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Do you boat at night?

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goldnrod24

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All the talk about lighted switches and all got me wondering. Do you boat at night?


Personally, I don't. Since we trailer, I'm much more comfortable dealing with retreival in the daylight or dusk. I just don't see the allure of boating in the dark. I did once in my big boat and was very uncomfortable not knowing "what was out there."


My grandson is very excited about the lighted Kicker speakers, so we went out in the barn after dark so he could enjoy them.


You? Why or why not?
 
No! Not yet but we are open to it. Especially not really knowing Lake Norman like we knew our last lake. (Only been here a year and a half.)  The peninsula we live on........we can hear boats/engines all around us all the time at night.  Some sound like their going pretty fast. We've been on our way back to our dock when it was getting dark but we haven't been out in total darkness. I think we're more afraid of getting hit by something/someone than the other way around......


My wife wants to spend the night on the boat but............The mosquitoes would kill me!
 
If your not on the water at night,your missing the best part of boating! The beauty of the stars and lights of the shore. Not to mention the site of the occasional shooting star.And in late summer, the glow of the nettles in the wake of the boat.So I really suggest that find someone that goes out at night in your area. You won't be disappointed,promise.
 
I could not agree more. There is nothing better than a warm summer night on the lake. The favorite time of the summer is watching the fireworks for the 4th of July on the lake with hundreds of boats. It's really cool out on the lake because there are no piers on the lake so very little ambient light. Best time out is on clear night with a bright moon.
 
Night boating is awesome!  It's what we're really excited about.  We've had our boat two weeks now and have already had five night trips.  We love it so much that next Monday I'm having side lighting, underwater lighting, speaker lighting, and some interior LED lighting installed.  I can't wait to take a slow night cruise and be able to see the water glowing to the sides and behind the engine.  


Around Charlotte the summers get miserably hot, so boating late in the afternoon into the evening, makes for a much cooler boating experience.  We especially enjoy taking the grill with us to do some late afternoon cooking.  At night It gets fairly calm and peaceful...it's a wonderful time.  I have to admit, I have not done the star gazing since I usually get preoccupied with fishing or am still enjoying a few Michelob Ultra's with friends.  This year, I'm going to work the star gazing in!  After living in Alaska for a time, I do miss looking up at the stars. :)
 
We had two nights of nighttime cruises this past weekend.  Saturday night we needed two boats to carry the crowd.  We cruise at about 5mph and love it, music & Mich Ultras are our choices as well.


Fireworks are always best viewed from the boat as well, unfortunately I will not be at the lake that weekend.  In 2012 I may have been the only one with underwater and side lights, now it is quite common.  I have seen the ones that beat to the music but I still prefer the solid Blue Ice the best 
 
We love boating at night. 


I can make a silly comparison to parades. You can go to a parade during the day, and it's just not the same as gong to one at night. During the day, you have the floats, the people, the costumes..... but at night, you can add the lights and the excitement really pops. You're able to focus on the heart of the parade, not the junk in the background. 


Daytime%20Parade.jpg



Nightime%20parade.jpg
 
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Last year when my parents where staying with us for a couple of weeks, we went out at night for a night cruise.  It was very nice with the stars out!  Then while we were heading back to the marina, everyone starting to feeling like they were getting stung by something!  We couldn't figure out what was going on so we took the big flashlight out and saw MILLIONS of bugs!!  The stinging was us being pelted by this new hatch of bugs!!  We had to put up our jackets in front of us so we wouldn't get it in the face!  We couldn't get back to the dock fast enough!  The next morning we went back to the boat to check it out and the floor was SO covered in these bugs that had hit us during the night and then died, you couldn't even see the floor!  It was incredible!  We have been hesitant to go out again after that.  I don't know what kind of bugs they were, but I would like to find some kind of chart or calendar that shows what bugs are hatching before we ever go out after dark again.   :ph34r:  
 
I honestly cannot even comprehend how anyone with a pontoon boat doesn't go out for a night cruise at least once in a while.  It's so relaxing.  For people who are afraid because of not being able to see....that's why you go slow and then flip the docking lights on once in a while if you still can't see.  My wife and I both work full time and are raising 4 year old twins right now.  There really isn't a better way of winding down after putting our twins to bed, grabbing a glass of wine and the dog and heading out on to our lake for a nice cruise and some relaxing music (we have video/audio baby cameras in each of the twin's bedrooms that we can see on the monitor from anywhere on our lake to keep an eye on them).  A few laps around the lake is like seeing a shrink as far as the calming effect.  We also enjoy looking up and seeing which planets we can see (typically Mars, Jupiter, Venus and occasionally Saturn).  Seriously....if you're not doing this you're missing out....especially those of you like me that live in the northern climates where the summer isn't very long to be able to do this.
 
I was involved in a mayfly attack like that in Michigan once. It was not pleasant. Fortunately we have never had that issue in Missouri.
 
It's also good to have a very bright portable light to be used by your first mate at the front of the boat as you navigate through tree lined/covered channels that may be shadowing the skylight. You can see everything that might be lurking in the water in front of you.  
 
That's what the docking lights are for.  We have a channel that connects our lake with the next lake in the chain of lakes I live on.  My docking lights do a very nice job of lighting everything up.  I just installed those brighter Sylvania ones this past weekend that people on here were talking about earlier this Spring so I'm looking forward to seeing how much brighter they are.
 
We live on the water but have only been out for a couple late cruises. Typically for the fireworks but having a less than one year old puts a damper on nightly boating activities. I don't want to leave them at home and float solo! I'm sure as the little squirt gets older we'll stay out longer.
 
1Blderbob said:
If your not on the water at night,your missing the best part of boating! 
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+1


We enjoy the sunsets and nights as much as any other time on the lake.


Steve
 
lakeliving said:
We live on the water but have only been out for a couple late cruises. Typically for the fireworks but having a less than one year old puts a damper on nightly boating activities. I don't want to leave them at home and float solo! I'm sure as the little squirt gets older we'll stay out longer.
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Come on Mom and Dad. Take the little one with you, they will be much better boaters as they grow up. Our kids claim they were conceived on a boat, should have been delivered on the boat and grew up on the water. And now their signats are now coming out all the time. Most weekends, my wife and I drop the kids off at different  night clubs so they don't have to pay covers. Saves them 10 bucks by coming in by boat. And the rest of the night is our time. It's also not uncommon to be picking back up at 1-2 am if we're still out running. FUN FUN FUN. We love the Benny!
 
We love boating at night! 


Don't care so much for the people trying to run across the lake with their "docking" lights on as headlights.
 
1Blderbob said:
Come on Mom and Dad. Take the little one with you, they will be much better boaters as they grow up. Our kids claim they were conceived on a boat, should have been delivered on the boat and grew up on the water. And now their signats are now coming out all the time. Most weekends, my wife and I drop the kids off at different  night clubs so they don't have to pay covers. Saves them 10 bucks by coming in by boat. And the rest of the night is our time. It's also not uncommon to be picking back up at 1-2 am if we're still out running. FUN FUN FUN. We love the Benny!
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He was on the boat when he was 4 days old!!!!! Give me some credit!!! We keep him on a schedule and it has worked great. He has been in his own room since 4 weeks and has slept through the night since 8 weeks old. I don't want to screw that up. Plus, when you are on the boat all day, missing out on a late cruise isn't the end of the world.


It has been fun the few times we did go out pre baby
 
lakeliving said:
He was on the boat when he was 4 days old!!!!! Give me some credit!!! We keep him on a schedule and it has worked great. He has been in his own room since 4 weeks and has slept through the night since 8 weeks old. I don't want to screw that up. Plus, when you are on the boat all day, missing out on a late cruise isn't the end of the world.


It has been fun the few times we did go out pre baby
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Oh come on, it's are duty to screw with the schedule! All kidding aside, sounds like you are doing a great job as parents. I'm glad to hear about taking the baby out that soon. We took some flack from others about taking the kids out at an early age. But they were the same people that said a child shouldn't go to Disney until they were at least six years old. So call us bad parents! :p  Best of times for your family, kids grow really fast.
 
I'm a firm believer in indoctrinating little ones into boating at a young age. As we know, boating runs in families. Plus, the industry needs us to develop the next generation of customers! I'm doing my best; my 2 grandkids are hooked at age 4 and 6.


My grandson already wants me to buy him a pontoon boat!!!!!
 
The first time my son ever crawled was the summer of 2012....on my Bennington.  True story.
 
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