Question on rigging night lites (for seeing purposes)

[Tube4Slabs]

I want to rig a few flood lites or spotlites to the boat so i will be able to see whats going on. I want to rig them atleast 5 foot up off the base of the boat to shine down on me, or down into the boat kind of like the lights in your home shining down from the ceiling. What lights would work best for this, and what kind of support pole can I get to mount the lights on, and also put on the boat. My boat is 18 foot long bass boat style. Theres not alot of places I can see to put the pole, so any suggestions would be greatly appreciated on how to rig this up

[VietVet68]

It's ironic that this thread pops up now. I'm going to do the same thing to my pontoon an have spent some time deciding how I want to do it.

I was looking at Wally World this morning and I found a rectangular "tractor", Halagen, 55 watt flood light that looks like it would be ideal. Being I have two 12 volt deep cycles (for trolling motor) that have 130 amp hr capacity each, and I would be using my trolling motor very little if at all at night, I wonder how long the 55 watt'ers would run off of each battery? My other thought is a couple 12v, 25 watt RV bulbs. Something else I have to take into consideration is in Illinois and Indiana you have to have an running/at anchor light as the highest point of the boat that is viewable 360 degrees.

I'm considering making a removable light post from 2" PVC with a small at anchor light at the very top, then putting 1 or 2 adjustable lamps just below the top, with separate toggle switches for each light.

[duane]

It's ironic that this thread pops up now. I'm going to do the same thing to my pontoon an have spent some time deciding how I want to do it.

I was looking at Wally World this morning and I found a rectangular "tractor", Halagen, 55 watt flood light that looks like it would be ideal. Being I have two 12 volt deep cycles (for trolling motor) that have 130 amp hr capacity each, and I would be using my trolling motor very little if at all at night, I wonder how long the 55 watt'ers would run off of each battery? My other thought is a couple 12v, 25 watt RV bulbs. Something else I have to take into consideration is in Illinois and Indiana you have to have an running/at anchor light as the highest point of the boat that is viewable 360 degrees.

I'm considering making a removable light post from 2" PVC with a small at anchor light at the very top, then putting 1 or 2 adjustable lamps just below the top, with separate toggle switches for each light.

If I had a pontoon boat and wanted lights for at night and the boat had a Bimini top to it I would look in to place 12V Marine Rope Lighting to the Bimini top. They stay cool to the touch and do not draw many amps plus give off good light.

[olelucky]

Hey moose you have any pics of your umbrella setup???

[VietVet68]

If I had a pontoon boat and wanted lights for at night and the boat had a Bimini top to it I would look in to place 12V Marine Rope Lighting to the Bimini top. They stay cool to the touch and do not draw many amps plus give off good light.

I considered that, the problem is, the top can be a pain in the butt when you have three or four people casting. The other problem is it catches the slighest breeze and all of a sudden it thinks it's the "Cutty Sark". I already have a running/anchor light on it and that's another thing I don't like, it makes it mandatory that I have to run at night with the top up.

I use to have some of the rope lighting on an old houseboat I had, it was pretty but unless the technology has changed they didn't put out enough light to justify the energy draw or the expense. But thanks for the thought.

I also want the option of placing it where most of the bugs will fall in the water and not in the toon.

[rango]

in my boat i mount a couple pieces of 1/2 inch conduit a couple ft long on the brace going around the windshield on the center console and use the clamp on lights with the small metal reflectors with a 12 volt 40 watt rv lightbulb. the lights can be bought about anywhere. i use the small reflectors to help with storage. put a couple clips on the wire and hook it to the batts.the lights are about 7 ft high and can be adjusted to shine anywhere in the boat. i shine em down into the boat, one light pointed to the front and one to the rear.

[VietVet68]

in my boat i mount a couple pieces of 1/2 inch conduit a couple ft long on the brace going around the windshield on the center console and use the clamp on lights with the small metal reflectors with a 12 volt 40 watt rv lightbulb. the lights can be bought about anywhere. i use the small reflectors to help with storage. put a couple clips on the wire and hook it to the batts.the lights are about 7 ft high and can be adjusted to shine anywhere in the boat. i shine em down into the boat, one light pointed to the front and one to the rear.

Would you guess that two of them would burn all night 8-9 hours on 1 fully charged 12 volt deep cycle?