LED Lighting

[5th Tuition]

Has anyone replaced their existing lights with LED lights?

My 22 walkaround has two spreader lights focused out the back. A single spreader focused out the front. A fluorescent light under the hard top. And finally, two cockpit lights focused on the floor.

If you have installed LED lights on your rig, what colors did you decide to use? Certainly white for the spreaders, but what would you suggest for under the hard top and cockpit floor. I'd also like the cockpit floor switch to light some under the gunnel LED strips.

Leaning toward red or blue lights, anyone have any experience with either color?

Does Jim at BOE do this?

Anyone else looking into this for their boat in the offseason?

5th (Marty)

[garlien]

Marty my boat is much smaller than yours...I have LED's along my T Top roof....I looked at a number of different colors...In the end I stayed with clear/white....I have yet to really be in a situation where the white was not fine....I have used red before as well as blacklights but to be honest (maybe my eyes are just bad) I dont see too much difference in the colored lights....I do get more light from the clear...Lighting conditions are very different on your boat and mine but I think the lumen output would end up more important than the color...Just my two cents....

[Hockleyneck]

marty,
I bought an LED from BOE as a spreader light. Jim has a video showing the brightness. One was all I needed and was happy with the power. My old boat had a dome light that could toggle between red and white. Red worked well but still diminishes night vision.

[drichitt]

Marty - Here is a link for a spreader light that I have decided on http://www.lumiteclighting.com/caprera.html. I bought my windlass and numerous other things through this outfit http://www.imarineusa.com/lumiteccap...unt-white.aspx and would certainly do some comparison shopping with them.....Don

[Spot77]

Originally Posted by garlien

Marty my boat is much smaller than yours...I have LED's along my T Top roof....I looked at a number of different colors...In the end I stayed with clear/white....I have yet to really be in a situation where the white was not fine....I have used red before as well as blacklights but to be honest (maybe my eyes are just bad) I dont see too much difference in the colored lights....I do get more light from the clear...Lighting conditions are very different on your boat and mine but I think the lumen output would end up more important than the color...Just my two cents....

I can vouch that Mike's LED lights work great and make opening beer and potato chip bags quite easy in the dark.

With my eyesight I don't think red would be bright enough for any real work to be done on deck.....maybe they work fine to maneuver about, but I don't think I could thread lures and tie knots with most red LED's.

[CAGE RATTLER]

Glad you made this post.

I too will be looking for some lighting this off season.

I put a custom hardtop on my boat this past spring and have yet to add any spreader lights or lighting underneath.

I also want to add some blue rope lights under the gunnels. Ive seen others with the blue and it looks great.

[JigStix]

Originally Posted by Hockleyneck

marty,
I bought an LED from BOE as a spreader light. Jim has a video showing the brightness. One was all I needed and was happy with the power. My old boat had a dome light that could toggle between red and white. Red worked well but still diminishes night vision.

Second the LEDs that BOE sells. I did quite a bit of research and they were by far the best I found. Bright as all get out too!

[Stripe Tease]

I switched Navigation and decorative lights to LED and love them.
http://www.yachtlights.com/ is where i went, they were easy to deal with

for the under the gunwal lights, i went with BLUE and am glad i did - If you have a white or light colored deck, the red lights look PINK

BLUE looks sharp

[5th Tuition]

Thanks for all the replies and information. It seems a friend of mine, who I haven't fished with for a couple months installed LED lighting on his ride. I will check out his setup. Seems he installed spreader lights and under gunnel lighting as well. He is soon installing nav. lights as well.
I can't mention his name on CBA (not even a whisper) as his spies will report me and I'll be banned from his boat.
I'll let you know how they look once I get to inspect them.
5th (Marty)

[yachtjim]

Hi Marty, we do LED's on boats weekly. Under gunwale, spreader, interior, underwater, etc. Just give me a call and I can help you pick out whatever you need.

The caprera lights mentioned above are nice for spreaders but are metal. We all know what powdercoated metal looks like on a boat after a few years. They can't make theirs out of modern plastic because it would get too hot. We brought in a new technology that enables us to provide the same amount of light but hardly generate any heat. So ours are the first plastic spreader lights that will last a long time in the marine environment. Plus they have a bunch of other bullet points that other light manufacturers haven't even thought of yet. Like the ball mounting system, interchangable lense system and more.

You can see a brightness comparison at www.lunarledlights.com