Cruising at night

[Boat&Bikes]

had to cruise for half hour after dark tonight,is it a big no no to do so?

[bramley]

you do what you need to.

[pete harrison]

you do what you need to.

Not exactly - you do what you want to, providing of course your insurers have not excluded it in your contract.

[matty40s]

Nighttime cruising can be very enjoyable, especially when the moon is out.

I regularly used to cruise through central london as the lighting was so good and enjoy it out in the sticks too.

[nbfiresprite]

Just don't try working through a lock after dark.

[Biggles]

I really want to try it on a brilliant full moon in the middle of no where. I have done a bit of very late dusk. On my river it seems to be quite normal. Often in the dark I've heard a passing boat.

[carlt]

Just don't try working through a lock after dark.

Why not?

 

If you've got a decent headtorch then it is no more dangerous than in daylight.

[stagedamager]

The Shroppie is lovely at night, i could recommend it, minimal light pollution for most of it!

Dan

[MtB]

had to cruise for half hour after dark tonight,is it a big no no to do so?

 

I LURVE cruising at night, on the shroppie and other secluded rural canals especially. No reason at all for it to be a 'no no' provided you display the correct navigation lights IMO. Fly boats AIUI operated 24/7 so there is a historical precedent. Get out there and night cruise, it's brilliant.

 

My best experience so far was passing through the Bratch locks just after midnight on a dead calm night with clear skies and a full moon in a hard frost, cruising solo. Beautiful archtecture by moonlight and a spooky and almost divine experience!

 

Mike

[sooz]

Chugging along under a full moon sounds rather lovely; unfortunately my only experience of night-time narrowboating was quite the opposite. We had had a lazy day and were behind schedule but determined to get as far as we could before nightfall. We were doing okay and figured we could squeeze in one last lock and then find somewhere pleasant to stop for the night. Carelessness on our part, however, meant that said last lock was Towney Lock which is a bit of a bugger when it's just two of you (a relatively inexperienced two, admittedly) anyway. It was still light when we entered the lock but my, how quickly darkness fell when we were working through it. Suddenly, everything that had happened with it in the daytime (gates refusing to stay shut and the like) was happening again, only this time we didn't giggle every time t'other half had to clamber along the beams and run back round to re-close it, instead we got more and more anxious about the whole thing.

 

Lots of lessons in it for us, not least don't crawl out of bed at 11am, cruise for an hour then have a four-hour stop for lunch! In all seriousness though, it could have been quite pleasant if we removed the stress (and lock) from the situation. So I'd say (for what it's worth, anyway) that night-time cruising has all the makings of a leasant journey as long as you feel you are experienced enough and you are under no pressure (to find a suitable spot to whack your mooring pins in / to be somewhere at a certain time / to get yourself through a fooking horrid lock etc). I think perhaps it's something we might plan for in the future, just half an hour or so on a nice simple, lock-free section where we can focus more on the tranquility than our blood pressure!

 

=]

[Guest]

had to cruise for half hour after dark tonight,is it a big no no to do so?

 

We often get passed on our new mooring by commercial boats in the night.

 

They are governed by tide times at Goole, pass us and then moor up at Pollington lock to wait for the lockies to start work at 6am.

[Timleech]

I LURVE cruising at night, on the shroppie and other secluded rural canals especially. No reason at all for it to be a 'no no' provided you display the correct navigation lights IMO. Fly boats AIUI operated 24/7 so there is a historical precedent. Get out there and night cruise, it's brilliant.

 

 

 

Mike

 

Navigation lights not required on most BW canals.

 

Tim

[Rod a mod from Tod]

The Shroppie is lovely at night, i could recommend it, minimal light pollution for most of it!

Dan

 

Was going to say the same. The stretch between Audlem and Nantwich through Coole Pilate must be smashing at night.

[howardang]

Navigation lights not required on most BW canals.

 

Tim

To be absolutely correct,the bye laws say:-

 

(2) A power-driven vessel, being a narrow canal boat, under way

at night shall display in the forepart of the vessel, where it can

best be seen and at a height above the deck or gunwhale or not

less than one foot, a visible white light.

 

which is of course a navigational light.

 

Cheers

 

Howard

[Timleech]

To be absolutely correct,the bye laws say:-

 

(2) A power-driven vessel, being a narrow canal boat, under way

at night shall display in the forepart of the vessel, where it can

best be seen and at a height above the deck or gunwhale or not

less than one foot, a visible white light.

 

which is of course a navigational light.

 

Cheers

 

Howard

 

Indeed so, but not what most people understand as 'navigation lights'. Generally interpreted to mean a headlamp, though probably drafted in the days of oil lamps. Most nav lights as fitted to narrow boats wouldn't comply with regs anyway.

 

Actually, if boating at night it's nice to be able to turn the headlight off (and on if needed, of course).

 

Tim

 

edit fur spilling

Edited September 9, 2012 by Timleech

[MtB]

To be absolutely correct,the bye laws say:-

 

(2) A power-driven vessel, being a narrow canal boat, under way

at night shall display in the forepart of the vessel, where it can

best be seen and at a height above the deck or gunwhale or not

less than one foot, a visible white light.

 

which is of course a navigational light.

 

Cheers

 

Howard

 

Interesting. The presence of this bye law should reassure the OP that night cruising is officially sanctioned, or they wouldn't be defining the lighting required.

 

Other waterways (e.g.the Thames) have much more onerous lighting requirements AIUI.

[Dr Bradley]

I often travel at night (partly due to not getting going till after lunch), in fact last night I arrived at Preston Brook at about 10pm. Locks at night don't bother me, just take care and don't rush. Navigation lights i.e. red green and white stern plus headlight

are a requirement on many rivers such as the Thames and Trent but as said only a headlight on canals.

 

I keep reading that most nav lights fitted to narrowboats are not legal. Nearly all the ones I've seen are the standard lights fitted to small seagoing craft and in a suitable place. Can someone explain why they are not legal.

[bottle]

Size of navigation light are regulated by the length of the boat.

 

So those nice little brass ones are to small.

[Dr Bradley]

I find no reference in SOLAS about size of lights, only the distance art which they can be seen, e.g. 2 miles for my 57 ft boat. Whether the standard ones can be seen at that distance I have no idea.

[bizzard]

A crowd of us went for a little cruise down river last night to the next lock to watch all the hundreds of Barn owls flying about.

One memorable night trip was a trip from Springfield to B.Stortford delivering a banger of a boat with my cousin.

My cousin had brought the boat from Tring as i was at work during the week. He'd broken down several times on the way, once in the Islington tunnel and was towed out. He managed to get it going again and struggled to Springfield where it broke down altogether. I received a phone call from him late Saturday afternoon saying that he was stuck, had had enough of it, run out of fags and was fed up, he only had his pet miniature pet poodle Sophi for company and the boat was gutted internally, only a Porta-pottie in it.

I turned up with a few tools in the evening and got it going again ''fuel system kept having spasms of sucking in air''.

As i had to be back at work on the Monday and didn't want to leave my cousin to it for the boat was likely to break down again and him not being very practical with engines we decided to head off straight away, it was now dark, entered Tottenham lock, cousin jumped out to operate the the electric consul without his specs on, couldn't read the instructions properly and started pressing buttons willy-nilly, managed to fill and shut bottom gates and then POP! all went dead, boat now trap in the the full lock!!and top gates wouldn't open.

Mobile phones were in their infancy in those days, we had an Avoidafone that was useless and wouldn't pick up a signal so my cousin went off to an all night garage in Ferry lane to phone BW-emergency while i looked after the boat, it was now gone midnight pitch black apart from an eerie glow of orange street lamps, and then on the road bridge at the tail of the lock appeared a bunch of yobbo's looking for trouble, spotted me and the boat and started throwing empty beer bottles at me standing on the lock island, with bottles smashing around me and with only Sophi to protect me i got the long boat pole off the roof and and kept it handy in case they came down looking for more trouble, i would have whirled it around and around like helicopter blades and tried to swipe em all into the river if they had of done. Then lo! my cousin returned with two coppers at which point the yobs ran off. The garage to which my cousin had gone to had just been raided, the cashier held up and the till cleared out. When the cops had finished there they had come back to the lock with my cousin, phoned through to BW Enfield on their fancy radio for us and stood by until the BW emergency chap turned up, he fixed a fuse in the cabin and we were on our way again, now nearly 2am.

We went flat out with me having to regularly bleed the fuel system when the engine began to falter. But it was a lovely night trip from then on, moon came out, dawn broke as we entered Enfield lock and we arrived tired and stinking of diesel at 3pm in B.Stortford, another job done.

[bottle]

Sorry, perhaps I should of said to small in brightness terms as well.

 

Yes it is the distance that they can be seen and the length of the vessel, the small ones are just not bright enough.

 

Vessels 12 metres to 20 metres

 

• Masthead light - 3 miles
• Sidelight and stern light - 2 miles
• All round lights - 2 miles

Vessels under 12 metres

 

• Masthead light - 2 miles
• Sidelight - 1 mile
• Stern light - 2 miles
• All round lights - 2 miles

The wattage of the lamp is also relevant, up to 12m it is 10w. and over 12m it is 25w, that is for sidelights, which obviously has a bearing on the distance they can be seen.

 

Two samples:

up to 12m port light

 

up to 20m port light

 

As you will see there is a physical size difference as well as the wattage.

[Timleech]

I find no reference in SOLAS about size of lights, only the distance art which they can be seen, e.g. 2 miles for my 57 ft boat. Whether the standard ones can be seen at that distance I have no idea.

 

The makers/vendors should specify what size craft they suit, here is one example that looks as though it would be adequate for narrowboats, not sure whether they are either 'sports boats' or 'yachts', though

 

The smaller Series 25 is only approved up to 12m length.

 

 

Tim

[howardang]

Indeed so, but not what most people understand as 'navigation lights'. Generally interpreted to mean a headlamp, though probably drafted in the days of oil lamps. Most nav lights as fitted to narrow boats wouldn't comply with regs anyway.

 

Actually, if boating at night it's nice to be able to turn the headlight off (and on if needed, of course).

 

Tim

 

edit fur spilling

A headlamp or tunnel light doesn't actually fit the bill because the light required is non-directional and placed where it can best be seen i.e. an all round light (incidentally as also specified for small craft in the Col Regs). Although I agree with your comment about being nice to turn off a light, thats not really the point. A nav light is there to let other craft know where you are, not for lighting the way!

 

Howard

[bizzard]

Apart from their size the cut off point angle is the most important thing about nav lights as on most narrow boats this is entirely wrong and often hardly exists at all especially when the port and starboard lights are stuck on the cabin sides at the stern end,''very common'' and will only totally confuse another boater who does know how nav lights should work and will only be able to guess the exact direction the boat is moving in if they can only see the lights and not the boat.

Its generally safer to not have any at all unless their mounted correctly and just stick to the white headlight.

[Guest wanted]

I was under the impression that nav lights had to be a certain distance apart, a distance that couldn't be achieved on a narrowboat unless you had a mast wider than the boat.

 

I don't have reference to this and may have read it on here at some point.....