wiring my boat for lights

[jwmiller33]

hello all. I just bought my first boat this winter and am in the process of adding all the necessities to get it ready for fishing opener. The boat is a 1980 16 ft Lund with a 20 in transom. I have no experience with wiring boat lights at all so I am looking for some help.

I looked into those portable clamp on boat lights and those just don't look like they would get the job done.

I am looking to get the red/green bow light and the white stern light. I want them to be mounted on the boat for studyness obviously, so my first question is, is that easy to do? I'm sure all of you are familiar with the type of boat I am dealing with, the older aluminum Lund style boats. Is it easy to mount the lights on the bow and stern? Do I have to drill into the boat at all or can I get away with using nuts/bolts on a screw?

Second question... How do I go about wiring the lights? I am going to have a 12v deep cycle marine battery that my trolling motor is running off... can I have the lights run off this battery too?

How do I do the wiring? Do I make a mount on my boat where the lights are going to go, and then run the wiring from the mounts to the battery, and then the lights jump snap into the mount whenever I want to use them? Do I need to use a switch for the lights? Is the wiring simple enough to do by myself?

Sorry for all the quesitons... Just looking for some help on a project I am going to start soon.

[Sandmannd]

Yea 25' fish tape at harber freight is ten or elleven bucks.

[jwmiller33]

what is fish tape?

[Ralph Wiggum]

what is fish tape?

It's a stiff but flexible wire used for "fishing" wires through tight spaces.

[jwmiller33]

ah i see... how appropriate.. .haha

[jwmiller33]

so on my S-16 lund, if i take the front nose piece off and rear handle "thingamombobbers", i will be able to wire the lights thru there?

[Jim Almquist]

Yes there will be enough space and you don't need to use anything too heavy as far as wire gauge is concerned. 18 gauge will be more then good enough to light the bow light and if it is a LED you could go to 20 gauge.

[AaronM]

To be perfectly honest, I think you'll be able to get away with the clamp on lights. Unless you're going to be out fishing nights a majority of the time you head out, the clamp ons are perfect for the occasional use. Just a thought..

[skyhawk]

My 2 cents worth.

Glad to see you are putting lights in. Too many times I've come in at nite and all of a sudden there is some fool waving his flashlite at me. No lites on his boat.

I've got a lund like yours and here is what I did. I ran wires inside the gunnels too, no problem. Use stranded wire though, vibration can cause solid wire to break. I just used a piece of solid wire as my "fish tape". As I like to fish at nite I also installed a spotlite at the bow (helps when docking) and yellow clearance lites under the seats. I bought a fused switch block and wire everything to that. As each circuit has its own fuse, makes trouble shooting easier. I then run a # 12 wire to my battery. I fused that at the battery.

If you haven't bought your lites yet, leds are the way to go. Also get the tallest stern lite you can get. Keeps the lite out of you eyes and the bugs out of your face.

[jwmiller33]

I think I am going to go with LED. They just sound better overall in every aspect. How tall of a stern light are you talkin?

[Cicada]

Go as tall as you can store in the boat. I have one that is about four feet long and I have it clamped along the side of the boat. Just have to be careful going under bridges or you'll have a "7" shaped light.

[jwmiller33]

ok i have a S-16 Lund.... how should I go about mounting the bow light? basically the nose piece at the front is where it needs to go, but i cant think of a good way to mount it on there???

someone please help and give me some ideas!

[traveler]

I've got an s-16 too, I just ran out and looked at mine. It was so long ago I forgot how it was mounted:) The plate for my front lite is about 1.5 inches X 4, and it just fits in the tip of the nose...the base straddles the front horizontal slot in the nose piece. It looks like it was likely a little tricky to put in, but I don't remember having any real problem with it. When i wired mine, I used 1/2 inch flexible wiring conduit fastened under/along the gunnels with little clamps made for that conduit. It works fine, of course it shows cause there really aren't gunnels on the s-16 to hide it under, but it works fine. And if I need to change wiring (did that once) it is simple with the conduit instead of having the wires themselves fastened. I just wired it to a little toggle switch on the little shelf thing on the transom.

[traveler]

I just went back a read the whole thread...and went back out and looked at mine again:) I guess I kind of made my own gunnel with the conduit...never thought about trying to run it thru the gunnels. Gotta say I've been pleased with the way mine works, it was fairly easy and cheap, and it's accessable. I mounted the stern light base on the back corner brace. If you're in Duluth feel free to give me a call, you could come out and look at mine if you want. 218-428-6258

[jwmiller33]

traveler---i have a HUGE favor to ask you... could you take a picture of your light set ups and post it on here or send it to me in a email???????? that would be awesome

[jwmiller33]

ok so here are a couple pics of my boat. Note to everybody-I just got it a couple weeks ago, and haven't done anything to it yet. I am currently working an internship with an accounting firm in Minneapolis and my internship is over on March 14h. So I am going to have like 6+ weeks to go back home to Duluth and work on my boat and do all my mods and get it ready for opener.

so traveler.... where did you mount your switch? if you look at that last pic, are you talkin about that little shelf that runs along the transom on the far right of the boat on the pic?

does anybody have any suggestions of where I should put my battery in that thing? I'm gonna have a transom mount trolling motor, and the lights running off the battery, as well as the gps/fish finder.

traveler, i am going to be up in duluth in like 3 weeks or so after my internship is done... do you think i could come check out your boat and see how you mounted your light and how you did your wiring? i have never wired stuff like this before and i really dont have a lot of electrical knowledge, so using this site is key for me learning how to do everything right.

anybody who has pics of their boats lights and you can see how you mounted your lights, it would be awesome if you could post the pics on this thread so i could get some ideas running thru my head...

does anybody have any suggestions on where i should mounted the light for the stern??? i need suggestions on where to mount that too.. i dont know if there would be enough room to mount them on the back corner handle.. if you look at the last pic i posted up there in the beginning of the thread, someone should reference and tell me where i should mount the stern light... on the wood part of the bench? on that back shelf on the far right of the boat in the picture (the shelf that runs next to the transom)???? i need help/suggestions!

[Jim Almquist]

What you have there is a S16 Deluxe It looks like it needs a little TLC but it will make a fine fishing boat. I still think that you will have no problems mount the stern light in the back and attaching it to the transom in the corner just above the splash well. As long as the front seat is missing you could make the a deck all the way back to the 2nd seat and put a pedestal seat and then you will have a storage area underneath. I am not sure if the small compartments in front of the driver would hold a group 27 battery but it sure would be a great place to put them and you could run your wires to the back of the boat. The compartments between the driver and the little ones are just flotation and I thought I was able to get in there so it might be possible to run your wires through there to the back of the boat. Lots of fun projects that you can do over the course of a summer

[DTro]

I don't have a Lund, but a very similar layout. Here is what mine looks like. I have flush mount light fixtures that have wires running back to a fuse box/switch panel. I have a 3 position switch for the lights so that I can run the anchor light separately. The other switch is for the bilge pump.

[traveler]

JW; no problem at all to come see mine in 3 weeks. It's pretty buried, so pics would be tough (plus I suck at the comp/cam stuff) but it isn't going to take over a day to do it anyhow. Heck, I'll help ya. Yes, the stern light will mount fine on the back corner of the transom. Yes, the toggle light switch on that back shelf. I have my battery on the floor in back in the gas tank area in a plastic battery box strapped in. Once you have the lights the rest of the parts shouldn't cost more than 20 bucks or so. you have my #, give me a call when you know when. You could pick up the lights with the type of flush mount bases Dtro has in the pics above, pretty standard. The rest of the stuff is one trip to the hardware store.

[jwmiller33]

ya the boat definitly needs a little TLC but it is going to be my project boat for the month of march and i have a ton of things i am going to do to it and add to it, so it should be a pretty nice boat when i am all done with it.

ok so ya its a s 16 delux, sweet! i didnt know that. its a good thing to know. i got a really good deal on it. i got that boat for $1,000 with a 25 hp Mercury, and that sweet trailer... im pretty happy, i think i got a great deal. there was a divorce, and the wife got the boat from her X husband JUST so he couldnt have it.. haha. and then she jus sold it on clist to me for a great deal!

anyways... traveler, my number is 651 274 7311.. that would be awesome if you could help me out with it one day. i dont know everything i need like the wires and fuses and all that.

how will i be able to mount the stern light on back corner of the transom? will it be a light that plugs into one of those receivers? how will i put the receiver into the back corner plate on the transom? do i cut it?

[jwmiller33]

also, i need help on the bow light... i dunno what to do with it? I was thinking i have 2 options.

First, I could put a piece of wood level with the top of the boat and go from gunnel to gunnel at the very tip of the boat. The piece of wood would be about 6-8 inches long, and it could be a conveinent step for getting out of the boat. i could put one of those receiver things for the light in the wooden step, and have a bow light exactly the same as dtro's in the last pic.

Second, I could get one of those bow lights that just would kind of mount on my nose piece, and not be a plug in, just have it mounted there and run the wires back to the battery thru the gunnel..

What option do you guys think would be best for my boat?

[jwmiller33]

haha one more thing.. i am going to add 2 strip lights that are about 12 inches long in my boat for added visibility during the night. is it easy to wire them up to my battery? how do i go about hooking up those 2 12 in lights, together with my bow and stern light, into the same battery that my trolling motor is going to be running off???? is it easy to do to have that many things wired off of the battery?

[jwmiller33]

Stripped wire ends will connect directly to light fixtures probably via screws. At any splice (most likely at each end of the inline fuse section) I would try to twist together and solder for a good connection. Then use shrink tubing to waterproof and protect, at the very least, use some good electrical tape here.

The bare ends will also connect directly to the switch. There should be posts on the switch for the incoming power (battery) and then outgoing to the lights. At the battery, you will probably want to crimp on some O-Ring connectors that will fit right onto your battery posts with wing nuts screwed down to hold tight.

dtro--can you do me a favor and help explain what shrink tubing is, where i can get it, and all that?

[aanderud]

dtro--can you do me a favor and help explain what shrink tubing is, where i can get it, and all that?

You can find it at any hardware store that has a nominal amount of electrical things - wires, connectors, shrink tubing. It's all together. It's just plastic that you put over the wire, then do your soldering, then cover the soldered section and shrink the tubing with a heat gun to keep water out.

[aanderud]

Most of what you get on sites like this is great repsonses that get your creative juices flowing. The ideas folks are mentioning here are just that....starting ideas. Take the ideas and use google as your friend to get more IN DEPTH information about them. For instance, when someone says to use a fish tape, if you need to know what a fish tape is, use google. Or when someone says to use shrink tubing, again that's a great place to use google.

Using the power of the internet, you'll get more IN DEPTH information than you can shake a stick at without having to hope someone posts the IN DEPTH answer here. Googling some of the terminology or concepts you've gotten in the prior responses will fill in all of the blanks.

[DTro]

Google is your friend