Blinded By The Light

I typed this long message out last night but it disappeared/crashed. Here we go again.

I have driven the BAY RANGER back to the marina several times at dusk. The interesting part of the ride is the last 6 miles up the Tred Avon River. There are several turns and a bunch of zig-zags. Several lighted daymarkers and a bunch of non-lightes ones. My GPS knows the way, but the Boy Scout in me keeps a good lookout. (I only made it thru Cub Scouts.)

A few days ago I was returning home a little after dusk. The unlit daymarks were pretty much invisible. So, for the first real time I used my spotlight. The light puts out a strong beam, but it also puts out a lot of peripheral light around the edges. That peripheral really lights up the bow deck. It is so bright that the effect of the beam is lost in the glare. It is like driving a car in the fog with the high beams on. :shock:

Clearly the light needs some sort of an under-side visor or a tubular extension. I wandered around Lowes looking for something approx 6-1/2" diameter. I found a 1 gallon paint can for $4. It is a little bigger than 6-1/2 but the top rim seal fits nicely against the front of the light bezel. I cut the bottom off with the kitchen can opener and painted the interior flat black. For mounting the can, I drilled 4 holes in the rim of the can and inserted 1/4" dowels, letting them protrude about an inch. These center the can firmly on the spotlight body. I still have to remove the wire handle and come up with a velcro of bungee method to secure the can. But first a performance test.

Last night I went to the marina. I expected that this prototype would be the just the first of several design attempts. (I had been thinking it would need some internal baffles.) I was wrong. It worked GREAT. The glare is 90% gone. The strong beam is clearly visible and well defined. I am totally pleased. Still have to take it out on the river for a "sea trial". The only caution is when looking more than about 45 degrees to port -- the mast gets in the way. Small problem. I realize it is not a very pretty solution. It will only be used at night and it will spend most of it's time in the cave.

I will continue to work on the mounting methods and will trim the dowels back a little. Stay tuned.

Has anyone else dealt with this issue? I'd love to hear about it.
Photos in my album of the prototype. More photos later too.

I have the exact same glare problem on my 2012 R-27 that makes the spotlight next to useless. Some folks have moved the spotlight to the plate on the mast above the radome and the radome shadows the bow. I may do that, but your solution appears much more simple.

Had the same problem on a previous boat with the added frustration that "someone" left the light on one day at anchor and flattened a battery. I disconnected and moved to a handheld spotlight plugged in to a 12V outlet. I still have that light and I was quite happy when our 2017 R25SC came without a light mounted since I assume I didn't pay for something I would not use. The handheld out of the side window is a lot faster to aim and give a quick snap on/off to check a marker or whatever when running at night.

Yup, I've heard that too, but the handheld isn't all pretty chrome!
Ha.

You got a chrome paint can for $4 !! :shock:

TRUE !

Actually, I just got back from the boat and Lowes, again. I bought a stretchy velcro strap that hooks on the can wire handle and loops down below the lamp body and behind the mount. 10 second install and takedown.
I added two more photos.
No duct tape !!!!!!

Come and listen to my story 'bout a man named Jed,
Poor mountaineer, barely kept his family fed.....

Swimmin' pools, movie stars !

Love it!

This is a common problem on many boats. I've decided to take the good ole American approach to solving it. More power. It occurred to me while watching a work boat. That's their solution. Many commercial fishing boats have a light that's bright enough to allow them to see the surface of the water for a hundred yards or so ahead. Turn the night to day then night vision isn't an issue. I'll be installing a bank of LEDs on the mast that light up the world in front of me 😀

Yup, but the light has to be high up and focused enough to keep the light off the deck in front of the helm. A small percentage of light leakage to the white deck on the bow will appear far brighter to the helm seat than the bright beam that is looking for daymarks and crabpots a hundred yards out in front of the boat.
The brightness is diminished proportionally to the square of the distance.

Looks good. What about using a piece of sheet aluminum or stainless and rolling it to the correct diameter and then pop rivet the seam. That housing is fairly hollow maybe a few small ss sheet metal screws to hold it in place. I think that paint can will eventually rust out. Just some thoughts.

Chimo":1mkd0ent said:

Had the same problem on a previous boat with the added frustration that "someone" left the light on one day at anchor and flattened a battery. I disconnected and moved to a handheld spotlight plugged in to a 12V outlet. I still have that light and I was quite happy when our 2017 R25SC came without a light mounted since I assume I didn't pay for something I would not use. The handheld out of the side window is a lot faster to aim and give a quick snap on/off to check a marker or whatever when running at night.

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I say good riddance to the stock chrome search light that RT has traditionally installed on their boats. I had one on my R-25 (Classic) and rarely used it. I did not bother to place a cover over it and after 6 years the chrome was badly spotted which I could not clean up, and in addition at around the 5th year the turning mechanism simply froze up so rotating the searchlight became impossible. Nothing but trouble IMO. Yea, it looked good and that was really all I gave it credit for.

I now have the 2018 R-27/OB boat and RT has abandoned placing the chrome searchlight on this model. 😀 So didn't have to pay for something I rarely used. I have purchased a hand held searchlight which as Chimo has said, can be aimed a lot easier than the RT chrome searchlight plus the control panel for it no longer is in my way at the helm station. I'm thinking of some form of bracket attached to outside near the helm station window that can be used to clip the hand-held searchlight to to free up my right arm/hand. 😉

Ya, knotflying, I thought about that, especially if I needed a longer tube than the 8" tall paint can. The paint can was the easy first choice. I did look at 6 and 7 inch diameter aluminum ducting.

One way to make the 8" paint can seem longer is to baffle the inside of the can. A tightly packed array of a dozen or more tubes inside the can would help align the light beam. Something like pieces of thin wall electrical conduit (about 1-1/2 inch dia) should help.

I really don't want to do anything to the spotlight to compromise its weatherproof integrity. So I'm very happy with my solution. Corrosion shouldn't be a big worry because it will only be used occasionally. Spending most of it's life on a hook in the cave.

Keep the comments and ideas coming.
This is fun.

For the R21-EC I have a Golight LED search light with wireless hand held remote, model 30004. I made a removable mounting system using a aluminum fixture plate and three studded knobs. I only mount it on trips where I think I might need it, which so far has been none. Other than testing it at the marina, I haven't tried the light out on the water so I don't know how well it works. When I got the boat, Ranger was no longer providing the search lights for the R21-EC however the 12V cable connector and cabin switch were still in place which made for an easy installation. With the remote you can turn the light on/off, rotate, and move it vertically. See the photos in the album.
Bob

Just a quick check, we do all realize that a spotlight is for momentary use and not intended to be like headlights in a car? Do we all have red lights inside the cabin? I'm looking to change a few of mine.

Chimo":3oy2r3sn said:

Just a quick check, we do all realize that a spotlight is for momentary use and not intended to be like headlights in a car? ...

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That depends on where you operate. Many places on PWS between floating logs and shrimp pot buoys it's a bit risky not being able to see the surface ahead.

Hey, what about a piece of corrugated drain pipe and keep it attached with a Fernco no-hub pipe clamp.

Might look a little funny, but the corrugations could work. :idea:

Hi guys: great to hear someone else has this issue. My R21-EC came with the Jabsco spot/searchlight already fitted to the base p-late of the mast. It is a great piece of kit, trouble is, when I switch it on at night it blinds me at the helm. The light is great but it reflects back off the foc'sle deck and also the s/s bow rails. Basically, in its current position, it is useful when at anchor and for lighting up the jetty area when alongside or when retrieving the anchor. When underway, it is a navigation hazard for the helmsman. I have been thinking of repositioning it, maybe to one of the unused plates higher up the mast. I don't have radar or SATNAV so those two plates higher up are available. The other alternative is some rolled stainless or aluminium fitted to the underside of the spot/search light so that it doesn't reflect off the deck and bow rails. Any thoughts and/or photos I can use? Kind regards

Moving the light up a foot or so, in my opinion, isn't going to be enough. The peripheral light spreads out at almost a 180 degree angle. Not sure there is enough room for rotation up on the higher locations on our masts? I think this spotlight would be great if it was mounted on a bowsprit or high up in a sailboat rigging. The creation and mounting of an "under-visor" just seemed complicated. Thus my tubular design.

While we're all talking I'll introduce a related question. Does anyone see much of a difference between the "spot" and "flood" functions. I sure don't.

Keep the comments coming!

Good discussion including an excellent description of night vision and age here http://www.boatered.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=133642

I learned the trick of closing one eye and narrowing the other to a slit for momentary spotlight use 50 years ago at a navy school. Still learning stuff 😉