Requirements for running dinghy at night in FL...

So I have this dinghy. I have a 3 hp electric trolling motor which gives me 3 MPH. We obviously don’t go far in it, but it’s perfect for just running to the beach and back. But next week we’ll be anchoring and running the dink to a restaurant for dinner, and obviously because of the short days, we’ll be coming back in the dark. I tried to do some reading and from what I’ve found, a single white 360 degree light is all that’s required for anything less than 7 MPH. I’m assuming that includes inflatable electric rafts.

As far as safety, I’m not concerned. We’ll have two super bringht LED flash lights, the area we will be in is a no wake zone, we’ll be traveling only about 1/3 mile, and we’ll hug the docks and stay out of the center of the channel until darting over to our anchored boat.

I just don’t want to get pulled over. Maybe I can find a cheap 12v 360 Lili by that I can tape to the top of the trolling motor?

Thanks guys.

in Canada, this: http://publications.gc.ca/collections/collection_2011/tc/T34-24-2011-eng.pdf
Florida will have the USCG equivalent, and hopefully will enforce it.

No different than a 35 foot powerboat - white and red/green running lights required. The white has to be higher that the red and green. There are white suction cup lights for the top of your outboard and single red/green pole lights for the bow - both battery powered.

Now, those are the rules. I have NEVER seen a dinghy stopped for not having the red/green, and rarely see 10-11 foot dinks with anything but white on the stern.

Fortunately my Novurania has power points both bow and stern for the lights.

Now here is a question. The rules are also the same when anchored - you should have a white all around light for the dink that can be seen one mile away. Clearly most do not anchor the dink on it's own. BUT, when the dink is tied up behind the big boat, should it have the light on?

I have seen many dinghys tied up behind the mother ship with lights on at night, though no where near the majority. And I think more to avoid some drunk hitting it than meeting the rule (though of course that is what the rule is for!).

No THIS is the actual rule:

"(ii) a power-driven vessel of less than 7 meters in length whose maximum
speed does not exceed 7 knots may in lieu of the lights prescribed in
paragraph (a) of this Rule exhibit an all-round white light and shall, if
practicable, also exhibit sidelights"

So you can get away with this and even mount it to your hat so it is an unobscured all around light:
https://store.marinebeam.com/navisafe-portable-360-mob-led-light-for-dinghy-or-kayak/

Or you can get one of these if you don't want to that:
https://store.marinebeam.com/transom-mounted-telescopic-pole-for-portable-nav-lights/

Or you can go whole hog:
https://store.marinebeam.com/led-navigation-light-kit-for-dinghy/

Me, I like being as visible as possible

caltexflanc said:

No THIS is the actual rule:

"(ii) a power-driven vessel of less than 7 meters in length whose maximum
speed does not exceed 7 knots may in lieu of the lights prescribed in
paragraph (a) of this Rule exhibit an all-round white light and shall, if
practicable, also exhibit sidelights"

So you can get away with this and even mount it to your hat so it is an unobscured all around light:
https://store.marinebeam.com/navisafe-portable-360-mob-led-light-for-dinghy-or-kayak/

Or you can get one of these if you don't want to that:
https://store.marinebeam.com/transom-mounted-telescopic-pole-for-portable-nav-lights/

Or you can go whole hog:
https://store.marinebeam.com/led-navigation-light-kit-for-dinghy/

Me, I like being as visible as possible

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Except - when would it not be practicable?

Now here is a question. The rules are also the same when anchored - you should have a white all around light for the dink that can be seen one mile away. Clearly most do not anchor the dink on it's own. BUT, when the dink is tied up behind the big boat, should it have the light on?

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Is it tied up tight to the big boat? Then no. Is it drifting some distance from the big boat? Then yes it is best practice, which I once learned the hard way. Not a Rule though.

caltexflanc said:

Not a Rule though.

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I believe it is - though I'm sure someone will be along soon to tell us we are both wrong!

menzies said:

Except - when would it not be practicable?

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Beats me, boat design I suppose. But I have been in many crowded anchorages and mooring fields with a lot of night time CG and LEO presence, and never seen someone busted for this. Like I said,why not be as visible and safe as you can be, especially when you are the most vulnerable craft on the water?

7meter/7 knot rule.

Practicable/practical is not "shall"....any dingy could be fitted with a full set of lights so it would be a requirement if "practical" was so strongly viewed.

Even the illustration in the Navrules shows a skiff with motor and only an all around white llight.

While many dingies don't carry a battery, I don't think having one for an electric motor automatically makes having a full set of lights practical.

Thanks guys. I’ll just get a cheap 12v 360 degree light and I’ll Velcro it to the top of the motor and run the wires to the battery.

Dun

Years ago while moored in Marathon, the morning cruiser's net advised that FWC would be out that night enforcing the dinghy light regulation. We all stayed on our boats that night.


David

djmarchand said:

Years ago while moored in Marathon, the morning cruiser's net advised that FWC would be out that night enforcing the dinghy light regulation. We all stayed on our boats that night.


David

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I've been there when they've done that and there were plenty of little dinks going hither and thither with one all round light (in at least one case, a guy holding a lantern up! and they didn't get tagged. Ditto Lake Worth one time, sans the guy with the lantern. Marathon is a pretty busy harbor with a channel running through the field, which is why it is not a designated anchorage so you have to have an anchor light on too. Best to be visible there, IMO.

Edit and Correction: And I just noted, in looking in the Nav Rules book that the rule is theoretically for "International" only, so indeed the one-lighters are "getting away with it".

We had a big party on board our boat one night, our boat must have had close to 20 dinghies tied up to it. It was kind of funny watching the departures as folks were trying to find their way back to their boats or marina, looked like a swarm of fireflies zig-zagging in the darkness.

We have a Navisafe tricolor if we’re in the dinghy after dark. A little pricey but it really lights up. We have the old style that has the magnetic base that I mounted on the OB cover.

https://www.hodgesmarine.com/Navisa...wtKN_2w6cJDPlwU5oWrhudxoCsmcQAvD_BwE&click=19

^^^^ That’s not a 360 white light though, right?

Steve91T said:

^^^^ That’s not a 360 white light though, right?

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You would only need that if anchoring the dink. I don't believe tying up behind the mother ship could be classified as "anchoring!"

menzies said:

You would only need that if anchoring the dink. I don't believe tying up behind the mother ship could be classified as "anchoring!"

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I thought the 360 white was always a requirement but the green and red nav were only required while underway.

Yes with the red and green sidelights you are supposed to have a 360 white. You can get away with just the 360 white if under 7 meters and 7 knots. A lot of LE will look at it and say some lights are better than nothing.

Caltexflanc caught the correction and is correct.

The 7/7 rule is internationzl only, I apologize for the incorrect post I made.

A powered dingy is to be lit like any other vessel. 360 white and side lights.

A few years ago in Marathon at a meeting with the FWC, they stated that the white all around light had to be higher than people sitting on the tubes of the dink.

Don’t forget your nighttime visual distress equipment

A group of us in dinghies returning from a party at night were stopped by the marine police in Stamford Harbor, CT for improper lighting. We were a group of 10 dinghies. We were instructed to follow the police boat to a local dock. I was at the end of the line and with a 3.3 hp motor I began to fall behind. Eventually I shut down the engine, doused my all around white light and rowed back to my boat. The others were all ticketed for improper lighting (no red/green) and some were issued a second citation for lack of a signaling device. True story.

Ok so honestly, if one person is shining one of our bright LED’s off the front and I’m shining another off the back, does that not satisfy the 360 degree white light? We aren’t going to be in a busy harbor, we are going to be in a damn near empty cove.

Steve91T said:

Ok so honestly, if one person is shining one of our bright LED’s off the front and I’m shining another off the back, does that not satisfy the 360 degree white light? We aren’t going to be in a busy harbor, we are going to be in a damn near empty cove.

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Tape a plastic white/translucent beverage cup on the end of one of your big flashlights and one of you strike the Statue of Liberty pose with it...

Problem solved...

Not positive but several sources like this Boat US foundation article say in waters less than 2 miles wide, visual distress signals are not required.

"Visual Distress SignalsThe Regulations

This information is directed primarily to recreational boaters, but the requirements discussed also apply to operators of vessels engaged in the carrying of six or fewer passengers. The Visual Distress Signal requirements for most commercial vessels are in Title 46 of the Code of Federal Regulations. The requirement to carry visual distress signals became effective on January 1, 1981. This regulation requires all boats when used on coastal waters, which includes the Great Lakes, the territorial seas and those waters directly connected to the Great Lakes and the territorial seas, up to a point where the waters are less than two miles wide, and boats owned in the United States when operating on the high seas to be equipped with visual distress signals."

We're on the Missouri trapped above the first dam and there's almost zero law enforcement on the water of any kind, but even so, we have all the required lights on the inflatable 9' dingy. Silly to have a blow-up dingy lit like a Christmas tree in my opinion but it fulfills every reg and why risk the hassle? On the other hand, the white all-around stern light on a 9' raft ruins my night vision because it's right in my eyes. I would argue it makes night running far more dangerous because I can't see anything beyond the small pool of white light so it's a stupid, mindless requirement for a dingy. I usually turn off the stern light (leaving the green and red bow light on), but it's there if I notice a rare water cop motoring around. Tried some black tape on the inboard 180* part of the light housing but then that's not compliant either...

Steve91T said:

Ok so honestly, if one person is shining one of our bright LED’s off the front and I’m shining another off the back, does that not satisfy the 360 degree white light? We aren’t going to be in a busy harbor, we are going to be in a damn near empty cove.

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The nav rules state A light (my emphasis). So by definition a light fixture is one not two lights.

Comodave said:

The nav rules state A light (my emphasis). So by definition a light fixture is one not two lights.

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Actually a masthead and stern ore OK, an all around for less than 12meters is OK.

page 34 of Navrules.... it sends you back to paragraph a where the masthead and stern light are prescribed.

INLAND—
Lights and Shapes
[FONT=Garamond,Garamond][FONT=Garamond,Garamond]Rule 23—CONTINUED [/FONT][/FONT][FONT=Garamond,Garamond][/FONT]
[FONT=Garamond,Garamond][/FONT][FONT=Garamond,Garamond][/FONT](d) A power-driven vessel of less than 12 meters in length may, in lieu of the lights prescribed in paragraph (a) of this Rule, exhibit an all-round white light and sidelights.
Power-driven vessel of less than 12 meters in length. Same for

How are you getting a mast on a dinghy?

If I were to row my dinghy do I still need lights?

Vessel Under Oars
A vessel under oars may exhibit the lights for a sailboat . If it does not, it shall have ready at hand an electric torch (flashlight) or lighted lantern showing
a white light that shall be exhibited in sufficient time to prevent collision . (See Figure 7 .)