lighting a musky boat?

[Ridgerunnr]

Its time to add some light to the Lund...anyone ever fished at night knows theres a fine line between too much light and not enough...being blinded by lights and trying to fish is not fun. Looking for subtle lighting to create more if a floor glow than a bright light...basically to see enough to walk..to light a compartment area if ya need to grab something .any suggestions ? I ask here as lighting a boat to fish is diff than just adding lights ..03 lund pro sport jf it matters

[50inchpig]

wait till Ebox sees this, he just got done with a sweet lighting job on his rig

[RK]

Hiya -

I did this to my boat a couple years ago. One of the better boat improvements I've ever made.

I looked into rope lights, but, well, they're rope, and besides being kind of ugly, they collect dirt and sand and all that stuff when you run them along the floor. They're just a lot more cumbersome than they need to be for what you get out of them, IMHO. They were just a little too intrusive for me for the main deck area, although I think they'd be great in compartments.

What I ended up doing was adding these little, flat LED surface lights at various places around the boat. They're all of about 1/4" thick, mount with two tiny screws and you don't have to drill any holes to mount them other than a little hole for the wires to get them behind a bulkhead. I think they have 6 LEDs each. I mounted them about 4" off the floor at various places around the boat - 3 on each side in the cockpit area, and two on the front deck on the front of the consoles (I have a walk-thru). I added larger surface mount LEDs under the consoles, and a big round one in the rod locker that lights my locker up like an amusement park (I over did it with that one kinda). Pretty sure I got all the lights from Cabelas.

I had an interior lights switch on my console dash with a wire for interior lights as part of my boat's wiring harness (wires, but no lights...) so I was able to wire it right in to my switch board and power it through the fuse panel, but adding a panel and a rocker switch would be pretty simple.

End result is when I turn them on I get light down inside the hull, along the floor so I can see to walk around with enough light to tie knots or change lures, I can see in my rod locker and under the consoles, but I don't get blinded, and I don't have ropes and wires everywhere. I totally forget they're there until I need them.

I highly recommend you check out some of the low profile surface mount lights...

HTH...

RK

[Ridgerunnr]

wait till Ebox sees this, he just got done with a sweet lighting job on his rig

Well maybe he will chime in w some specifics

[BoxMN]

Erik will chime in, but essentially we got some of the Clam LED lights on sale some time ago. He slipped them into clear tubing, and used the black plastic cable clamps (big enough for tube) to attach to boat. He has one (or two?) strings inside the boat, but not aiming UP, and one string (about 40" long) outside the boat, just under the lip on our Alumacraft. These are aimed down and out, and used for releasing fish with never taking them out of water, or when holding and releasing. It really lights it up great, is water proof, and he rigged them into a couple different interior light switchs so easy to flip on/off, and you can brighten the boat at a couple different levels.

He might have pics, I am too lazy to go and take some

[RK]

Box - rigging a strip outside the gunwale is a slick idea. I have a light I mount to a RAM mount that points over the side for the same purposes and that works good too, but a string along the rub rail would be cool...

[TruthWalleyes]

Its time to add some light to the Lund...anyone ever fished at night knows theres a fine line between too much light and not enough...being blinded by lights and trying to fish is not fun. Looking for subtle lighting to create more if a floor glow than a bright light...basically to see enough to walk..to light a compartment area if ya need to grab something .any suggestions ? I ask here as lighting a boat to fish is diff than just adding lights ..03 lund pro sport jf it matters

E B A Y 16' LED light strips.

Any color available. Keep in mind some draw in bugs, others dont. I went with yellow to avoid bug attraction.

.4a draw

Get a dimmer to go with it.

Some have an adhesive backing, i super glue to my boat.

2nd page are some pics of my lights:

http://www.hotspotoutdoors.com/forum/ubb...dde#Post2881763

[BoxMN]

Box - rigging a strip outside the gunwale is a slick idea. I have a light I mount to a RAM mount that points over the side for the same purposes and that works good too, but a string along the rub rail would be cool...

Yeah, he did a nice job, and it actually fits nicely "under" the rail, so even banging against a doc, it can't get hurt. He also used Sharpie to make inch marks on the side of the boat, upside down so easy to read when leaning over the boat. Makes for interesting conversation when friends see that when not fishing and wondering if we are stoopid or something but works well, and he fishes alone at night a lot, so anything to make the release easier is key. Credit goes to HugoBox, not me, haha! (he is optimistic and has it marked out to 60" haha! )

[HugoBox]

Here's a couple pix. Total cost on these was about $8.

I didn't really dig wearing a headlamp the whole night so I left these on one night a whole back. Can see the bait coming in easily and follows. I know guys think headlamps spook fish but I'd guess that it's similar to a do k light stationary and not shaking around on a guy's head - time will tell. Main reason for me is fishing alone a bit at night can make netting and unhooking an adventure. Also I've found a bit of reflective tape on the net hoop helps eliminate swatting fish in the dark. Also, glow tape on the T/M helps make it easy to see where you're headed. Finally, I put some glow tape on trolling rod tips and sometimes even tape a glow stick (like they have for lighted bobbers) to the tip to make sure the lures wobbling. I guess I have WAY TOO much time on my hands and am always tinkering.

[Mid-Lake Rock]

Box - rigging a strip outside the gunwale is a slick idea. I have a light I mount to a RAM mount that points over the side for the same purposes and that works good too, but a string along the rub rail would be cool...

Luke Ronnestrand had lights mounted on the exterior of his boat for when a fish hit the bag. This was several years ago and stopped using them. When you are fishing busy waters it makes you stick out and everyone knows you stuck a fish. If those lights go on twice, you start to get a lot of company.

[CaptainMusky]

Use UV led lights to avoid people from seeing you at great distances the UV illuminates the line etc. When you get a fish you can turn on regular amber led lights for better viewing. The key for inside the boat is indirect light. Think of under cabinet lighting in your kitchen.

[Lare Pie]

I actually used the rope lights from Cabela's in my Crestliner. I mounted them under the gunnel so they shine down on the floor and not up. To mount them I used several mounting bases (from Menard's, etc...) that are used for securing electrical wires, telephone lines, etc... Don't use the adhesive pad because they won't stick for very long. I super glued them to the bottom of the gunnel & then secured the rope lights w/ zip ties. I don't have a pic right now but if someone wants one I could post it. I was able to run all the wire inside the gunnel all the way to the console. With this setup don't have to worry about tripping on anything & u only see the lights. It was definetly worth the $45.

[Aaron Carrell]

I got some industrial purposed lights direct from a manufacturer a few years ago and installed them in my boat. I think I have a total of 28' of LED lighting and all indirect (under the inside of my gunwale, under the back deck, through the front compartment of my V, and also the end of one of the lengths terminating in my rod storage. Altogether it cost me $80 for the entire boat plus a little labor my a friend and myself to get them installed. Either way, its by far the best thing I've done to my boat. I put in white, and would probably suggest a dimmer if intending to leave them on much, but they are amazing for the use I wanted them.

If I can remember, I'll get a couple pictures in the dark and show you what it looks like. I can't push the brand that I bought, cause the company fell off the face of the earth, but I can suggest that you look into the style anyways, cause its a far cheaper solution than you'll see offered at any outdoor store.