boating at night...need help with school project!

[bestbob1981]

I'm currently a high school student, and I need your help for a class project. Any help would be TREMENDOUSLY appreciated!

I'm trying to find out how often people use their boats in the dark.
If so, how do you manage navigating/docking in the dark? Do you rely on high-tech devices (e.g. radar, thermal imaging, gps...)?
If not, what's keeping you from going out at night?

If there was a device for boats (night vision, thermal imaging) that is available at a very low price, would you consider using it for night time boating? Can you think of instances during boating where the ability to see in the dark would be very helpful?

Any other suggestions/comments would be very helpful. Thank you so much everyone!

 

[dcg9381]

Re: boating at night...need help with school project!

I'm currently a high school student, and I need your help for a class project. Any help would be TREMENDOUSLY appreciated!

I'm trying to find out how often people use their boats in the dark.
If so, how do you manage navigating/docking in the dark? Do you rely on high-tech devices (e.g. radar, thermal imaging, gps...)?
If not, what's keeping you from going out at night?

Bob, your answers are going to vary a lot by the size of boat owned. Small boats will be operated in the dark less frequently than larger boats. Smaller boats are also not typically equipped with things like radar and GPS (at least until GPS became affordable recently). You may want to pursue this question on yacht forum.


I have a boat slightly longer than 23'. I operate it in the dark regularly, but only in areas where I'm familiar with the water. If I'm not familiar with the water, I'm typically reduced to idle speed if I don't have good lighting at night. I navigate via a few things:
1) Depth gauge. In Texas, many of the lakes follow old rivers channels. Deep = safe. You can criss-cross the channel to navigate by crude "sonar".
2) GPS. I have a laptop with a portable GPS unit, I use it sometimes.
3) Map and typical water navigation markings - channel buoys, marking buoys, the things you need to know how to read if you're on the water.

In Texas, water depth can change by 40 feet or more throughout the year.

 

[tommays]

Re: boating at night...need help with school project!

Most of my nighttime boating was in LONG sailboat races (150 to 300+ miles)that might start on a Friday evening and end on a Sunday


The dark was never and issue as long as the Loran or now GPS was working ,FOG has allways been the downfall of safe navagation day or night

In fog even the best currrent units requires great caution because it is not 100% about seeing other small boats and i have sailed through fog when 5 MPH was a bit on the fast side as you had about 50' of visibalty


I try to not powerboat at night becasue so many poeple run to fast and fail to keep a proper watch




Tommays

 

[erikgreen]

Re: boating at night...need help with school project!

The reason I don't use my boat at night much yet is that I need radar, better docking lights, and to update my navigation lights to brighter ones.

The charts of Lake Superior are only good to a point, as well. You could be in 15 feet of water near the shore and yet there might be a giant rock just 2 feet below the surface, and you have to know where they are.

Additionally I might be in the shipping lane, and I'd want RADAR or AIS to make sure I knew when the big lakers were coming in so I could avoid them... they'd probably not see me at night.

Erik

 

[OhWellcraft]

Re: boating at night...need help with school project!

I boat at night but not on a regular basis, because water levels change so much here in Utah. I operate a 20' cuddy with all proper nav. lights and a dash controlled spotlight on the bow. The problem is rocks, logs, etc that you can't see until it's too late. Even with good knowledge of surroundings and a good light I rarely go much over 10-15 MPH. it just doesn't feel safe, but the channel bouys at lake powell are center channel and have blinking lights on them so if you can stay close to them you probably be okay. When I was young and dumb we would ski at night with some good hand held spotlights, it was fun but looking back pretty dangerous.

 

[Pimp Daddy]

Re: boating at night...need help with school project!

I'm new to boating. I can barely navigate into the marina when I can see what I'm doin. It'll be a looooonng time before I muster up the courage to venture out at night. Course on my boat I don't even think the lights work, still gotta check that and find out why.

 

[Woodnaut]

Re: boating at night...need help with school project!

Many of the bays along the Texas Gulf coast are shallow, and the inlet to those bays can be very shallow and tricky to navigate during the daytime. There are some good comments above about monitoring water depth. However, I don't mind too much venturing out into familiar waters at night using my depth sounder and GPS as a reference. Again, those are familiar waters I'm talking about. If I'm not in familiar waters, you can bet I'll have a chart of the local area on board and be proceeding with caution.

But regardless of how familiar the water might be, you still have to keep a good lookout at all times. Period. I have a small boat and do not have radar. Debris in the water is very dangerous. For example, logs in rivers and lakes are are downright treacherous. At night, maintaining a good lookout is very difficult. A full moon versus a new moon also makes a big difference. If you find yourself in bad weather or without the moon, you're probably going to have a pretty close eye on your depth sounder and GPS (or at least wishing you had a GPS). Nevertheless, it's still risky business. I've spent my fair share of time at idle moving through unfamiliar passages at night.

GPS and depth sounders are great inventions and have really improved boating safety. However, these things can (and eventually will) break down so you better have a backup plan in place - like a good old compass and a chart or the area.

If your the skipper - whether it's a john boat or a mega yacht - your the guy responsible for the safety of your vessel and crew. That being said, the best thing you can take on board with you is your good judgement and experience. There is absolutely positively no substitute for good judgement.

 

[oops!]

Re: boating at night...need help with school project!

i boat at night all the time......

love it.....

long narrow lake.70 kms...by mabe 1.5 kms wide.....surrounded by city lights

i only idle around......(just putt)...i will run on plane for short bursts to the dock.......when running at nght...on plane...my head is spinning around allways.....(kinda like an old horror show)......looking...

visability is not good on the water as the dark water absorbes the light.
i would love to have some type of night vision for thoes short hops.

all docks i use are well lit as the city surrounds the lake.

may i suggest you send a private message to a moderator and ask them to help you set up a poll.

this could be kinda fun....as long as we can keep it clean...

good luck on the project

cheers
oops

 

[oops!]

Re: boating at night...need help with school project!

If your the skipper - whether it's a john boat or a mega yacht - your the guy responsible for the safety of your vessel and crew. That being said, the best thing you can take on board with you is your good judgement and experience. There is absolutely positively no substitute for good judgement.

well said

 

[dcg9381]

Re: boating at night...need help with school project!

Quasi funny story - I boat on the inland lakes in Texas, largely the Colorado river chain. With reasonable weather, we don't get a lot of lake debris or surprises in the water. If you're watching depth, you're generally OK in these specific lakes.

However, I was running home one afternoon, before the sun started to go down. There was a deer in the middle of the lake, swimming from one side to the other - alone... There's always something you can run into, even in very familiar water.

 

[HondaPower]

Re: boating at night...need help with school project!

I boat at night on an as required basis, if the fishing is good I will stay until it is dark. At dusk my white at anchor light is turned on and when under way the navigation lights are turned on. I use a portable spot light to pick up my bearings, drive slowly using the spot light as needed to confirm my position relative to known landmarks. When I approach the dock and ramp it is easy to tie up using the spot light. At least that's my story and I am sticking to it. Good luck with your assignment.

 

[gstanton]

Re: boating at night...need help with school project!

The only time I run at night is after the July 4th fireworks... this on a lake that I grew up on... with a million power spotlight. I do get up on plane and haven't had any issues.

Having said that, my brother-in-law cut an unlit canoe in half coming back from fireworks on year. Fortunately, no one was injured.

 

[External Combustion]

Re: boating at night...need help with school project!

Some years ago about a third of my boating was at night. School and jobs then family and jobs dictated it. I found my most pleasureable times were after dark when most others were snug on the shore. There were drawbacks then though. Sometimes the incogniscenti (the most polite way I can say dumb ***) would shine their spotlights into my eyes or run without lights or even travel at speed dead drunk (come to think of it some did die drunk!).

When I was on the rivers, which was most of the time, the only problem was the shore guys spotights. The river current showed where the shallows, trees and obstructions were. Any dark spot moving at current speed was assumed to be a log.

Today there seems to be more bullet proof people out there as I frequently observe those traveling over 20 MPH at night. I have even seen some at over 50 MPH cruising along to the marina with no lights. I assume that they were not looking out for others or obstructions.

I still prefer boating at night and this year should hold a bumper crop of such.

I am older now and my night vision is not what it was. At times good night vision gogles would help, but not very often. They would be affected by spotlights if they used first or second generation technology. As has been pointed out, fog is a real problem. Thermal imaging will be affected by the fog also.

The wind, the sound, starlight playing on the waves and sometimes even the smell coupled with slower speeds and good knowledge of your waters will keep you safe if you want to play at night. If you listen close and pay attention to the helm, a boat will want to pull away from the shallows.

Good luck to you and your project!

 

[m&m252]

Re: boating at night...need help with school project!

down here in the fla.keys only boats running @ night are smugglers or law enforcement both have good gps/nav radars and a good knowledge of the area always helps...

 

[arboldt]

Re: boating at night...need help with school project!

Bob, you've already gotten a lot of good insight as well as a variety of answers. So let me describe two very different scenarios.

When I was a kid (1950's - 60's) visiting my grandmother near the Quad Cities, many nights I'd sit on the porch with her and watch traffic on the Mississippi. The huge towboats and barges went up and down the river all hours of the day and night. Those commercial rigs had huge spotlights that illuminated the way ahead for a couple miles (or at least it seemed like it to me back then). That way they could stay between the channel markers and spot anything in the river big enough or important enough to concern them.

As an adult, we have a place on a small inland lake, about 1.25 mi diameter. Once you're away from city lights, it's amazing how much light you get from the moon and stars. Even during new moon, there's enough light to wade out to the boat for a romantic evening :redface: ... it's not even necessary to untie the boat or start the motor.

Then, too, my wife tells of the time her sister took the boat to a late party across the lake, and ran into the raft on her way back. Fortunately, there wasn't any major damage from what I understand.

And a dozen years back a drunk guy on a jetski rammed into a neighbor's raft, then treatened to sue my neighbor for having anything on the lake (about 30% of the cottages do).

 

[woosterken]

Re: boating at night...need help with school project!

whoa,sounds like an article that was on theboaterstv dot com for wed (2/13/08) they had a thing about
thermo imaging

woosterken

 

[Solittle]

Re: boating at night...need help with school project!

As to navigation if you have a current chart and the waterway is marked with lighted bouys it is much easier to navigate at night than it is in the daytime. For example you can see a marker with a flashing red light - say every 10 seconds - much farther away at night than you can see the same marker in daylight.

 

[Neverhome]

Re: boating at night...need help with school project!

My boat is a little ove 23' and is slipped on a tidal river. I also have a mooring several miles downstream at the mouth of the river which I tie up to and spend the night when it is too hot to sleep at the slip. I have radar, gps, and an overhead remote controlled spot light but I rarely boat at night for a lot of the reason others have posted above. If I do go out at night it is usually to move from my slip to the mooring or to watch the fireworks on the 4th of July. Other than that, unless I hear a Mayday call and am close enough to assist, I stay put in my slip. Gps and radar are excellent for getting you home but there is little defense against boaters on the water at night who pay little or no regard to the safety of others or themselves.
While on the mooring at night I have witnessed an endless stream of boat traffic passing by who speed thorugh no wake zones in the mooring field and ignore the channel markers, headed straight for the sandbars that are barely covered at low tide, and very often are running without lights. One can observe every rule of safety on thier own vessels but there is little that can be done to control what other skippers do behind the helm of their boats.

You mentioned thermal imaging, which is relatively new for recreational boaters but quite frankly at this point, is most likely financially out of the reach for the average boater. From what I have read and observed in the boating magzines it would be a tremendous advantage, rivialing or surpassing radar for night time navigation. However at current pricing I doubt many will opt for it.

Good luck with our research.

Nevehome

 

[manofprawnz]

Re: boating at night...need help with school project!

Hi Bestbob1981, good luck with the project, hope the following is useful:

I frequently boat at night on the coast of British Columbia, and sometimes on the inland lakes.

Most commonly I use local knowledge, having already been out on the body of water in daylight. I always carry charts, even when I was running a 14ft boat. I have a hand held GPS, very basic unit, but will lock in waypoints of local hazards and docks, but mostly use it to locate my crab and prawn traps.

I probably only go out 5% of the time at night, mostly it is on a return trip from a day outing gone late, or an early rise to head to the fishing grounds. Although will go out with the other crazies to watch fireworks and stuff like that.

I do not use driving lights as they blind other craft, however will use the spot light to locate aids to navigation, or if I see something that needs identification, and of course to dock if needed.

If I plan to be out at night depending on where I am, I will take a night vision monocular that I have. If there was an affordable system such as some sort of night vision/thermal imaging device, I would consider it, and of course radar would be a definate asset.

Just off the top of my head right now, some sort of proximity alarm unit that would work on the principal of a radar would be cool, something you could turn on and not have to watch, but would set off an alarm of a collision track. I know I am always having to look out for the other goof who is about to run into me. Around here my biggest concern in offing a kyack, even with bright colors they blend right in, especially on a sunny day with a light chop on the water.

Good luck with the project

 

[bestbob1981]

Re: boating at night...need help with school project!

i boat at night all the time......
may i suggest you send a private message to a moderator and ask them to help you set up a poll.
oops

to oops...and everyone else here...thank you so much! all the replies have been soooo helpful!

btw...about setting up a poll...is there such a thing here? who would I need to contact? thanks again...