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Tunnel light


nb blackbeauty

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I can tolerate most annoyances on the canal: people hogging water points; widebeams moored on bends; ditherers in locks; boats moving at a snail's pace who won't move over and steerers who don't realise  a deep drafted boat needs a bit more room etc. 

However, I do admit to yelling at idiots in tunnels with their billion watt searchlights. :P

 

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3 hours ago, koukouvagia said:

However, I do admit to yelling at idiots in tunnels with their billion watt searchlights.

 

About a year ago,mor so, several of the boats at our club fitted billion watt spots and I followed the crowd. Lit up the canal ahead like it was daylight! However, a couple of months ago I recognised that I was blinding onlookers, both boats and towpath users, so I ditched the spotlight and replaced it with a normal car 55w fog light.

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42 minutes ago, Richard10002 said:

About a year ago,mor so, several of the boats at our club fitted billion watt spots and I followed the crowd. Lit up the canal ahead like it was daylight! However, a couple of months ago I recognised that I was blinding onlookers, both boats and towpath users, so I ditched the spotlight and replaced it with a normal car 55w fog light.

So, you saw the light then? :P

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It seems that the working boatmen managed to traverse darkness/tunnels with a lot less hassle than today' s leisure boater I'd guess eyesight doesn't come into it in the majority of cases so it's down to doing some thing more or less all day every day so Knowledge seems to be the difference they knew every twist/turn problem area etc. so darkness made no or little difference with lamp or otherwise Different "Gismo's" are thought to be the be all/end all but after a time the old well tried way is often as good if not better so ways are reverted back with much out cry on as if something new has been come up with the problem is the original working boatman is an ever decreasing number & modern day boaters in a lot of cases  have had little or no contact with them. Shame;  all would i'm sure benefit Although in the past their sight must of been considered as I remember Charlie Atkins Snr say of a fellow Anderton boatman "He doesn't need a headlamp as he comes out of the lift he could a see what was a happening in Middlewich Big Lock"

Edited by X Alan W
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2 minutes ago, X Alan W said:

I'd guess eyesight doesn't come into it in the majority of cases so it's down to doing some thing more or less all day every day

I don't think it's exactly that. Tunnels are mostly pretty straight, so knowledge doesn't really come into it there. How many of the people here talking of bright headlights use a torch when they're walking in the dark? Not many, I suspect - your eyes quickly become acclimatised. Admittedly a tunnel is rather darker so some form of light is useful - for boats coming the other way to see you too. But that only requires something really dim, and your eyes quickly get acclimatised to that in the same way. It's just this modern way of too much reliance on gizmos, so the thought that they are unnecessary in most cases never gets considered.

My own problem with tunnels is my eyes tend to get fixed on the light at the end as I get near to it, and i have to close them and shake my head to "unfix" my eyes and let them relax again. Steering, particularly in any form of narrow passage, is mostly about peripheral vision rather than staring rigidly ahead.

 

Tam

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Experience 1: on a tight schedule many years ago we discovered, on putting on cabin lights etc to transit a tunnel, that we had flat batteries due to a charging circuit fault. Solution - stick No. 1 son on the foredeck with his pocket torch, admittedly an expensive Maglight. No probs!

Experience 2: I like a cheap solar garden light stuck in our roof planter on the centre line near the bow/pointy end. It comes on as we enter the tunnel and I just line that up with the 'light at the end of the tunnel'. Quite successful at keeping me lined up all the way through. Means that the tunnel lamp itself is not as critical in terms of power or direction. Crew keep a lookout for 'obstructions'.

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When I did the fly run in the mid 80s we used a Lucas King of the Road paraffin road lamp during the night and through tunnels.

It was more than adequate for the steerer and could be looked at directly without causing problems for anyone.

king.png

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On 3/10/2018 at 22:32, Halsey said:

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

couldnt agree more! last month i was coming along the Staffs and Worcester, i passed a guy who had moored up but not bothered turning off his zillion watt headlight and was totally blinded it wasnt until i passed him i realised he had moored a few feet past a bridge on a particularly nasty bend thankfully i had knocked the power off and was able to get round the bend and through the bridge, if i had met him in a tunnel i would have stood no chance.

Rick

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Two comments. First had to hurriedly reverse out of a tunnel just before Christmas because whilst we had the right of way to enter the vessel the other end had his/her tunnel light on and seemed to have already entered. As it happened they were apparently moored getting ready to enter but I did not want to take the chance.

Second point. Why when on a narrow road of which we have many in the South West when people courteously pull in to allow you through do they sit there with their headlights even on dip. It creates a blind spot as you approach. They don`t need lights on they are stationary. 

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On 3/13/2018 at 04:13, dccruiser said:

couldnt agree more! last month i was coming along the Staffs and Worcester, i passed a guy who had moored up but not bothered turning off his zillion watt headlight and was totally blinded it wasnt until i passed him i realised he had moored a few feet past a bridge on a particularly nasty bend thankfully i had knocked the power off and was able to get round the bend and through the bridge, if i had met him in a tunnel i would have stood no chance.

Rick

I had a similar sort of occurrence in a tunnel, Braunston Tunnel as it happens. Soon after buying the boat I was travelling through the tunnel for the first time in a number of years and had forgotten about the kink in it. A boat approaching from the other direction had a bright, parallel light that was totally dazzling me and I was trying to see ahead by looking along the tunnel wall side of the boat. I didn't see the kink until the last minute, hit the tunnel wall then deflected off and struck the oncoming boat quite hard, midships causing him to clatter into the tunnel wall on his side. Since it was his dazzling light that had caused the problem I passed the facetious remark as we passed,"Sorry, contact sport isn't it?" not sure it went down too well:rolleyes:

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On 3/11/2018 at 09:36, koukouvagia said:

I can tolerate most annoyances on the canal: people hogging water points; widebeams moored on bends; ditherers in locks; boats moving at a snail's pace who won't move over and steerers who don't realise  a deep drafted boat needs a bit more room etc. 

However, I do admit to yelling at idiots in tunnels with their billion watt searchlights. :P

 

Or one of those " Traditional " huge brass ( off a fire engine ) lamps :rolleyes:

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40 minutes ago, mrsmelly said:

Or one of those " Traditional " huge brass ( off a fire engine ) lamps :rolleyes:

Spot on ... I spoke to a chap last week who had sent his back to Francis to be refurbished. .. he told me it was brill as it lights up the canal like daylight ... certainly someone I wouldn't want to meet in a tunnel!

Rick

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3 minutes ago, dccruiser said:

Spot on ... I spoke to a chap last week who had sent his back to Francis to be refurbished. .. he told me it was brill as it lights up the canal like daylight ... certainly someone I wouldn't want to meet in a tunnel!

Rick

Brother in law has one on the front of his boat..very highly polished. he also has a stupid engine room with a clunky old engine in and about 3 foot draught so he cant moor anywhere :lol: He is coming with us on tour this summer.............He has a lot to learn!!

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52 minutes ago, dccruiser said:

Spot on ... I spoke to a chap last week who had sent his back to Francis to be refurbished. .. he told me it was brill as it lights up the canal like daylight ... certainly someone I wouldn't want to meet in a tunnel!

Rick

IMHO - there is no connection between Fire Engines and Canal Boats other than Francis Searchlights and the people who buy them (and who take them in every time they leave their boat)  :detective: !

Edited by Halsey
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2 hours ago, Wanderer Vagabond said:

I had a similar sort of occurrence in a tunnel, Braunston Tunnel as it happens. Soon after buying the boat I was travelling through the tunnel for the first time in a number of years and had forgotten about the kink in it. A boat approaching from the other direction had a bright, parallel light that was totally dazzling me and I was trying to see ahead by looking along the tunnel wall side of the boat. I didn't see the kink until the last minute, hit the tunnel wall then deflected off and struck the oncoming boat quite hard, midships causing him to clatter into the tunnel wall on his side. Since it was his dazzling light that had caused the problem I passed the facetious remark as we passed,"Sorry, contact sport isn't it?" not sure it went down too well:rolleyes:

So there I was going through Braunston tunnel just after I had fitted my new gazillion candle power light. I could see just fine. Like day light even through the welding googles I had to wear. Just before reaching the kink a boat coming the other way crashes in to the wall and veers off and hits my boat amidships. Only thing he had to say was "Sorry, contact sport isn't it?" It didn't go down very well. Some people just have no respect for other boaters!

:D Jen

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1 hour ago, mrsmelly said:

Brother in law has one on the front of his boat..very highly polished. he also has a stupid engine room with a clunky old engine in and about 3 foot draught so he cant moor anywhere :lol: He is coming with us on tour this summer.............He has a lot to learn!!

Poor misguided fella :) ... next you will be telling me someone got a bag of washers for a couple of quid and charged him 10 grand extra to weld them around his hull

 

40 minutes ago, Halsey said:

IMHO - there is no connection between Fire Engines and Canal Boats other than Francis Searchlights and the people who buy them (and who take them in every time they leave their boat)  :detective: !

Hahaha! You have met him then ... he even has a custom made cover for it if it rains and if that's not o.t.t. enough he has another one he puts on his swan neck like a sock just in case it gets mucky overnight!

Rick

Edited by dccruiser
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27 minutes ago, Jen-in-Wellies said:

So there I was going through Braunston tunnel just after I had fitted my new gazillion candle power light. I could see just fine. Like day light even through the welding googles I had to wear. Just before reaching the kink a boat coming the other way crashes in to the wall and veers off and hits my boat amidships. Only thing he had to say was "Sorry, contact sport isn't it?" It didn't go down very well. Some people just have no respect for other boaters!

:D Jen

It was probably one of them wandering vagabonds!

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Bit like the one who hit us in braunston last year, after I had swung and gone back through I caught up with him and had a 'word' he couldn't see the problem as ' your boat was built for it' I reminded him just cos my boats 80 years old it doesn't mean it is built for it and maybe he should a) slow down b ) turn off the kilowatt of headlights . I asked him if he wanted his paint back as it was making my tar look untidy. Then he looked at his cabin side.......

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18 hours ago, Jen-in-Wellies said:

If you find the Francis search light a bit dim you can always fit one of these (photo courtesy of wikipedia). Should fit on a tug deck nicely. Might need to upgrade the alternator.

Jen

 

1062px-The_Auxiliary_Territorial_Service_in_the_United_Kingdom_1939_-_1945_H36315.jpg

Yes, an absolutely ideal partner to a conventional headlight. Keep it switched off until someone with an LED light blinds you, then switch it on. Retribution :D

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