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Sunday, July 3, 2016

Light the night



There's nothing worse than checking out a strange noise in the night with an under powered flashlight. That very thought occurred to me when checking out a strange noise in the middle of night. A pale 15 foot blob of wavering light lacked a certain amount of authority.

We had a nice a self contained hand held spotlight on the boat -the perfect thing for spotting crab pots in the dark or channel markers. Alas, it went down with the boat.

That's one of the things I've been meaning to replace. Since we haven't been night sailing with our other boat, I keep forgetting to buy one. However, like I discovered the other night, it's a good thing to have around at all times. Better to spot trouble in the night hundreds of feet away rather than dozens of feet away. Oh well, it's on the list.

One of the really nifty things about using a converted ambulance as a camper is all the floodlights. We kept the floodlights on both sides and the back. The front light bar was also converted to flood lights. There's even a hard wired hand held spotlight in the cab. With all the lights on night becomes day. Nothing's going to sneak up on us unseen.

I'm not even afraid of the dark. When I was little kid my dad had all these little games we'd play in the dark. He taught me how to get around. Once you get used to the night you don't fear it. Even now my night vision is still pretty good.

Of course, it sure is nice to be able to totally ruin someone else's night vision.

-Sixbears

15 comments:

  1. Blinding the other guy (or critter) is a good defensive move, I think! Better replace that weak light soon!

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    1. Working on it. Still haven't found the perfect one.

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  2. My Dad and uncles all had spotlights mounted on their vehicles or had hand held ones. They mostly used them to shine deer. This was many years ago when game wardens didn't get too upset about a man trying to feed his family.

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    1. vicki,
      hi!
      when you have had your house spotlighted too many times, and on clearly posted land, you call the police.
      'hunters' are a pain in the derriere, especially the ones who pack more liquor than ammo.
      deb

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    2. deb...When I lived in northern MN, I had problems with city hunters and called the law more than once. My Dad and uncles hunted their own land for the purpose of feeding their families. Most times venison was the only meat they had back in the Depression years.

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    3. The game wardens don't look very kindly at spotting deer around here. They don't cut anyone a break no matter how many kids they have to feed.

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  3. Both HomeDepot and Lowes are now offering 800 lumens, LED police type flashlights for right around 30$. The aluminum ones with 3 D cell batteries, like the old Maglites. They make for a passable billy club as well. I have three that I bought last year when the maximum offered for the same price was 500 lumens and they are incredibly bright. The will clearly light up objects up to 100 yards away.

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  4. Behave, dh, there's a LOT of us 'hunters' out here not causing anyone any grief! lol Sixbears, I have a battery-powered (rechargeable) set of power tools that has a light as one of the tools. At full charge, it does VERY well at lighting up the night.

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  5. Hey Bear,
    Check out the UltraFire WF-502B, on Amazon.
    They are 1000 lumen and fit in the palm of your hand. It will light up something two hundred yards out there brighter than daytime ! For around $30 including rechargeable battery.

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  6. Hey Bear,
    Check out the UltraFire WF-502B, on Amazon.
    They are 1000 lumen and fit in the palm of your hand. It will light up something two hundred yards out there brighter than daytime ! For around $30 including rechargeable battery.

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    Replies
    1. I'll check it out, thanks! 1000 lumen is some serious punch.

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  7. LED flashlights have really advanced in recent years. The old standard Mag-Lite is eclipsed in light output by $15 AA battery models that fit in your pant or shirt front pocket now. I don't know their durability, but man or man, talk about blinding light.

    I have a 4 C battery flashlight (heavy dude!) that puts out more than my truck spot light, like a dang light sabre. About $25 at Loews a couple of years ago - amazing !

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    1. LED lights have come a long way. Not only are they bright, they last a long time too.

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