Boat lighting

[waskawood]

I do most of my fishing at night and need a way to light my boat. I would like two methods of lighting. One would be a soft light just to see stuff laying around the boat and then a mounted light that would be more intense for hook removal etc. Does anyone have any novel ideas? Thanks.

[Ole1855]

I made a light several years ago out of conduit, a SS bowl and a cheap light socket from the hardware store. You can buy 12V bulbs that are used in RV's. I just ran a cheap extension cord from the socket through the conduit and put a couple aligator clips on the end, I also put an in-line switch for turning it on and off. It's about 6' tall and lights up the water for 5-6' around the boat when it's on. This is one reason you only want to use it when necessary, it draws in the bugs.

Ole

[IFallsRon]

I've seen 12 v lights similiar to door lights on RVs/campers as well as the rope lights used. Also, under the hood of my Chevy truck, there's a light on a cord that's long enough to reach to the back. I was at a garage sale and picked up a never-used similiar unit with a suction cup attachment. I had intended to put it on a 16-Lund-console that I was fixing up and never got around to it.

[luckyc]

I took a piece of 10 foot conduit, put a 90 degree bend in it at seven feet and attached a old tail light with the lens remove, thus making it like a yard light. I wired both wires into a two way switch so I had the soft tail light and the other way I had the brake light. I put a bolt in the end of the conduit that fit into one of my oar locks. Really worked slick, fished with lighted bobbers, so as we got a bite we'd flip on low side of light and landed fish, then high side to remove hook and rebait.

[hoggs222]

You can get the rechargable million candlepower lights for pretty cheap now. They work great for navigating at night ie. looking for rocks in shallow areas, etc.

[Guest]

Its easiest to run to some type of major boating supply location.. or even a gander mountain if you have one near by and pick up some cabin lights for the boat. I picked a couple up recently that are a simple white light with a rocker type switch on the bottom. 2 lights light up the entire floor of my 16' boat. These lights do provide plenty of light to unhook a fish, and you can leave power to them all the time because they are turned on at the light, not at a switch.

Another great lighting option if you do a lot of night fishing id to get some of the amber clearance lights for a trailer.. the 2 bulb models are best for this application.. 2 of these lights placed at strategic locations in the boat, and preferably not pointing at your eyes will provide nice light just to be able to *see* when night fishing, and they will not draw bugs too bad. You will have to put in a switch for these lights. These lights work great to *just leave on*.. they wont mess up your night vision if you place them properly.

If you mount both styles of these lights.. your light needs should be taken care of other than a spot light for motoring.

Another handy type of light to have in a boat is an automotive flourescent light.. these usually are very durable with a protective plastic case.. these will let you put light where you need it if the cord is long enough.. you might have to install a cig lighter type outlet to run them.. great light when needed, and very little current draw on the battery.. but they will bring in the bugs for miles... so you will only use them when needed.

[waskawood]

Thanks guys. I appreciate the suggestions.