The USCG issues standards, and any manufacturer may properly claim they
meet the USCG standards without the USCG ever seeing the item. The USCG
DOES maintain a list of some products they have tested and approved, but
a nav light does NOT need prior approval from them to be completely
legal for use. The standards for nav lights have to do with things such
as where mounted, color, the degree of arc, and the distance at which
they are visible. A 100 year old kerosene burning railroad lantern you
bought at a tag sale is perfectly legal as an anchoring light as long as
it meets the specs. It does not need to be "approved" by anyone. It just
has to meet (or exceed) the standards. The same is true for anything you
make at home to use as a nav light. If you are involved in an incident
and end up in court, you simply must be ready and able to prove that
whatever you used met the specified standards at the time of the
incident... That's if it is even raised as an issue at all. You will
never get a ticket from the USCG, or fail a survey due to using
something other than an exact replacement part. The opposition in a
court case is not very likely to make it an issue anyway. If they do,
they will be more interested in arguing about whether the light was ON
or OFF at the time of the incident. Lets see a show of hands to see how
many in this list always display the proper dayshapes and give proper
horn signals when motoring or sailing! :-)
A local chandlery might very well not want to sell an item without a way
(USCG stamp od approval) to guarantee that it meets the standards, as
that could lead to a liability for them. That is to protect themselves
from liability. It has nothing to do with whether a non-approved light
or replacement part is actually legal.
The "must be approved for the exact fixture" argument falls completely
apart when you realize that replacement incandescent bulbs may not come
from the same source as the original bulb that came with the fixture.
Most of them are generic automotive lamps that come from a multitude of
sources, none of which are "USCG approved".
Bill Bina
On 4/24/2013 10:16 AM, Joel Aronson wrote:
The bulb must beCG approved for the exact fixture. My local chandlery
stopped selling led mastheads for that reason.
Joel Aronson
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