MacGregorSailors.com

A search here did not turn up anyone using Bebi Electronics LED's. I read the website and the technical information is impressive. It seems this company, on a small island somewhere, has navigation lights and boating and Colregs well understood. I am tempted to go with them, but would appreciate any comments from the forum here.

http://www.bebi-electronics.com/

Opie

Comment: Bebi says, (seemingly too honest), that any deviation from the original Macgregor lighting could be cause for an aggressive lawyer to disallow your claim that you were properly lit up at night. Interesting....


From Bebi's site, info on USCG certification:
What the USCG has to say about certification is found in 33CFR Sub-Part M, paragraph 183.801-803:

§ 183.803 Applicability.
This subpart applies to recreational vessel manufacturers, distributors, and dealers installing such equipment in new recreational vessels constructed after November 1, 2002.

§ 183.803 Definitions.
As used in this subpart: Dealer means any person who is engaged in the sale and distribution of recreational vessels to purchasers who the seller in good faith believes to be purchasing any such recreational vessel for purposes other than resale. Distributor means any person engaged in the sale and distribution of recreational vessels for the purpose of resale. Manufacturer means any person engaged in:
(1) The manufacture, construction, or assembly of recreational vessels, or
(2) The importation of recreational vessels into the United States for subsequent sale.
Navigation lights are those lights prescribed by the Navigation Rules (Commandant Instruction 16672.2 series) to indicate a vessel’s presence, type, operation, and relative heading.

Again, from the Bebi website: As you can see, the burden of certification is solely on the manufacturer/distributor of boats, not the consumer, although you still MUST comply with COLREG. We will not attempt to address requirements of the 50 individual states and the territories!

If you have insurance and you are involved in a collision at night, your claim may be dis-allowed if you have a non-OEM light bulb, whether it is an LED, incandescent, halogen, or fluorescent, in the fixture, regardless of the real reason for the collision.

still, I haven't seen from Macgregor any point to rotate the mast on an M to dead center for nite motoring, otherwise the steaming light will not be pointed straight ahead.

I have put a pin in our mast to keep it center for trailering and using the boom brake. But it is useful for nite motoring to keep the mast dead on straight.

Paul

I've replace the inside lights with LED, from here.

http://www.superbrightleds.com/led_prods.htm

Make sure you order the right ones. they have different fittings (suckets)
Also check the polarization of the wires, positive & negative. they won't work if they are in reverse (-/+) polarization.

If they are, just cut it and use a soldering gun will fix the problem. not big deal.

I am still shopping around for the outside lights.

gus

opie wrote: If you have insurance and you are involved in a collision at night, your claim may be dis-allowed if you have a non-OEM light bulb, whether it is an LED, incandescent, halogen, or fluorescent, in the fixture, regardless of the real reason for the collision.

I don't know, I could be wrong, but I have trouble envisioning the adjuster going so far as to verify that your light bulbs were OEM versus after market.

I dont recall seeing any documentation that my was certified to meet any set of regs, so Im not sure the argument about changing an OEM bulb above is valid.

As Commander of the vessel, I always assumed I am directly responsible for complying with any regs on the water - is that right Eric?

..

Insurance policies typically don't have stupidity disclaimers. They usually pay out even if you're speeding, running a red light, otherwise failing to yield, yackin' on a cell phone, and even if the driver is DUI. Where they may not have to pay is when the person buying the insurance misrepresents the risk to them, in which case it may be found a contract never existed.

Legal defense teams often have good investigative services who work hard to find anything the victim may've done wrong, in order to reduce the liability of their client or their client's insurer. My ex-wife's law firm was VERY good at this and I've seen it in action.

Personally, I think it would really suck to be found partially liable for the death of one's spouse or children.

My ex-wife's law firm

Thats a more frightening phrase than " we are taking on water"