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Boat light installation recommendation

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ra760111

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Discussion starter · #1 ·
I just bought a boat but have not taken it out at night. What is the best light to use for spot light? Is it worth installation the LED bar lights? How about the strip lights around the boat?

I am excite about adding more features. Thanks for the advice and feel free to share the pictures of your lighted boat.
 
#2 ·
Your best bet if you want to run at night is a good LED light bar, a lot of the guys including myself use Plashlight light bars, super bright and reliable. I have a 20" dual row on my cat and it seems to light up the world.

Hope this helps,
-Moondog
 
#4 ·
I have mine on the grab rail but up front is better if the light shines off the deck it can cut your visibility with the glare. There are a lot of 20-22inch light bars on amazon or ebay.

My 360 is mounted on my console and I had to tape the bottom half of the plastic so it did not blind you but stayed legal.
 
#5 ·
Go with a ~20" LED bar spot/flood combo mounted toward the front of the boat. If it's on the console you're gonna get glare off the deck. I installed a 20" that I got off of Amazon for $30 and it's still going after 2 years of salt spray. Mine is mounted on a 40qt Yeti on my front deck that I use as a casting platform.
 
#7 ·
Shoalwater has a wiring tube that runs from the console to front hatches so that was simple. I've got a trailer pig tail in there so I can pull the cooler and disconnect the light if I need to. I had it on the burn bar the first time I took the boat out and immediately moved it, pretty much useless because of the glare or if someone is sitting in front of the console.

Brand wise it's up to you. I've gone with these no name bars for years and haven't had one fail yet, and if it does I can buy 10 of them for what some brand name companies charge for a single bar.
 

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#12 ·
If you mount a flood/spot light bar on your windshield grab rail the glare from the front deck will blind you at night.

Mounting one on the bow or on a cooler as was shown is probably the best way of doing it but it being so low to the water you lose depth, or the distance you can see at night.

Our solution after much deliberation, testing and cussing was to do away with the spot/flood light combo and buy a light bar that was spot only...it has a tighter beam and to mount it on the burn bar. The one we went with is 30" wide.

Had to keep the burn bar low enough so that anything on top wouldn't interfere with getting the boat inside a 12' door at the boat barn lol. Hence we broke the anchor light off the top and replaced it with a fold over anchor light...problem solved.

Works great, no glare on the deck and you can see a long long way at night on the water.

This is the best picture I have right now that shows the light on the burn bar.

TH
 

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#13 ·
Trouthunter said:
If you mount a flood/spot light bar on your windshield grab rail the glare from the front deck will blind you at night.

Mounting one on the bow or on a cooler as was shown is probably the best way of doing it but it being so low to the water you lose depth, or the distance you can see at night.

Our solution after much deliberation, testing and cussing was to do away with the spot/flood light combo and buy a light bar that was spot only...it has a tighter beam and to mount it on the burn bar. The one we went with is 30" wide.

Had to keep the burn bar low enough so that anything on top wouldn't interfere with getting the boat inside a 12' door at the boat barn lol. Hence we broke the anchor light off the top and replaced it with a fold over anchor light...problem solved.

Works great, no glare on the deck and you can see a long long way at night on the water.

This is the best picture I have right now that shows the light on the burn bar.

TH
Click to expand...
Well shoot! The grab rail is the highest point on my boat. I guess I can always move it to the bow. :eek:hwell:
 
#14 ·
Well shoot! The grab rail is the highest point on my boat. I guess I can always move it to the bow. :eek:hwell:
Click to expand...
Yea sucks because the grab rail is a perfect place but man the glare off of the deck just blinds you.

I liked the bow mounted light and I thought the cooler light was pretty clever but we have it where we want it now and it works very well.

Good luck with it, might try it just to be sure before you change how you have it.

TH
 
#16 ·
ra760111 the picture I posted above is the best that I have right now. Only hole drilled was into the aluminum rail on the burn rail. There is no quick connect on mine. It's got shrink wrapped connections.

TH
 
#17 ·
Trouthunter said:
Yea sucks because the grab rail is a perfect place but man the glare off of the deck just blinds you.

I liked the bow mounted light and I thought the cooler light was pretty clever but we have it where we want it now and it works very well.

Good luck with it, might try it just to be sure before you change how you have it.

TH
Click to expand...
I'm going to try it before I change it, but you are probably right about the glare. I rigged mine with a cigarette lighter plug so I can easily take it off the boat when I don't need it.
 
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