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Tunnel light


nb blackbeauty

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I need to change my tunnel light on my boat which is 68 feet from the old brass car head light not very good at seeing anything. Have been looking at bedazzled and 2 stand out 1 has 9 LEDs 27w 30 degree the other has 14 LEDs 42w 60 degree what do people think is the best choice. I know it has to be angled to side and roof and my local tunnels are Netherton and  Wast hill tunnels both long with would the 14 LEDs be to Bright for on coming boats.

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Aligning your headlight so that it shines way ahead into the eyes of oncoming boats is, to me, not the way to do it. I have two LED fog lights turned up to shine at the roof and sides of the tunnel. There is enough light scatter to show any obstructions of problems ahead. I also have another fog light mounted about 10 feet forward of the steering position so that the steerer can monitor how the aft end of the boat is doing.

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1 hour ago, nb blackbeauty said:

...my local tunnels are Netherton and  Wast hill tunnels both long with would the 14 LEDs be to Bright for on coming boats.

Good question; good thinking! Many folk have already fitted quite powerful led tunnel lights with little thought for other boaters - I know, as I've met one or two of them in both of those tunnels!  I think the answer lies not in power, after all your travelling relatively slowly so you don't really need car headlights, but rather in the right placement of light.  I confess that when I first got my current boat, my usual routine of cabin lights on and a nicely aimed tunnel light wasn't really doing the job and I couldn't work out why as it always had in the past. The simple addition of light from a torch, shining from the left side of the steerer's step and angled along the roof to the right so we could see the cratch and therefore the centre line of the boat fixed it completely.  The angle ensures it doesn't dazzle oncoming boats, so I'd suggest you experiment a bit rather than go for more power.

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Some lights lately are far too powerful & coupled with bad alignment this makes it difficult to say the least for opposing craft. I find a reasonable beam projected up to the roof sufficient plus I have a small magnetic inspection type lamp which just illuminates the starboard wall.

 

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Switching on all the cabin lights with curtains/blinds open the light illuminates the tunnel walls no problem the headlamp is really not necessary so any std power spot/driving lamp is Ok set to shine up on the tunnel roof so as not to blind oncoming boats

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3 hours ago, nb blackbeauty said:

I need to change my tunnel light on my boat which is 68 feet from the old brass car head light not very good at seeing anything. Have been looking at bedazzled and 2 stand out 1 has 9 LEDs 27w 30 degree the other has 14 LEDs 42w 60 degree what do people think is the best choice. I know it has to be angled to side and roof and my local tunnels are Netherton and  Wast hill tunnels both long with would the 14 LEDs be to Bright for on coming boats.

IME a wider spread is more practical and usable. Methinks the overall brightness  will be the same for both as the 42w has twice the spread. Any form of spotlight is a pain for oncoming boats and doesn't really help you either. FWIW We started with spots and quickly moved to fog lights - one pointed towards the roof of the tunnel and t'other downwards to the water.

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Something like this popped on the hatch at the rear makes a world of difference, and you can aim it at the wall when approaching a boat.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/27W-LED-Work-Light-Offroad-Flood-Lamp-Square-Floodlight-Truck-Boat-Bar-12V-Camp/252434036077?epid=1974625355&hash=item3ac63db56d:g:vIkAAOSwrNlZw2Z3

 

It also allows you to admire the brickwork, see notices on the wall you didn't know existed, admire the calcite build up and see the stalactites. It also illuminates the downpours so you can duck.

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I just can't imagine how those poor working boatmen managed before these floodlights came into existence. Apparently they even had to use paraffin lights in the old days - it must have been really terrible.

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6 minutes ago, system 4-50 said:

Seeing enough to steer the boat is easy enough, but do you have an obligation to see & avoid  the gentleman who has fallen in from the boat before or the idiot in a small coracle with no lights, or not?

You have a blind spot in front of the bow like any vessel, on a narrow boat with a normal cabin your head is about 2 foot above cabin at the back and probably only 18 inches at best above the fore end, so your line of sight reaches the water over 120 feet in front of the bow, if your tunnel light can light up that far,  god help anyone coming the other way.  As far as the idiot in a canoe/coracle you only need to see him/her within stopping distance some 30-50 feet normally, He/she will be yelling long before then so a listening watch will help, I have heard the conversation on a boat several hundred feet behind me, and they were not yelling.

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2 hours ago, Tam & Di said:

I just can't imagine how those poor working boatmen managed before these floodlights came into existence. Apparently they even had to use paraffin lights in the old days - it must have been really terrible.

I remember being tied near Woodend lock  with a single motor load of  piles for Huddlesford in the mid 60's there was an horrendous& thunder storm & between the lightning flashes it really was pitch black around 9.45 pm i heard the sound of a boat coming I stood on the counter as it had stopped raining in time to see a loaded "Josher" motor slide by with no light at all followed by a butty at snubber length again no light at all a curt nod to both steerers & they were gone how they saw the cut ahead as I could just about see my fore end I will never know I could not see the names of the boats such was the darkness

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1 hour ago, X Alan W said:

I remember being tied near Woodend lock  with a single motor load of  piles for Huddlesford in the mid 60's there was an horrendous& thunder storm & between the lightning flashes it really was pitch black around 9.45 pm i heard the sound of a boat coming I stood on the counter as it had stopped raining in time to see a loaded "Josher" motor slide by with no light at all followed by a butty at snubber length again no light at all a curt nod to both steerers & they were gone how they saw the cut ahead as I could just about see my fore end I will never know I could not see the names of the boats such was the darkness

A few years ago we were progressing through Braunston tunnel, when I thought I could hear an engine, but looking both forwards and backwards I could see nothing. As we moved ahead the sound became louder, so we were clearly aproching something coming towards us, Eventually I could make out the bow of a working boat with no tunnel, we passed successfuully without touching, only for me to realise it was towing a butty, also with no light, again we passed without touching. The butty steerer calmy gave an hello, but who they were  have no idea.

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9 hours ago, nb blackbeauty said:

I need to change my tunnel light on my boat which is 68 feet from the old brass car head light not very good at seeing anything. Have been looking at bedazzled and 2 stand out 1 has 9 LEDs 27w 30 degree the other has 14 LEDs 42w 60 degree what do people think is the best choice. I know it has to be angled to side and roof and my local tunnels are Netherton and  Wast hill tunnels both long with would the 14 LEDs be to Bright for on coming boats.

If your old light is, as you say, a car headlight, may I suggest that you try fitting a replacement fog light lens and reflector. The problem with headlights is that they are designed to flood the area in front of a road vehicle, wheras a Fog light is designed to give a wide narrow (letter box) beam, which if projected onto the tunnel roof should give you enough light to see without blinding oncoming boats. For twenty years we managed easily with a 1930's Lucas "King of the Road" foglight modified to take a 45 watt Tubgsten bulb. Projected a beam onto the tunnel roof, I never had any problems navigating a tunnel.

Edited by David Schweizer
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8 hours ago, Rob-M said:

 

A simple head torch was enough when I went through both of those tunnels last year. You don't need to illuminate it like daylight.

 

Worn on the head or fixed to the boat? The light really needs to be at the front, and needs to be consistent.

But there is worse - I once met a boat navigating a tunnel using the illuminated screen from a mobile phone as a light. Not a phone torch (LED), just the screen.

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59 minutes ago, Mike on the Wey said:

Worn on the head or fixed to the boat? The light really needs to be at the front, and needs to be consistent.

But there is worse - I once met a boat navigating a tunnel using the illuminated screen from a mobile phone as a light. Not a phone torch (LED), just the screen.

Fixed to the tunnel lamp stand at the bows, the tunnel lamp had failed.

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Many thanks for your input think I Will Go for the smaller of the two it is half the price and it's got to be better than the one have. Have always struggled with seeing in tunnels and yes I always put cabin lights on have been on the cut 18 years it must be my eyes it takes me a quarter of the way in those tunnels to feel comfortable seeing anything.

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11 hours ago, OldGoat said:

IME a wider spread is more practical and usable. Methinks the overall brightness  will be the same for both as the 42w has twice the spread. Any form of spotlight is a pain for oncoming boats and doesn't really help you either. FWIW We started with spots and quickly moved to fog lights - one pointed towards the roof of the tunnel and t'other downwards to the water.

Genuine question, what it the fog light pointed down towards the water for? Surely the light will merely reflect off the water surface and blind anyone coming in the opposite direction.

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6 minutes ago, Wanderer Vagabond said:

Genuine question, what it the fog light pointed down towards the water for? Surely the light will merely reflect off the water surface and blind anyone coming in the opposite direction.

I agree, tunnel lights should always be directed towards the tunnel roof, the light which reflects off the roof will illuminate the water, but does not blind oncoming boats.

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15 hours ago, nb blackbeauty said:

I need to change my tunnel light on my boat which is 68 feet from the old brass car head light not very good at seeing anything. Have been looking at bedazzled and 2 stand out 1 has 9 LEDs 27w 30 degree the other has 14 LEDs 42w 60 degree what do people think is the best choice. I know it has to be angled to side and roof and my local tunnels are Netherton and  Wast hill tunnels both long with would the 14 LEDs be to Bright for on coming boats.

very simple answer ............would you want to be facing your boat coming towards you in a tunnel - IMHO LED tunnel/spotlights should be banned

close your eyes as you enter and open once in - you will adjust very quickly thereafter

Edited by Halsey
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We used to manage just fine with paraffin light on the motor nothing on the butty.

we now have a 12 foglight but its 80% masked off with black paint to reduce glare and has a 21 w bulb. My pet hate is being blinded by people who seem to think you need 300w of halogen to get through a tunnel i just aim straight for them...

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