Hey guys, I have been looking into getting LED lights for the deck of my boat and for the compartments. Most of the ones I see are stick on. Ive looked into getting BlueWater LEDs from Bass Pro but I am unsure about them. I dont want to get stick on and then they come off in a year. Any advice or particular brand anyone would recommend. THanks

You can do something as simple as order the steps of eBay and cut them to length. Just add your own adhesive to make them stay on. The adhesive strip that comes on them won't be enough.

I did buy some steps from academy that came with plastic inserts. You slide the light strip inside. They have an adhesive strip on the back but also a screw at each end. I am using them for bow lights and they are holding up well.

The idea of adding my own adhesive sounds like a good plan. Thanks!

I run the Brandon Palaniuk - Signature Series - Deck Light Kit - 6 Lights from Rigid Industries. Their easy to install and super bright!!


http://www.rigidindustries.com/led-lighting?f[0]=field_product_family%3a11&f[1]=field_product_family%3a2902

I put the Blue water LED kit on my boat about 4 years ago and they work fine for me. They put 3M tape on them. Mine have never came off.

The best ones I have found are by Seamaster. They are expensive but they come with clips and have a lifetime warranty or you can use some of 3m double sided adheasive tape from lowes or home depot. 3m 5200 is also good for marine applications.

have some questions about LED lights:

1. does color matter as far as bugs go; does one color attract bugs and another not so much? or, are the LED's cool enough that they do not attract bugs at all?

2. do you need a dimmer?

3. I have an empty switch on my console (ranger rt188), so can I just run all the wires to that switch?

1. I think blue works better for bugs. Green will definitely attract bugs. Mine are mounted on the outside of my boat pointed down. They attract bugs but they stay down in the light so they don't bother me. If you are lighting the interior then you will need to investigate more.
2. No, but you want to make sure that you buy the right ones. Some like the 50-50 are bright others are less bright. You can also adjust that by the size of strips (number of lights) that you use. Test in the dark before you decided how much light you want. For the outside of the boat, I found Academy had an 18" strip that was reasonable, that works pretty good on the side of the boat to attract minnows.
3. Yes you can use your empty switch.

thanks Bobby; I thought I read somewhere that the blue/green light spectrum attracts bugs, and the yellow/red/orange spectrum does not. plus, I think I read that the lack of heat generated by LED lights does not attract as many bugs.

I plan on installing them on the inside of the gunwale to light up the front and rear decks and put off enough light to see what I am doing. so not attracting bugs is very important. I've got a big green light to drop in the water to attract the fish. just want to keep the bugs away up on top of the boat.

If I was mounting them inside where it wouldn't blind me, I'd go with the brighter LEDs then. Best cost effective way would be order a roll off of ebay, cut them to your desired length and then solder wires. Eventually, I plan on doing the same thing to the inside of my boat. You might consider using your empty switch as the master switch and then put switches at different locations that operate that location so whoever is in that spot can either have theirs on or off as they need.

I bought 2 16' rolls of green led's on amazon for $15. + shipping. Mounted on the bottom of my rub rail, to attract bait and fish.

Pics of my led install





I used these for the decks...http://www.oznium.com/led-bolt and just the cheap led strip rolls off ebay for the compartments and under the consoles.