Solar Lights To Enhance Boating Safety

By Author: Joseph Sacco
Total Articles: 6
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You are anchored out during a beautiful night on your beloved sailboat and notice a fast running motorboat coming right at you. “What is he doing?” you think to yourself. Suddenly you realize that your anchor, mast, and stern lights are not working!! “Oh My God!!” you scream knowing that you are literally invisible on the water. This is an extreme case but it exemplifies a point I’d like to submit here.

Navigation lights mandated by coast guard regulations are essential so other vessels can see you. Your navigation light system is dependent upon your internal battery power. With every effective system it is prudent to have a back-up plan or alternate procedure to rely upon in the unlikely event the original system fails. Solar lights fulfill that requirement by providing you with perpetual illumination and does not depend upon your battery power to operate.

Solar lights function in conjunction with your current battery powered navigation lights. You will receive a “double dose” of safety compliance to ensure visibility at night above and beyond basic requirements. By proactively executing ...
... safety precautions you can enjoy more peace of mind as you entertain family, friends, and business acquaintances on your boat.

“What is the deal with solar lights and boating safety?” you ask yourself. Well there are many reasons why they are a sensible option to your craft. Solar lights are fueled by solar power, are inexpensive to purchase, require little maintenance, are easy to install, are safe to use, do not attract insects, and are very reliable. Plus they are part of the “green movement” reducing the demands upon our fragile environment.

Being on a boat offers unobstructed access to sunlight. This provides you the opportunity to capture solar energy and store power temporarily onto rechargeable batteries. Each of the solar lights has a long-lasting solar panel that uses solar energy to recharge your batteries. These batteries in turn provide power to your solar lights at night. The wonderful thing is that solar power is available as long as the sun exists.

Recent advances in technology have made solar lights more reasonably priced through improved manufacturing processes and design. Quality has also improved resulting in a wider variety of aesthetically pleasing solar lights available. You now have a wide selection of beautiful and reliable solar light products available to meet any budget.

Solar lights are relatively maintenance free and have no large recurrent costs. Occasionally the solar panel for the solar lights must be monitored to be free of debris so it may capture maximum sunlight in order to recharge the batteries daily. The solar batteries must also be replaced every two to three years since they may be recharged from 500 to 700 times in their lifetime. The LED bulbs used on the solar lights are rated to last 100,000 hours and never need replacement. Most solar lights can be turned off when not in use and lengthen battery and bulb life.

Installation of your solar lights is easy requiring no electrical hook-ups to remote power sources with wires or cords. Solar lights can be placed anywhere the sun is persistent. Simply select your location, install, and presto you are done in a matter of minutes!!

Solar lights do not present themselves as an electrical hazard since they use neither a strong electrical current nor electrical wiring to a base power source. This is especially critical when young children and pets are present. This should give you additional serenity as you are enjoying your boat.

Insect swarming around your solar lights is not a concern. The LED’s used in the solar lights do not emit infrared light that bugs are attracted to. Enjoy a bug-free environment, as you are entertaining on your boat accompanied by a warm summer night.

The solar panels generate no noise and have no moving parts, making them a safe and reliable solution to provide lighting where traditional electricity is not available. During electrical power outages your solar lights will NOT be affected since they do not rely upon electricity. There will be no interruption of lighting as long as the solar batteries have been properly recharged. Outdoor solar lights are clean, non-polluting, reliable, and a great option when conventional electrical hook-ups are not available.

To most effectively improve your boating safety, I strongly recommend the use of solar path lights. Each self-contained unit consist of a solar panel, rechargeable battery, light fixture housing the LED bulb, light fixture cover, and a ground stake to position the light in the ground. Their basic purpose of a solar path light is to light walkways, gardens, driveways, pathways, and any other application where ground or accent lighting is desired. We are adding boating safety to the long list of applications.

To install the solar path lights, you will use the stanchions around the deck. I would start out with a minimum of 4 lights for stanchions located at the port and starboard bow and port and starboard stern. This would give you an even distribution of solar path lights around the deck and maximize added exposure to other vessels on the water. This would be minimally sufficient for any boat from 12 to 28 feet in length. Add extra solar path lights as need for larger craft. You cannot have too much exposure.

Simply assemble the solar path lights with the ground stakes in place to the tops of the stanchions with 4” to 8” plastic ties. Using two plastics ties, position one at the top and one at the bottom of the stake housing the solar path lights after you have positioned the unit to your liking atop the stanchion. I like to position the top of the stake to be even with the top of the stanchion as much as possible. Secure the unit in place, tighten the tie, and cut off the excess of the plastic tie with a sharp knife.

I strongly recommend utilizing the white lights only when applying solar lights on the deck. You may be creative and figure out a way to compliment your red and green lighting pattern with solar lights of the same color, but I would be cautious of coast guard regulations and make sure you were in total compliance.

I also suggest using solar path lights with plastic covers. Many of the solar path lights have stainless steel covers and are subject to salt-water corrosion. If you opt to use metal covers you will need to remove the covers and spray them with rubber coating to protect the steel. Any brand will do but I have used black Performix* Plasti Dip in the past. I then glued the covers back in place around the fixture and they look great.

You too can enjoy increased boating safety at night when you install solar lights on your vessel! What are you waiting for? Have a great time on the water, be safe, and I’d love to hear your story too.

Joseph Sacco, MBA, is a management consultant and the proud creator of http://www.solarlights4u.com where you can view many solar path light options for your boating safety. Please send your comments and questions to joesstore999@gmail.com.