Saw someone else on the forum with something like this. Thought I would do it to my boat. My bow NAV light barely sticks up over the trolling motor. Fine when trolling or on plane, but hidden when getting on or off plane.

Ordered a couple of 1 foot side emitting LED strips and put them on the boat this evening. I think it looks pretty cool. Also means I don't have to install the pole light in the bow every time. Hopefully the double sided tape it came with is good enough to hold it in place. Guess I will find out Saturday morning. These are much easier to see than the old one. The bow plug for the old one is still wired and will be in the boat as backup.

I like it And what size lights did you use? Also and special to get them to stick to the side of the boat or did u use the 3m that came with it?

??? how much was the green strip?

Bought them from Oznium for $15 each strip plus shipping. They appear to come from 2 different sources since they looked a little different with different tape on them.

I just used the tape they came with. Cleaned the surface with alcohol and stuck them in place. They seem to stick pretty good, but the ends do stick up a little.

Chess101, I am guessing you want them for bait fish lights? I think the green is plenty bright enough to attract bait fish. I tried looking for longer strips to put down the side of the boat for the same reason. They have a 2 foot for $30. Might find it cheaper elsewhere.

yezir, i kayak(no motor boat) and those green would look real nice on the front of the yak and maybe a shorter red strip maybe 4inch up top in the pit wit me(something like what was posted earlier) but way less light, just want a bit of a dim glow....these run off a standard 12v batt?? i have a deer feeder batt that i use for the Fishfinder, can they be powered by the batt?

Yes, I have these wired to the boat's 12v power system. They are low amperage so you should be able to run them off a deer feeder battery for quite a while. You can drop the voltage down a little to make them dimmer. They have a 6" strip if you want something shorter. I think they can be cut every 3 inches but don't quote me on that. These are really bright. I turned them on a little while ago and they lit up the driveway nicely.

Looks nice !

Have you tried them out running at night. Looks like there might be some "glare in the face" when running.

I like the idea though. Very easy for others boaters to see.

Brian

I can't see you photos from work, but are we talking about the red and green running lights for the bow? If so, has the Coast Guard approved using them in lieu of the bow light? I want them in the nose of my boat but was told by a compnay that installs them that until approved by the USCG, you still have to use your standard bow light.

Your bow lights can only be seen from a certain degree aft of the bow so these would not be legal running lights until the coast guard approved them witch probably wont happen cause they show beyond that arc that will confuse boaters on are you comin straight at them or runnin straight across from left to right. And from the pic it looks to me that you can see them from behind also.

I will be running them Saturday morning. The LED strips are side emitting and angle down slightly. So all the LEDs point forward. From the driver's seat, you can't see the lights at all since they are mounted slightly lower than the front deck's edge. Even sitting the pedestal they shouldn't be a problem.



TPWD says they are OK so that's all I needed. I don't run in coastal waters.

The LEDs put out a 120 degree beam. On my boat, they have the same cutoff angle as the old running light. The only problem might be that the port light can not be seen from the starboard side after a certain angle. But that shouldn't be any different than a bigger boat with separate lights mounted on either side of a tower. And since the plug for the old light is still wired up, I can put the old one in if needed.

If you run in coastal waters, get the lights approved before you try to run them. As for Texas waters, my understanding is that they are legal.

toxarch, is that your "understanding" or do you have something in writing from TPWD? The state can enact more stringent laws than the USCG, but they can't circumvent USCG requirements for navigable waterways and the safety equipment required.

Please tell me you have something in writing and post it up. I've been wanting to put those on my boat. Bow light gets in the way when I lower my TM.

Yea, thats pretty cool. Want to do the same as long as it's legal and was also wondering if they can just be spliced into the existing bow light frame/power?

toxarch, I did the leg work. Yippeee! The bow lights are legal in the rub rail or underneath so long as they meet the reuirement of 1 mile visibility. You do still have to use the back pole light with 2 mile visiblity for 360 degrees, but the front can go.

I just confirmed that with a close friend who is a Captain Game Warden. I'll be getting mine installed soon!

AWESOME! I need some too! BTW, I noticed the ones you used look different then the ones on their site is that true or am I seeing things?

I may be dumb but I'm guessing I'm missing on how to order in a foot length....