Thread: LED boat lighting - thoughts/suggestions

In my opinion, LED lighting is one of the coolest things to come out for small boats. They are very efficient, use very low wattage and make minimal heat. (at least the good ones do) So you can have lots of light and not worry about running your battery down and getting stranded.


I rig boats as part of my job. (I have my own shop, but I also do rigging work for local marinas) So I see lots of lights. I personally am not the most creative person, and I generally design things for function. But some customers come in with amazing light plans that are just cool-looking. Stuff I would have never thought of. Layered light of multiple colors, that are very impressive at night. Of course, I learn a lot from these customers.

But if you night fish, there are a couple of things to consider. I always recommend is having"work" lights and "show" lights.

"Show Lights"
Blue, purple, green, and high-freq white LED lights are high-frequency colors, and make very cool accent lights, but are tiring to your eyes after awhile, and they destroy your night vision. So those are mainly for looks.

Red is a low frequency light, but looks very good when contrasted with the above colors. But it's not easy to see by for many, so it's not a great work light. (but some like red light, as it's best for protecting your night vision) So it can be both a show light and a working light.

"Work Lights"
Amber is a lower frequency color, protects your night vision, and doesn't tire your eyes. Amber is a very good work light color for night fishing. It's kind of a blah color, so not used for show much. Again, some choose red light in this application, but I've never had one single person come back and say they didn't like the amber, once installed. To the contrary, many thank me, although they had reservations at first.

And of course, Soft White (2700-3500K) is the best task light color. (Avoid the bluish 6500k lights, as they are very piercing at night.) SOMETIMES, offset white light is the best floor lighting color, especially if you have black or very dark carpet. This would apply in many crappie boats.

Here is a picture showing two different amber lights in a saltwater boat. The one to the left is yellow, the one to the right is a true amber. Both work, but the amber is a little easier on the eyes:



Placement
Light placement is JUST as important as light color if not MORE important.
In my opinion, all lighting should be offset, or shielded, with a few exceptions. So mounting your lights under lips and ledges is an important part of planning. If they must be mounted on a vertical or horizontal surface, a shroud or cover to direct the light is very helpful to make it look it's best. Not many people like looking directly at the diodes!

One exception is when the light has a lens to direct the light. The round or oval cockpit lights you often see can be modified for LED use, and they work pretty good with amber lighting. Here is how they turn out:



General Lighting Plan Example
The light plan that I often install is all about function. It's a 2-4 switch system.

Switch 1 is for offset floor lighting, as shown in the pics above. Mounted under the gunnels and hidden in other spots, usually facing down, these light up the floor and step up areas of the boat. These are the ones that you will likely leave on the most. Easy on the eyes, and bright enough to see everything, so you aren't tripping all over the place.

- Switch 2-4 are for white "task lights" that are used briefly for tying knots or other times where you need to see something clearly. Some are pretty powerful lights, but I usually mount a low power one under the console. Turn it on to tie your knot or read something, and turn it off. Some boats have only the one, some boats have several.

And then you move on to the show lights. These can be placed anywhere that looks good! It's pretty cool to launch the boat all lit up at the dock. People will say "Wow," if done correctly. Then once you are ready, you turn these lights off, and disappear into the night. Pretty cool.

One last thought... most appreciate having a 18w LED floodlight mounted on a 1.25" PVC pole that plugs into your cigarette lighter socket and fits in a rod holder for those times you want to light up the water or the inside of the boat. I personally have two of these that I use at night for crabbing or drawing in bait and they work great! Then we use them while cleaning the fish at the dock.

Again, this is all my personal opinion, but I hope it is helpful to someone.

Feel free to comment or add your thoughts.

-Tony