Driving lights
I'm setting up my boat for night fishing and have been running a temperary Led light strip under the Targa. It is working well and I'm now running permanant wiring inside the stainless and back to the dash switches. I'm running a spare conductor for future head light/s but not sure how I want to go with head lights.
I'm thinking Led light bar/s up top of the Targa and I'm going to build a custom shade/s from stainless sheetmetal onto the mounts which will be shaped to exactly shade out the bow to stop lighting up the bow and ruining night vision.
I've driven the boat a few times at night and it is a bit daunting with cray pots and steal post sticking out without lights on them. Trying to stick a powerful head torch out the over the windscreen sux!
I'm not sure whether to go for a single light bar with spots and floods or two singles which might be better as they can be tilted slightly outwards possibly giving slightly more side vision.
These are the items I'm looking at and favouring the single at the moment..
www.elinz.com.au/buy/cosmoblaze-27-120w-cree-led-light-bar-driving-sing/CBSR120BLK
www.elinz.com.au/buy/2x-18w-4-inch-cree-led-work-light-bar-driving-floo/L4INCHx2
Any opinions or pitfalls to watch out for that I have missed?
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Willlo
Posts: 1490
Date Joined: 07/10/11
I'm doing something similar
I'm doing something similar with a dinghy but went red led strips ,they r meant to save yr night vision. Spotlight will be mounted on a telescopic pole attached to the console so its high enough to clear the bow.
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Haynes Hunter Prowler CC
quadfisher
Posts: 1146
Date Joined: 28/09/10
The lowdown?
Only thing I can add is I thought the lower the lights the better for vision and less glare, some older glass hulls from the 70,s and 80,s
i.e formula 23,s etc had the lights mounted in the front of the hull , just below the deck line , I think behind a perspex cover.
But that was built into the hull mold of course.
I like the idea of some sort of secure but removable thing , built with a couple of ram type mounts ( no rust) either side of a lightbar with a waterproof plug setup,
that way you can mount it lower and have it gone when not needed.
But you know your boat and intended use best , so post some pics when done.
quadfisher
Faulkner Family
Posts: 18026
Date Joined: 11/03/08
i have thought about
i have thought about mounting lights on the bough rail but im not too sure if they would get in the way.
RUSS and SANDY. A family that fishes together stays together
gruntre69
Posts: 533
Date Joined: 15/10/16
Yes, I thought about that
Yes, I thought about that too but it will be ugly and it will be awkward with anchor handling. I'm sure forward mounted would be the best light however as usual everything is a compromise.
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ranmar850
Posts: 2702
Date Joined: 12/08/12
Lights are always a problem
very hard to illuminate forward without the glare off the foredeck ruining your night vision, and glare off the windscreen makes it worse. Hardtops are probably worst of them all, unless you can completely open a forward facing window. At least with a runabout, you can look over the screen. And your vision really is restricted to the lit area in front of you, blind to everything else. My last crayboat was really lit up, but you had to be up on the flybridge to really get the advantage. Bow rail mounting certainly looks daggy, but at least no glare. Mounting them in the coaming like headlights isn't really great, for two reasons. One, they are just too low. And secondly, you have to adjust for either planing, or bow down. I deckied on a crayboat where the owner had gone to the trouble of mounting them like that--they were pretty useless.
if you can actually shade them so they don't shine on the foredeck, you could be on a winner.
gruntre69
Posts: 533
Date Joined: 15/10/16
Yes, I agree. I reckon it
Yes, I agree. I reckon it should be hard to build a shade. Just experiment with a shape cut into a piece of cardboard. It shouldn't need to be very big because it will be close to the light. It will work a bit like a lens shade works on a wide angle camera lens, which is shaped to shadow the lens from sun glare.
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Faulkner Family
Posts: 18026
Date Joined: 11/03/08
i have tried that before it
i have tried that before it doesnt work that well, you still get the glare off the foredeck
RUSS and SANDY. A family that fishes together stays together
gruntre69
Posts: 533
Date Joined: 15/10/16
That's interesting. Do you
That's interesting. Do you think it was the light from above hitting the foredeck causing the glare? Maybe the shade wasn't big enough? What type of boat was it? Was there anything above the lights that the light could have bounced off like a radar dome or something? I'd be disappointed to buy the light and find it doesn't work because of glare from the deck.
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Faulkner Family
Posts: 18026
Date Joined: 11/03/08
it was just a gard top
it was just a gard top fraser . yje covers i did were about 4 inches out from the lights at the bottom. the glare that made it dificult was off the foredeck . i tried to change the position of the lights by putting them a bit further back then it did cut the glare a bit but reduced the beam of the lights where you needed them
the only thing i dldnt try was to raise the height of the lights up off the roof
RUSS and SANDY. A family that fishes together stays together
ranmar850
Posts: 2702
Date Joined: 12/08/12
Pretty easy to work it out.
Don't bother , initially, with making a carboard template. Just mount the lights where they can fit, then, at night, stand in front of them and hold an object in front of the light to see where it's shadow falls. move it around a bit. This will show you where the end of the shadowed area will be, both in length and depth under the lights. I reckon it will need to be pretty long to shield the foredeck.
Jackfrost80
Posts: 8144
Date Joined: 07/05/12
I've got a light bar that is
I've got a light bar that is a spot/flood combo on my bow rails and it's brilliant. Doesn't get in the way with dropping or pulling anchor either.
Officially off the Pies bandwagon
gruntre69
Posts: 533
Date Joined: 15/10/16
That's good to know, it
That's good to know, it means if I buy the one I'm after and my plan doesn't work I can opt for the bow rail mount as a plan B. Just have to work out whether it's worth trying to get one that will also fit my ARB bar on the cruiser and share it between the two.
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