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Fitting and Installing Navigation & Exterior Lights


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Hi all,

as per the title, intending to install all the necessary lighting as required by the Collision Regulations (COLREG) on a 70 x 12 widebeam.

 

If understood correctly from article found on waterways.org.uk there are 4 lights which are required to be compliant with this regulation:

 

- White masthead light (Installed on bulkhead at the stern/front of boat above the door or a raised mast)

- Red port sidelight (Left side closer to the stern front)

- Green starboard side light (Right side closer to the stern front)

- White stern light (external section of stern)

 

In addition to the above

- Tunnel Light (Installed on bulkhead at the stern/front of boat above the door)

- Horn (On the roof closer to the stern)

 

In particular, have questions about respective installation requirements i.e. positioning, location, distancing, heights, wiring etc.

Does there exist a step by step guide or easily digestible content (a youtube video?) on these specifics?

 

Would anyone perhaps know of good online stores selling the lights, what would be things to look out for, any reliable brands perhaps?

 

Any help or pointers in this direction will be much appreciated.

Edited by Batainte
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google finds

https://www.rya.org.uk/SiteCollectionDocuments/cruising/Web Documents/Regulations and Safety/Lights-and-shape-summary.pdf

are you sure you want to meet the full regs it will be expensive and will only apply on serious commercial waterways.

Probably better to find a commercial chandlers for lights of the size you need.

There is also the small problem of the height of the masthead light most commercials on the continent drive round like this so as to get under bridges

 

P1010055 (Large).jpg

Edited by Phoenix_V
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If you want to meet the requirements of the Colregs don't buy the nav lights that your see fitted to most narrowboats because they're too small and only for boats of under 40ft (12m). You'll have to go for bigger lights. Or just do what most inland boaters do and make yourself visible without complying with the Colregs in their entirety.

 

To be honest a lot of canal boaters would have no idea what they were looking at if they went onto a big river at night and saw green or red nav lights moving around. I've got my nav lights on a mast and seen comments on this forum before where people thought that was wrong and they had to be on the cabin sides because nav lights were for judging the width of approaching boats! Width is a canal mindset. One would rarely see both port and starboard lights at the same time even if a boat was approaching. Most don't understand sound signals either.

Edited by blackrose
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9 hours ago, Batainte said:

- White masthead light (Installed on bulkhead at the stern/front of boat above the door or a raised mast)

- Red port sidelight (Left side closer to the stern front)

- Green starboard side light (Right side closer to the stern front)

- White stern light (external section of stern)

 

In addition to the above

- Tunnel Light (Installed on bulkhead at the stern/front of boat above the door)

- Horn (On the roof closer to the stern)

I can't make sense of this. The stern is the aft, blunt end of the boat. The bow is the pointy front end. So (Left side closer to the stern front) could mean anywhere on the port side. Better to use boaty terms, bow (or fore), stern (or aft), port, starboard, to avoid confusion.

Jen

Edited by Jen-in-Wellies
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Positioning of lights on a NB or a widebeam of similar format is difficult. You'll need to position them where they won't get knocked off when bouncing around in locks etc. As seldom needed in the UK unless you plan on doing a lot of nightime boating, my preference is to use temporary lights either magnetically attached or on a removable mast.

 

I can think of few places in UK inland waters where you might need the size specified for boats over 12 m by CEVNI.

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All the lights can be on a mast on top of of the cabin, except possibly the stern light depending on the cabin/wheelhouse layout.

This has the advantage that you can take it down when not in use and it only requires one cable exit.

 

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19 minutes ago, Jen-in-Wellies said:

I can't make sense of this. The stern is the aft, blunt end of the boat. The bow is the pointy front end. So (Left side closer to the stern front) could mean anywhere on the port side. Better to use boaty terms, bow (or fore), stern (or aft), port, larboard, to avoid confusion.

Jen

In boaty terms the word Larboard went out of use when Adam was a lad! Avoid any confusion with Starboard and call the other one Port, like what we all do.:boat:

 

Howard

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1 minute ago, howardang said:

In boaty terms the word Larboard went out of use when Adam was a lad! Avoid any confusion with Starboard and call the other one Port, like what we all do.:boat:

 

Howard

Intended to write starboard. No idea why I typed larboard. Now corrected

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5 minutes ago, Phoenix_V said:

can you it is over 20m? would need 6' outriggers

 

 

It can't be a single combined light but not sure if the distance between P&S is specified.

 

 

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1 minute ago, Loddon said:

 

It can't be a single combined light but not sure if the distance between P&S is specified.

 

 

"at or near the side"(I think they mean their respective sides - for the pedants) it says so crosstree would need to be at least 10' and incorporate a screen

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1 minute ago, Rambling Boater said:

Why are port lights red and starboard green?

 

oops sorry wrong thread. :)

Obvious really :

 

The steerer was on the 'steering board' side and could only see down that side of the boat, so green was used to show other boats that they could be seen.

The 'other side' light was Red as a warning to other boats that they couldn't be seen.

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We have nav lights that almost meet the regs, mounted towards the back of the boat at the engine room. They meet the spec for boats up to 20m but we are just over 20m (like you) so they might not be compliant. They get right in the way when I walk down the gunnel so replacing them with something a bit smaller is on the todo list. Not sure what the regs would say about smaller lights with brighter bulbs in them.

 

.............Dave

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On most canals and narrow rivers you would really only need the port and starboard side lights to face forward to warn boats coming towards you of your position in the dark. On open water its a different matter, boats might be moving in any direction so nav lights need to be fitted correctly with port and starboard lights giving the correct cut off angles coupled with their white bow and stern white lights, so that other boats can tell in pitch blackness almost exactly in which direction you are moving and you the same with them, to prevent colisions.

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2 minutes ago, blackrose said:

Do people actually use nav lights in tunnels?

I've seen them. Luckily coming towards me so the port/starboard lights were visible and so no confusion, in a wide tunnel (Wasthill IIRC).

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We have them, and use in tunnels, very handy if the on coming boat has them, you can see exactly where the boat is, far better than guessing from the position of the tunnel light, which could be left, right, or centre.

But do agree with the stern white light, is the boat in front, coming or going?

A heart felt plea, to all those who have tunnel lights, please, please, adjust then correctly, up and to the right. You also don't need millions of candle power in a tunnel, it only blinds the on coming steerer, into where you are, increasing the chance of collision.

 

Bod.

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17 hours ago, Batainte said:

Hi all,

as per the title, intending to install all the necessary lighting as required by the Collision Regulations (COLREG) on a 70 x 12 widebeam.

 

If understood correctly from article found on waterways.org.uk there are 4 lights which are required to be compliant with this regulation:

 

- White masthead light (Installed on bulkhead at the stern/front of boat above the door or a raised mast)

- Red port sidelight (Left side closer to the stern front)

- Green starboard side light (Right side closer to the stern front)

- White stern light (external section of stern)

 

In addition to the above

- Tunnel Light (Installed on bulkhead at the stern/front of boat above the door)

- Horn (On the roof closer to the stern)

 

In particular, have questions about respective installation requirements i.e. positioning, location, distancing, heights, wiring etc.

Does there exist a step by step guide or easily digestible content (a youtube video?) on these specifics?

 

Would anyone perhaps know of good online stores selling the lights, what would be things to look out for, any reliable brands perhaps?

 

Any help or pointers in this direction will be much appreciated.

Work out which is the bow and stern first to get things in the right place. also get the correct size lights for the length of your boat. The COL regs tell you where they must be positioned colreg  It is all laid out here https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/291901/00_-_msis_10_rev_4.0_draft_v2.pdf

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