Enhance your boating experience with high-quality marine LED lighting. Whether you have a fishing boat, pontoon boat, bass boat, or want to upgrade your boat trailer, choosing the right boat and marine LED lights depends on your specific needs, whether for navigation, safety, or ambiance.
Understanding Navigation Lights
Navigation lights are used to prevent collisions at night or in times of reduced visibility, and are an essential tool in keeping you and your vessel safe.
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On any vessel, navigation lights have a specific color (white, red, green, yellow, blue), arc of illumination, range of visibility, and location, as required by law and regulations. For the purposes of this course, we will concentrate on pleasure boats under 65 feet in length.
Knowledge of navigation lights is important to a small-boat skipper for separate, but important, reasons:
- You are legally responsible for displaying lights of the proper color, intensity, location and visibility on your boat.
- You are required to display the appropriate lights at night or during times of reduced visibility.
- Knowing the type and heading of another boat.
Legal Requirements for Navigation Lights
Vessels are required to show the proper navigation lights from sunset to sunrise in all weather conditions, good and bad. During these times, no other lights that could be mistaken for lights specified in the Rules of the Road can be displayed, nor any lights that impair the visibility or distinctive character of navigation lights, or interfere with the keeping of a proper lookout. The Rules also state that navigation lights must be shown in conditions of reduced visibility, and may be shown at other times considered necessary.
Read also: Complete Guide to Trailer Lights
It is the responsibility of the owner/operator of a vessel that she show the proper navigation lights for her size and the waters in which she is operating. It is not the responsibility of the manufacturer, importer, or selling dealer. Many boats are delivered with lights that do not meet legal requirements with respect to technical characteristics or placement on the vessel.
Remember also, that the angles of visibility must be met when the boat is underway-if your boat rides at a significant bow-up angle, take that into consideration when installing and/or checking your lights.
When operating between sunset and sunrise, or in periods of restricted visibility, powered recreational boats require the following set of navigation lights:
- A masthead light is a white light at the front of the boat.
- A stern light, which is a white light at the rear of the boat. The stern light needs to be visible across 135 degrees and from two miles away.
- Sidelights - Colored lights - red on port and green on starboard - showing an unbroken arc of the horizon of 112.5 degrees, from dead ahead to 22.5 degrees abaft the beam on each side.
- Combination lights - Sidelights may be combined in a single fixture carried at the centerline of the vessel.
Navigation Lights for Powerboats
Power driven vessels underway shall exhibit a masthead light forward, sidelights and a stern light. Vessels less than 12 meters in length may exhibit an all around white light and side lights. Power driven boats on the Great Lakes may carry an all around white light in stead of a second masthead light and stern light combination.
Navigation Lights for Sailing Vessels
A sailing vessel of less than 7 meters in length shall, if practicable, exhibit regular navigation lights, but if not practical, she shall have ready at hand an electric torch or lantern showing a white light which shall be exhibited in sufficient time to prevent collision.
Additional Lighting Options
Improve comfort and ambiance with LED interior lighting for boats. Versatile and energy-efficient, marine grade lighting fixtures are perfect for illuminating boat interiors, walkways, or as stern light, deck lights and courtesy lights. Marine grade cube light or light bars mounted on the cabin and provide exceptional lighting to the deck of the surrounding water.
Enhance visibility and create a stunning led boat lights with marine underwater LED lights. These high-intensity, waterproof LEDs add an aesthetic appeal while helping to attract fish for night fishing.
Marine LED lights consume less power, extending battery life and reducing energy waste. Pricing varies based on brightness, size, and durability.
Other Important Considerations
It's also important that you have a flashlight on board, as you never know when a navigation light might burn out.
Another light display that you may see in resort areas, or waters that have wrecks or reefs, is the night diving configuration. This has three vertical masthead lights, that have a red-white-red sequence. You must maintain a good distance from these vessels, and you should also be aware that there may be divers near you.
It's great that you're learning the basics of lights - what is required and when they're required. But, this in only the beginning. You must also learn how to interpret the navigation lights that you see when you are underway at night- and for your safety-learn it well.
For instance, if you see a vessel approaching that shows a light pattern such as the ones to the right, you immediately know that you are in a crossing situation, and that you must yield to the other vessel - that's why it is red.
Seeing a green light over a white light indicates a fishing vessel actively trawling. You not only need to avoid the vessel, but you also need to remember that it could potentially have a very large net deployed that you will also need to avoid.
And there are numerous other lights and combinations of lights that you must be able to instantly recognize - the lights for a sailboat that is privileged over a motorboat, the special lights of various fishing vessels, a dredge or a vessel not under command.