sr330daguy
Member
I'm looking to put nav lights on my Zodiac,the question is glue on or suction cup? Thanks in advance.
Navigation Lights
- Thread starter sr330daguy
- Start date
SillyKnot2
Member
I plan on doing the same thing, probably going with the glue on base with removable light with a lanyard shown here.
http://www.innovativelight.com/battery-navigation-light_p_1471_11535_1.cfm
http://www.innovativelight.com/battery-navigation-light_p_1471_11535_1.cfm
Sea Gull
Well-Known Member
There are a couple of technical, rules related issues, that you need to understand before you go an put lights on a small inflatable.
The first thing is to read the specificaitons of the lights you are installing. None of the flashlight type lights that I have looked at are USCG approved jprobably because they are not bright enough. For example, the lights in the link that SillyKnot2 provided are only OK for <7 knots. The other issue is that the all around white light needs to be 1 meter above the sidelights, which is hard to do on a small inflatable.
On my last dinghy I decided to keep my nighttime speed below 7 knots and use these lights. I had a red/green flashlight type unit that fit into a base that was glued to the bow of the dinghy. I also got a white all around and extended the pole so that it was a meter above the bow lights.
The other technical challenge I had to overcome was that in the red/green bow light there was not good separation between colors. Looking at the dinghy from ahead and to starboard, you could see both the red and green lights. To fix this problem, I cut a piece of 3"x3"x1/8" black lucite to fit the lens and glued it along the seam between the red and green. This served to isolate the two sides of the light.
The first thing is to read the specificaitons of the lights you are installing. None of the flashlight type lights that I have looked at are USCG approved jprobably because they are not bright enough. For example, the lights in the link that SillyKnot2 provided are only OK for <7 knots. The other issue is that the all around white light needs to be 1 meter above the sidelights, which is hard to do on a small inflatable.
On my last dinghy I decided to keep my nighttime speed below 7 knots and use these lights. I had a red/green flashlight type unit that fit into a base that was glued to the bow of the dinghy. I also got a white all around and extended the pole so that it was a meter above the bow lights.
The other technical challenge I had to overcome was that in the red/green bow light there was not good separation between colors. Looking at the dinghy from ahead and to starboard, you could see both the red and green lights. To fix this problem, I cut a piece of 3"x3"x1/8" black lucite to fit the lens and glued it along the seam between the red and green. This served to isolate the two sides of the light.