in the pilothouse to better facilitate night vision. The red or blue
portions of the spectrum will provide adequate visibility without
destroying the ability of the eye to see clearly after dark.

On Feb 12, 4:29 pm, "Chuck Gould" wrote:
in the pilothouse to better facilitate night vision. The red or blue
portions of the spectrum will provide adequate visibility without
destroying the ability of the eye to see clearly after dark.

whatever happened to old fashioned oil lanterns? or candles under
glass?

On Feb 12, 2:41?pm, "Tim" wrote:
On Feb 12, 4:29 pm, "Chuck Gould" wrote:

in the pilothouse to better facilitate night vision. The red or blue
portions of the spectrum will provide adequate visibility without
destroying the ability of the eye to see clearly after dark.

whatever happened to old fashioned oil lanterns? or candles under
glass?

I keep a functioning brass oil lantern suspended over the dinette
table. With a bit of lamp oil and a properly trimmed wick, it can
create a very romantic ambience after dark at anchor.

Downsides;

1. No matter how carefully you try to manage one of these things it
can and will smoke a bit. Screws up the headliner and can be tough to
clean off.

2. In a severe storm, you need to remember to secure the oil lantern
or it could conceivably come flying off the hook and crash into
something or somebody.
One more unneeded distraction at a time when full attention needs to
be paid to operating the boat.

3. Fire hazard. No matter how carefully managed, it's just not as safe
as a light bulb.


Most candles are just not a good idea, either at home or on the boat.
The stuff that goes into the wick, particularly, is pretty nasty once
it's airborne and getting sucked into the lungs. May be some "organic"
alternatives. But with a greater fire hazard than an oil lamp and all
the lead etc in the candle smoke I personally have learned to avoid
using candles aboard. (Wife sneaks a candle in a jar into the head
once in a while and claims its an air freshener- and we usually have a
"discussion" about it.)

"Chuck Gould" wrote in message
ups.com...
On Feb 12, 2:41?pm, "Tim" wrote:
On Feb 12, 4:29 pm, "Chuck Gould" wrote:

in the pilothouse to better facilitate night vision. The red or blue
portions of the spectrum will provide adequate visibility without
destroying the ability of the eye to see clearly after dark.

whatever happened to old fashioned oil lanterns? or candles under
glass?

I keep a functioning brass oil lantern suspended over the dinette
table. With a bit of lamp oil and a properly trimmed wick, it can
create a very romantic ambience after dark at anchor.

Downsides;

1. No matter how carefully you try to manage one of these things it
can and will smoke a bit. Screws up the headliner and can be tough to
clean off.

2. In a severe storm, you need to remember to secure the oil lantern
or it could conceivably come flying off the hook and crash into
something or somebody.
One more unneeded distraction at a time when full attention needs to
be paid to operating the boat.

3. Fire hazard. No matter how carefully managed, it's just not as safe
as a light bulb.


Most candles are just not a good idea, either at home or on the boat.
The stuff that goes into the wick, particularly, is pretty nasty once
it's airborne and getting sucked into the lungs. May be some "organic"
alternatives. But with a greater fire hazard than an oil lamp and all
the lead etc in the candle smoke I personally have learned to avoid
using candles aboard. (Wife sneaks a candle in a jar into the head
once in a while and claims its an air freshener- and we usually have a
"discussion" about it.)


A 50 some foot SeaRay was sunk to the waterline at an exclusive marina in
the Sandusky, OH area a few years ago all due to a candle knocked over in
the cabin area. Yes, they are indeed dangerous to burn on a boat.

A fuel oil lamp (burning a Class II combustible liquid with a flash point
between 100F and 140F) is certainly more dangerous if the fuel container is
ruptured or turned over.

JimH wrote:
"Chuck Gould" wrote in message
ups.com...
On Feb 12, 2:41?pm, "Tim" wrote:
On Feb 12, 4:29 pm, "Chuck Gould" wrote:

in the pilothouse to better facilitate night vision. The red or blue
portions of the spectrum will provide adequate visibility without
destroying the ability of the eye to see clearly after dark.
whatever happened to old fashioned oil lanterns? or candles under
glass?
I keep a functioning brass oil lantern suspended over the dinette
table. With a bit of lamp oil and a properly trimmed wick, it can
create a very romantic ambience after dark at anchor.

Downsides;

1. No matter how carefully you try to manage one of these things it
can and will smoke a bit. Screws up the headliner and can be tough to
clean off.

2. In a severe storm, you need to remember to secure the oil lantern
or it could conceivably come flying off the hook and crash into
something or somebody.
One more unneeded distraction at a time when full attention needs to
be paid to operating the boat.

3. Fire hazard. No matter how carefully managed, it's just not as safe
as a light bulb.


Most candles are just not a good idea, either at home or on the boat.
The stuff that goes into the wick, particularly, is pretty nasty once
it's airborne and getting sucked into the lungs. May be some "organic"
alternatives. But with a greater fire hazard than an oil lamp and all
the lead etc in the candle smoke I personally have learned to avoid
using candles aboard. (Wife sneaks a candle in a jar into the head
once in a while and claims its an air freshener- and we usually have a
"discussion" about it.)


A 50 some foot SeaRay was sunk to the waterline at an exclusive marina in
the Sandusky, OH area a few years ago all due to a candle knocked over in
the cabin area. Yes, they are indeed dangerous to burn on a boat.

A fuel oil lamp (burning a Class II combustible liquid with a flash point
between 100F and 140F) is certainly more dangerous if the fuel container is
ruptured or turned over.




I hear expired flares can add a nice glow to the cabin.

Chuck Gould wrote:

in the pilothouse to better facilitate night vision. The red or blue
portions of the spectrum will provide adequate visibility without
destroying the ability of the eye to see clearly after dark.

Interesting subject.

Red is a good, but only at low wavelengths - around 600 millimicrons.
At higher wavelengths, it is virtually the same as white light.

Better is blue/green (teal) around 525 millimicrons.

If you need to see color, then very low intensity white light is
preferred. And if you need to keep your night vision, cover one
eye

Now the inevitable question is, why are instrument lights red?

They aren't - they are orange/red because of people who are
color blind.

HAH!!!

Short Wave Sportfishing wrote:
Chuck Gould wrote:

in the pilothouse to better facilitate night vision. The red or blue
portions of the spectrum will provide adequate visibility without
destroying the ability of the eye to see clearly after dark.

Interesting subject.

Red is a good, but only at low wavelengths - around 600 millimicrons.
At higher wavelengths, it is virtually the same as white light.

Better is blue/green (teal) around 525 millimicrons.


I thought it was best to stay away from the peak response of
the rod @ ~500nm. That's why a longer wavelength red 600nm
is good. 525nm is almost at peak rod sensitivity. (?)

http://webvision.med.utah.edu/imageswv/spectra.jpeg

-rick-

-rick- wrote:
Short Wave Sportfishing wrote:
Chuck Gould wrote:

in the pilothouse to better facilitate night vision. The red or blue
portions of the spectrum will provide adequate visibility without
destroying the ability of the eye to see clearly after dark.

Interesting subject.

Red is a good, but only at low wavelengths - around 600 millimicrons.
At higher wavelengths, it is virtually the same as white light.

Better is blue/green (teal) around 525 millimicrons.

I thought it was best to stay away from the peak response of the rod @
~500nm. That's why a longer wavelength red 600nm is good. 525nm is
almost at peak rod sensitivity. (?)

http://webvision.med.utah.edu/imageswv/spectra.jpeg

Not really. The thinking was that the molecule Rhodopsin (The G protein
involved with color vision (purple)) was not responsive to red
wavelengths and that red was naturally the best color for night vision.

As I understand it, and I'm willing to be proved wrong on this, higher
frequency red is not necessarily the best color because of that very
reason - you lose more far vision, depth perception change, color
perception with red than blue/green. The lower blue/green (ok, let's
just call it teal) can be used at higher intensity without damaging
depth perception, far vision and color sense.

That's why most instrument panels in cars and I believe aircraft, are
in the blue/green spectrum around 525 millimicrons.

Here's a good web site that discusses this is much detail.
http://stlplaces.com/night_vision.html

Keith wrote:
Here's a good web site that discusses this is much detail.

http://stlplaces.com/night_vision.html

Cool - thanks.