Boat light comments invited

Arminius said:
An inventor could soon be producing boat headlights using HID (high intensity discharge) auto headlights as a model. These ultrabright headlights are only allowed in cars with self-leveling technology to keep them from blinding oncoming drivers. Cellphones have levelling sensors which ignore acceleration/deceleration and an app could sense when the boat was level enough to safely use headlights. The app would be connected to a safety relay on the headlights by Bluetooth. The app would display the craft's pitch with respect to safe operating pitch to enable the operator to work throttle and trim. A more advanced model might incorporate automated headlights gimballed on the pitch axis like an old Citroen. You can't stop progress but you can make a buck off of it.
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However, for all of the reasons we already discussed, this would not work for safe boat operation. This was mentioned numerous times, and I'm not sure if you just didn't read this, but one example of "why this won't work" is because of night vision. It's been talked about enough that I don't need to go into detail.
 
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kanddr said:
It's like beating a dead horse, but in this case the horse wont die.
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Its only because of continual replies. Blocking or simply not opening a thread will cause it to fade away all by itself.

Personally, I'm of the "this can't be serious", and "you can't make this stuff up", and "I can't believe he said that" mind, and it takes very little to amuse me.
 
Arminius said:
An inventor could soon be producing boat headlights using HID (high intensity discharge) auto headlights as a model. These ultrabright headlights are only allowed in cars with self-leveling technology to keep them from blinding oncoming drivers. Cellphones have levelling sensors which ignore acceleration/deceleration and an app could sense when the boat was level enough to safely use headlights. The app would be connected to a safety relay on the headlights by Bluetooth. The app would display the craft's pitch with respect to safe operating pitch to enable the operator to work throttle and trim. A more advanced model might incorporate automated headlights gimballed on the pitch axis like an old Citroen. You can't stop progress but you can make a buck off of it.
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Those Citroen’s were kick ass but ugly as Phuck but I still liked them
 
Lazy Daze said:
Armenius... I tried to hang in here with you, but I'm out.
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I'm with you. Not sure what part of "illegal, dangerous or immoral" this guy doesn't get. For the last several years pontoon manufacturers have been putting "headlights" on their boats. The dealers don't educate the buyers that they are docking lights only. So water patrol has to pull them over at night and educate them. It's absurd.

Good luck Armenius. Hope you don't kill someone or yourself.
 
highslice said:
I'm with you. Not sure what part of "illegal, dangerous or immoral" this guy doesn't get. For the last several years pontoon manufacturers have been putting "headlights" on their boats. The dealers don't educate the buyers that they are docking lights only. So water patrol has to pull them over at night and educate them. It's absurd.

Good luck Armenius. Hope you don't kill someone or yourself.
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When I went to the dark side and bought a pontoon…. A new Bennington at the Chicago boat show no less….. my wife said I was a little drunk and I’m not allowed to go to boat shows anymore….. in any event I upgraded the headlights to LED…. Never used them once
 
Blueone said:
Those Citroen’s were kick ass but ugly as Phuck but I still liked them
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I only drove one once. I had a rental one month while on a consulting gig in France. Maybe not the worst car I ever drove, but I can't think of a worser one...LOL.
 
Blueone said:
When I went to the dark side and bought a pontoon…. A new Bennington at the Chicago boat show no less….. my wife said I was a little drunk and I’m not allowed to go to boat shows anymore….. in any event I upgraded the headlights to LED…. Never used them once
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Yeah, I can't drink at boat shows anymore since I bought our jet ski that has a whopping 54 hours on it over the last 9 years. Thankfully I have never been tempted to buy a can boat. :eek:

The pontoon headlight thing didn't become an issue until the influx of newbie boaters during the pandemic. Fortunately they only venture out on the 4th for fireworks. I just steer clear. But they keep water patrol busy on the 4th.

I love night boating, it is very peaceful. And the sky is so clear and free of light pollution that you can see the space station rip past. I keep a small LED handheld spotlight on the boat that I got from Lowe's for $14. I bought it 5 years ago and it is much better than the $90 "marine" spotlight that it replaced. Our marina has no lights and the dock can be very dark. Plus we have an "No Wake" buoy at the entrance that is not lit and moves around a bit. So generally I only use it to find the buoy and an empty slip. I have had to use it to light up the occasional dumb ass fishermen that drift in the channel with all their lights out.
 
highslice said:
I love night boating, it is very peaceful. And the sky is so clear and free of light pollution that you can see the space station rip past.
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Back in the day we used to night boat all the time. Your comments are spot on.

One evening we were fishing in the Niagara, upstream of the Falls, with the mist just visible. It was getting dusk and I had launched several miles up the unlighted Erie Canal. As we started heading home the forward gear of the %^&$# Evinrude electric shift outboard gave way. I DID have reverse, so here we are going backwards against the current of the Mighty Niagara.

Several hours later we entered the canal and by now we were running on fumes. This was a weekday. No boats anywhere. The Sheriff boats were tied up and unattended. The marina was closed. There was a gas station a block away, so we carried a portable tank and got her filled up. The all-around stern light was just enough to kill any night vision, so we backed up the Erie Canal with no navigation lights.

That was the LAST boatride I ever had without a kicker. My old Merc 10 was mounted the very next day.
 
Back in the Day, it was safer to take the boat across the lake to the marina/restaurant/bar across the lake as there were no laws against intoxicated boating. My Seaswirl cuddy was pushed by a big Johnson and I had installed strong incandescent docking lights into carefully angled torpedo tubes cut in the bow. On the plane, a touch of the trim would keep them flat across the water ahead.
It was late but the lake was peaceful and my headlights would warn me of drifting logs. I powered down, tied up smartly at the Club's dock, and backed the trailer into the water. When I went back to tie the boat down, I found it illuminated by a deputy sheriff's headlights. A wave of adrenalin sobered me and I decided to assume he was trying to help and would advise if he thought I should leave the rig at the Club and walk home. He never said a word so I decided I had passed that sobriety test and drove home without opening the window to thank him. Oh yeah, glad I had lights!
 
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