil. So bright they can vaporise a bulldozer at forty paces. I have two tunnel lights, a conventional filament bulb one, very defocused, that is used on two way working tunnels and for night cruising. Anywhere that someone could be dazzled coming the other way, including cyclists and walkers. The other is a home made monster LED thing that is only used for one way worked tunnels with no tow path, where if anyone is coming the other way they shouldn't be! Built for Standedge and used occasionally on others.

Jen

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10 hours ago, Mike the Boilerman said:

 

Can you also focus it and aim it at the steerer of the oncoming boat with a light brighter that the sun, to illustrate to them what it's like?

 

 

Yes it focuses to a tiny dot, so you can burn “w****r” into their paint as they pass.

  • Haha 3
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We boated a pair across Birmingham from Icknield Port to Netherton last November n the dark with just a dim tunnel lamp. Knowing where the toll islands were, from being familiar with the canal, was helpful as I couldn't see them but we didn't hit anything. 

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Here's my tunnel light - still a bit Heath Robinson but it works. It illuminates the roof nicely, and I can point the light to the side (or turn it off) when passing another boat. I also have a low power and diffuse light on the front bulkhead so that there is no confusion about where the bows are.

 

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Navigation lights help to work out where the oncoming boat is even if they switch off the tunnel light which is a tad daft. Lights aimed slightly off centre to the right, either up to the roof or down into the water helps to prevent blinding oncoming steerers.

 

Still, when you get those who come to a dead stop and get drawn into you, or even worse, use the bow thruster to keep to their side pushing you firmly to yours, all part of life's rich tapestry inside a tunnel.

 

But I don't get Francis searchlights - by definition - why??

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My tunnel light is a fog lamp, it has a very flat beam (wasn't that actually compulsory once) and my preference is to angle it well downwards as it picks out where the tunnel walls meet the water. But I got fed up with complaints from oncoming boaters who, whilst admitting that it hadn't dazzled them in any way, said they could see that it wasn't pointing at the roof and therefore it was dangerously wrong. So I gave up and now it points at the roof, but it's nowhere near as effective.

 

On the topic of light signals, it used to be a convention in London tunnels that a single light signified a narrow boat but wider boats showed 2 lights, so if you saw 2 lights coming towards you it wasn't safe to enter the tunnel. It still worries me every time I meet a boat with twin lights in any tunnel.

  • Greenie 1
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45 minutes ago, rustynewbery said:

But I don't get Francis searchlights - by definition - why??

I’m not quite sure what is behind the question - “why?”. Why not?
They look quite nice IMO (although I don’t have to polish it!)

They are focusable so as I mentioned earlier, the ring of light thing with black in the middle is ideal for 2 way tunnels - we have never had any comment about dazzling - fairly obviously, because when defocussed it doesn’t throw light more than a few yards ahead. Whilst illuminating the tunnel walls and roof.

For night cruising it can be focussed more so it throws more light ahead. Totally controllable. What’s not to like? (Apart from the cost).

Edited by nicknorman
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Agree bright LED lights are bad, they also have a high UV content in their light, which causes your pupils to contract when you look at them, just like sunlight, so not only do they blind being bright they destroy your night vision. As said there is no need to save a few amps when the engine is on. The light reflected from the water can also dazzle, but light is never reflected from the roof. Navgation lights can be useful and a problem, they can give an idea of where the side of the boat is, the stern light is the awkward one, if someone is closely followng it is useful to them to see where your stern is, so they can keep a sensible distance behind. If there is nobody close behind you it can confuse a boat coming up to the tunnel and seeing a white light, they assume it is a headlight coming towards them, so wait ages for you to come out of the tunnel.

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10 minutes ago, Victor Vectis said:

A very public demonstration of the triumph of disposable income over common sense, perhaps?

 

(A bit like 'vanity' registration plates on cars)

No. A vanity registration plate on a car serves no practical purpose. A Francis light is very good at what it does, as I described earlier. Even if there is an element of “vanity” it is exactly the same as having a nice multi-colour paint paint job on a boat, with sign writing etc. As opposed to painting the whole think in mono-colour or even blacking all over. More so in fact, because whilst a Francis light has some practical value, a paint job beyond monochrome has no practical value.

 

Oh sorry, did I miss the point that only the vanity elements you have are valid, any vanity elements that anyone else has are stupid?

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But I don't get Francis searchlights - by definition - why??

I don't have one myself, but I love the look of the ones I've seen on narrowboats.   But I'm a sucker for old fashioned, quality brass hardware. 

 

And I've just learned they also have practical benefits outside of their aesthetic value.  

 

 

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