Pamvetdr_at_aol.com wrote: > I must admit to slight confusion here. What is the difference between > fluorescent tape and highly reflective tape? Pam, the fluorescent tape typically takes UV light in and puts it back out in the visible spectrum, making for vibrant, brighter colors, hence Hi-vis orange, red, and yellow use that method to achieve a greater intensity. But, the advantage is minimal at night, inasmuch as the usual light sources (spotlight, etc.) do not have much (any) UV in them. OTOH, the highly reflective tape (viz., SOLAS) reflects visible light _directly_back_to_the_source_ in such a way that if your boat is hit by a spotlight, the reflection is greatly enhanced for the person holding the spotlight. This makes you enormously more visible to a searcher equipped with a searchlight. Ordinary reflective tape spreads out the reflected light over a wider arc on return, so the source does not get nearly as much visible light back. A strip of SOLAS along your gunnels and on your arms, and on your PFD front and back is good marking for times when a light source is on you. -- Dave Kruger Astoria, OR *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************Received on Fri Aug 03 2007 - 14:21:49 PDT
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