[fishtales]

First a bit of background.

To complete the fitout on my Hobie Sports I decided to go with a lighting system that used batteries rather than a system that needed to be hooked up to my 7 amp 12v battery that runs my sounder. Decided on a Scotty's Sea Light. Could not see one in the flesh as no one had em in stock.

But...... I ordered it in from the US, (36.00 US) rather than fork out 170 Aust dollars I was quoted from a local stockist.

Well, I received it today and am very disappointed in it's performance. I tried it out in the yard when it was totally dark, and to put it kindly... it's a bloody lemon. Useless and it hardly threw out any decent amount of light at all.

At least I got a scotty's flush mount out of it, and the fact I can remove it from its post and attach it to my PFD. And the website says it can be seen 2 miles away. Yeah right. That may be so, but as a light for kayaking it is very poor.It does not throw any light down where I would want it to tie lures, etc etc

Guess I will now have to rethink my options and buy 1 and wire it up to my battery.

heres a link to the item.

http://www.kayakfishinggear.com/catalog ... 159934.htm

And a pic of mine.

Chris

 

[andybear]

Hi all,

My cheapo Dick Smith LED light for just under $10 does a good job of letting others see where I am (If they are looking). I feel that for tying on tackle, and stuff like that, wearing an on the head light (for about $30 at Woolies, does a bloody marvelous job.) I dont think the all round light is ever going to deliver light where you need it, when you are operating on your gear/fish whatever.

Cheers Andybear

PS The Dick Smith light fits in 40mm PVC just about perfect :lol:

 

[fishtales]

Thanks Andybear,
I did forget to mention that I do have a very good headlamp that I picked up on special from Anaconda a while back.

I basically want a light fitted for safety purposes, so that no damn stinkboat runs me down if I go out at night. I just assumed that it would also provide decent lighting for my use.Not sure that a headlamp would be easily seen by others.

Chris

 

[Dodge]

I basically want a light fitted for safety purposes, so that no damn stinkboat runs me down if I go out at night.

Chris

Chris my old bay cruiser only had a 5w white riding light and had a pale blue Little Ships Club pennant about a meter away from it, and is quite amazing the extra visibility you get with something flapping in a light breeze.
A handkerchief sized piece of white nylon on a dowel or rod in a rod holder would make the world of difference to visibility

 

[hoit]

Hi Chris,

it's a shame to hear that the Scotty Sea Light didn't work out. I looked around for a long time and tried out several lights including two cheap LED headlamps off ebay that both lasted less than 6 months.

I then settled on the 4 LED TekTite. They do cost a little more but they are well made, waterproof to 300m and come with a lifetime guarantee.

Regards
Grant

 

[andybear]

Probably a good idea to get one of those air horns, with the compressed air canister. A few years back, me and mum were anchored in a stinkboat in the Pine River, and this joker came right at us, about 25knots, and missed us by a paddle length. There were three sets of eyes on board this boat, and none of them were looking where they were going. At least they had the guts to come back and apologise. This was in broad daylight, perfect weather.
Normally I am known for my fog horn voice, on those occasions I choose to use it, but this day, I was too stunned, to believe that the damn thing was coming straight for us.
Sorry, got off the subject a bit, 'cept to say, if they are not looking, they are not looking, and that all there is to it. :x

Cheers all Andybear :lol:

 

[PoddyMullet]

Hoit has shown me the light...and I am a devotee. Although I'm not so sure about him paddling about in a shiny white suit healing stink boaties with his pilchard hands placed on their foreheads. I'm further dubious about his claim Perception are bringing out a 17 foot "Swaggart Angler". Hmm, maybe I'm being conned after all :wink:

 

[DGax65]

Chris
I had one of those Scotty lights and was similarly disappointed with the output. I'm glad I didn't spend the money on the pole mount. I have given up on incandescent lights. For general use I rely on LED lights and I have strobes for my PFD. I took two LED headlamps and put them on the same head strap; one on front, one on the back. These provide plenty of light to see what I'm doing and the batteries last through several trips. I have also found these very effective for alerting other boaters. I will point the lights in the direction of an oncoming stinkboat and then turn my head back and forth about twenty degrees. This really seems to get their attention; more so than just a steady white light. A steady white light tends to get lost in the clutter of other lights and reflections that you get in an area with heavy traffic or lots of shore lights. I haven't been run over yet, so I'll stick with this method (how's that for a convincing testimonial?). :wink:

 

[fishtales]

Thanks guys for the comments.

I may end up just using my headlamp to provide the lighting I need to see what I am doing,( an excellent water resistant Princeton Tec unit), and mount the unit behind my seat anyway to hopefully be seen from a distance by other vessels on the water.

Seems that more people than I realised are using headlamps for their primary lighting needs.

Chris