July 17, 2018

LED Boat Lighting

I do a little bit of fishing at night (mostly right after dusk) so I decided to add some lighting to my boat to be able to see what I was doing.

I found these waterproof Flexible LED Strip Lights on Amazon for under $10 for a 16′ length.  I’ve used them on my truck as bed light and thought they would be perfect for the boat too so I bought a couple more sets.

I stuck a strip down each side of the boat right under the gunwale and a short strip under my deck. (not shown)

These LED strips are easy to use and can be cut to any length every three LEDs.

They come pre-wired on both ends of the 16 foot length but it is easy remove a bit of the rubber waterproofing material to solder on new wires and then just seal them with heat shrink tubing again.

I wired them into a existing switch panel I already use for my bilge and nav lights.

I can easily just flick the switch with my toe while fishing to turn them on and then to turn them off again. If I leave them on they are bug magnets so I only use them when I need to release a fish.

It’s very clean with nothing sticking out to get hooks snagged on.  Here they are in the day light…

….but they really shine at night. These were a really great addition and are much better than trying to hold a flashlight or use a head lamp with bugs flying around my head.

All Information, Pictures, and Material is copyright © 2018 by Stephen Thone and may not be used for any personal or commercial purposes without the consent of the author. All rights reserved. The Author makes no guarantees or warranties as to the accuracy or completeness of, or results to be obtained from accessing and using the Information herein.