Operation at Night

[BandB]

you'd be surprised how many boats are poorly lit or not at all

Having boated on a lake most of my life, that will never surprise me. Many of the bass fishermen, who typically ran 45 to 60 mph, wouldn't use lights because they said they could see better without them. For some reason, being seen never crossed their mind. We did not boat at night on the lake.

 

[psneeld]

I have been running at nigh commercially for the last 15 years.


I can't saw for certain that night vision (human eye) is good enough to catch every semi submerged object.


Your friend is going slow enough that most bumps are just that, and only a hard, pointed object will breach the hull.


And if you want to debate night vision....I got the credentials.

 

[Bigsfish]

I try to never go at night even with radar, night vision, AIS, chart plotter and FLIR. I have tom many nice prop inspectors just under the surface during the day to want to travel at night. If I have to go at night it will be at sea, very slow and either a good prayer or bottle of alcohol and a good luck charm.

 

[BruceK]

We talked about this once before, older boaters with cataract compromised vision. Lens replacement brought about amazing improvement for me and others on TF. Pre op I could not understand how people safely navigated at night. Post op a new night world opened. Degradation over time is so gradual you may not know what you are missing.

 

[River Cruiser]

I've ran fairly often at night on the Mississippi and Illinois rivers. Pretty much enjoy being out at night under the stars. I have AIS transponder and radar, I've boated at night with out them but have much more confidence being out with them.

 

[GFC]

I run at night several times a summer, and two nights in December for the Christmas Lighted Boat Parade.


I'm pretty comfortable on our local waters and ALWAYS have the radar and plotter on and a 1 million cp spotlight on the helm that is always charged.

Having been hit once at night by a BUI boater I'm pretty darn careful. Stuff does happen though and it pays to be 110% alert.

 

[Seevee]

I run at night several times a summer, and two nights in December for the Christmas Lighted Boat Parade.


I'm pretty comfortable on our local waters and ALWAYS have the radar and plotter on and a 1 million cp spotlight on the helm that is always charged.

Having been hit once at night by a BUI boater I'm pretty darn careful. Stuff does happen though and it pays to be 110% alert.

I used to do the Christmas parades, but found that the boaters in them were drunker than I was... <g>. So, over the past several years, I just anchor and watch them, and that works fine.

I could argue the biggest risk is getting hit by another boat, and the weekend nites seem to be the worst time.

 

[Bay Pelican]

There are certain jumps of more than 14 hours where a night crossing is required. (Gulf of Mexico, to and from the Dominican Republic, Grenada to Trinidad). In those cases we leave in daylight, travel in open water at night, and arrive in daylight. There are also jumps of 10 hours or more where I prefer to plan an arrival with at least three hours of daylight left. In those cases we leave the anchorage in the dark of the early morning and plan on arriving in daylight. With the exception of a few wide open anchorages I will avoid, if at all possible, arriving at night.

 

[Chrisjs]

Having done more than a few (25+) overnight runs, I must say the addition of AIS helped quite a bit. To be able to see accurate positions of vessels, especially offshore from major ports, makes life a whole lot less stressful! Apart from AIS, obviously close range radar (6/12 mile) and a decent chart plotter complete what is required. We made sure that all internal lighting was red or off to maintain night vision, and a full moon was a delight. It was always easier when further offshore. Closer to shore lobster pots and similar impediments become more of an issue. I would not intentionally run the ICW at night for example, though have been caught a couple of times in the dark before anchoring.

 

[dhays]

Growing up, I spent a lot of time sailing at night. Either they were overnight races in Puget Sound or simply the outboard would die on the way home and we would be relegated to sails only. The problem with that of course is that in the Summer the wind would die down and the current was always going the wrong direction. There were lots of afternoon sails that ended up as overnight trips.

My concern isn't other boats, or navigating, but the floating logs or crab traps. Sailing a boat under 30' it wasn't an issue really, as we never were going all that fast. However, with my current boat, even at my 7 knot cruise, I really don't want to hit a log at night. There are fewer logs than their were, but they are still out there.

 

[Drake]

Regarding running into crab traps....

Has anyone put rope cutters on their prop?

We did before we left on an extended cruise. I try to avoid crab and fish traps out of courtesy to the guy trying to make a living from them. But, if it comes to deciding between a guy's trap in a navigation lane in the middle of the night and a line wrapped around one (or both) of my props......... well, let's just say that my courtesy has limits.

Paul

 

[dhays]

The question is, do they really work? If they reliably cut through the leaded line used on the crab traps around here, I would use them.

 

[Joebad]

I leave 2 hours early on purpose to gain night experience. I run 6 kts at night. It is good to get this experience. It has come in handy once already from woman key to key west in 6' seas. I use my spot 100 yds out in front to watch for crab pots and my radar and charts. I would not do it without the radar. My boat is a single engine beneteau 34 swift. All electronics are dimmed to the max to aid vision. My spot is 20' above the water. I expect if it were low it would create vision issues.

 

[Delta Dog]

The only night running I've done was because of a really good but short weather window to get around Point Conception and up the California coast. We left Ventura and made it all the way to Half Moon Bay in 36 or so hours. Slept like a rock once we were tied up at the dock....Next day on up and under the Golden Gate and on to home.

 

[cardude01]

Recently did a crossing from Lake Worth to Memory Rock at night. I was pretty worried getting out the inlet because my night vision is not that great, but my son was with me so he was the lookout. Once out in open water it was really nice. Coming up on the Bahama banks at sunrise was a cool experience.

 

[psneeld]

The question is, do they really work? If they reliably cut through the leaded line used on the crab traps around here, I would use them.

I have no first hand knowledge using cutters.

I do have first hand knowledge of picking up pot lines south of Maine.

I have picked up dozens through the years and only once or twice were yhey even noticeable on all the different boats I was on.

On my current trawler, every fall when I haul, there is the bits of one or two still on the shaft.

So my desire for cutters isnt huge to begin with. I know offshore pots use larger line so that is something I am still kicking around.

Some divers have reported a great number of boats with cutters still wind up with pot lines wrapped on their shafts. But I cant validate this, nor can I say whether they reduce the amount of line that does wrap up.

 

[Bigsfish]

Line cutters

I had the Spurs brand installed on another boat. In the beginning they worked better than as they got older, I found the space between the blades wou,d open some. My opinion is the work sometimes and sometimes not. My current boat does not have them installed I try to avoid them.

 

[Gabe n Em]

we have one on our port shaft. the starboard shaft support still has the screw holes where one was...before they got ripped off when we wrapped up a pot....

They din't seem to work for us. ymmv

 

[Group9]

Crossing the Chesapeake Bay one night, around midnight, in a 22 foot outboard cruiser, we hit a floating wooden pallet. One of the blades of the prop actually dug into the thickest part of the wood and we had hell trying to get that thing loose with the outboard kicked up, and the two to three foot waves we had that night. When we would kick it, the prop would of course move, and take most of the impact by turning. (We didn't bring a sledge hammer with us that night. ) It finally came loose after a good half hour of kicking at it.

We didn't have radar, but I can't imagine any radar picking something like that up.

I boat at night when necessary. And, that's pretty much it.

 

[BandB]

Crossing the Chesapeake Bay one night, around midnight, in a 22 foot outboard cruiser, we hit a floating wooden pallet. One of the blades of the prop actually dug into the thickest part of the wood and we had hell trying to get that thing loose with the outboard kicked up, and the two to three foot waves we had that night. When we would kick it, the prop would of course move, and take most of the impact by turning. (We didn't bring a sledge hammer with us that night. ) It finally came loose after a good half hour of kicking at it.

We didn't have radar, but I can't imagine any radar picking something like that up.

I boat at night when necessary. And, that's pretty much it.

If we boat, we're subject to floating and underwater debris and some of it we'll never see, just hope to be lucky enough not to hit it. I had times on the lake I knew I hit some debris and never had prop damage. I think it just would get pushed aside by the V bottom.

 

[BandB]

Wifey B: So, what about operating in a total eclipse of the sun? Depending on where you are, could get dark. Guess one should be prepared if they're cruising an unfamiliar part of the ICW.

What made me think of this was an email from Fedex today.

FedEx is closely monitoring potential effects of the total solar eclipse on Monday, August 21, 2017. Our first priority is the safety and well-being of our team members, and we will implement contingency plans as necessary. Events of this nature often cause pickup and delivery delays and disruptions for FedEx customers. FedEx is prepared to provide service to the best of its ability.​

What? Omg, they've stretched excuses to be late before but this one is wild. Some of your trucks don't have lights? You're thinking the eclipse is going to scare the drivers and they'll run for cover? You think they'll be confused and head home? Or the lights in your distribution center will go out? (they may not know it's just the sun, not lights). Sure glad I'm not expecting anything Fedex that could be put at risk in this period of adverse conditions.

 

[Bigsfish]

WifeyB

Don't you know the monsters come out at night (along with zombies) best to stay in a safe house. &#55357;&#56833;

 

[eagle419]

We have wicked looking spurs and I have no idea if they've saved the day or not.

One hint could be that once when the tender painter got caught up while backing down it was only chafed by the spurs - presumably because we caught it before any real tension was applied, but even so, not impressive.

 

[djones44]

I knew what one beacon was by the others around it.

That's how I navigated at night up to Lasqueti and beyond at night, mostly 40 years ago. If I could find all the lighted beacons on the chart, I knew where I was, and moonlight passages were magical.

But if I saw a light I didn't understand or couldn't place the ones I saw - it was "all hands" and back to idle.

 

[bikeandboat]

Night cruising has become almost a thing of the past except crossing the gulf once in a while. In the past we cruised the lower Mississippi often at night and even more on the Arkansas River. Mostly with radar, but not always. I guess I started dreading the tense feeling hour after hour. Not worth it. Anchor and travel tomorrow. The gulf can have a few tense moments, but overall much easier than the rivers.

 

[cappy208]

My tolerance for night operations depends on the vessel and the running gear.

On one type vessel I run its 24/7. But I don't care about lobster pots, logs or debris.

But on my personal boat I have to keep an eye out for pots, debris and lines which may (or may not) damage the prop or shaft.

If there's not enough ambient light to see, I find the QBeam shining directly ahead about 50' in front of me gives me time to avoid the flotsam. I have been contemplating installing a small LED under the bow sprit facing forward and down for debris and pot watching when I get caught out at night.

My wife is VERY uncomfortable operating st night. So generally it's on a 'get home ASAP' mode when it's dark.

Regarding weekends. Agreed. Less riffraff to contend with. And far less drunks. Anchorages are just about empty Sunday through Friday AM around Cape Cod.

 

[AusCan]

Wow, Judging from the posts, it certainly seems like there is a fairly high risk of hitting debris in North American coastal waters.

I've never seen a log in the water in South Australia, I've never seen a pallet, nor a sea container, or any debris which I've had to avoid. All lobster pots are within 50 metres of the shoreline so its easy to avoid them. Operating at night seems a lot more stressful over there. No wonder you try to avoid it.

Cruising at night does have certain aspects that make it worth the extra stress. There is nothing better than cruising on a calm summer night when the phosphorescence is causing any water disturbance to glow.

 

[Bay Pelican]

Wow, Judging from the posts, it certainly seems like there is a fairly high risk of hitting debris in North American coastal waters.

To some extent this is a factor of location. The Pacific Northwest (Washington, Oregon, British Columbia) has a high commercial level of logging. On the Atlantic side of North America the New England area and Nova Scotia have an almost unlimited number of lobster traps. These are the areas about which you will hear a great deal of problems with "debris".

 

[cappy208]

Wow, Judging from the posts, it certainly seems like there is a fairly high risk of hitting debris in North American coastal waters.

One of My first posts (and reason for joining TF) was asking about fishing gear on the Great Lakes for delivery.

Much to my surprise several 'loopers' commented that there was none!
Quite a change in local conditions from the Great Lakes to New England waters!

I take several mega yachts through canal each summer. Many of them state " north of Cape Cod we don't operate at night"! Explaining that the cost and time to have divers clear the wheels of lobster pot line is prohibitive.
And spurs are only on 20% of the boats (I ask)
The Gulf of Maine is rife with pots, buoys and fish gear. Especially in summer. Depths between 20' to 600'.

 

[Seevee]

As for hitting flotsam and logs at night, seems like it depends where one boats. Navigating the ICW on the west coast of FL seems pretty decent and chances of hitting something is fairly rare.

Rarely to the crabbers put their pots in the ICW... but close sometimes, but not hard to avoid. And, yes, with a modern radar they will show up, as will almost everything that floats.

Over my ~17 years on the ICW, mostly from Ft Myers to Tarpon Springs I've had things tangle up in the props twice, and both fairly easy to free. So, that's not a big risk... to me.

I did hit a crab trap with my windsurfer once <g>.... the only thing it did was launch me over the front of the board, nothing broken.

I could argue that for ICW night runs the biggest risk is another boat, and the worst time is on the weekends or holidays.... so that's a time to be pretty conservative.