Texas Fishing Forum

LED light bars on boat.

Posted By: Poke

LED light bars on boat. - 06/21/17 12:49 PM

I am looking at doing more night to beat the traffic and sun. I am new to boats all together but I have this question. Can I put a LED lightbar on the front of my boat to help me see? I put a T-Top on and was going to put it on there facing forward. It would be about 6' above the red/green lights on the bow.

Thoughts? Am I wasting my time?
Posted By: SARG

Re: LED light bars on boat. - 06/21/17 10:58 PM

We callem Gun Boats around here that bow fisherman use at night
They have them all the way around the boats
From a 1/2 mile they look like distant gas stations cheers
Posted By: Bobby Milam

Re: LED light bars on boat. - 06/22/17 02:04 AM

I think they are technically illegal if you leave them on plus it's only illuminating a fixed area. They blind anyone who is coming towards you and they won't be able to tell which direction that you are headed. Best to use a spotlight that you can scan the area with IMO.
Posted By: Bobby Milam

Re: LED light bars on boat. - 06/22/17 02:05 AM

Originally Posted By: SARG
We callem Gun Boats around here that bow fisherman use at night
They have them all the way around the boats
From a 1/2 mile they look like distant gas stations cheers

yeah, I hate those. They blind the [censored] out of me and I can't navigate and watch for stumps.
Posted By: Poke

Re: LED light bars on boat. - 06/22/17 02:26 AM

Originally Posted By: Bobby Milam
I think they are technically illegal if you leave them on plus it's only illuminating a fixed area. They blind anyone who is coming towards you and they won't be able to tell which direction that you are headed. Best to use a spotlight that you can scan the area with IMO.


Thanks for the feedback. It was what I was interested in hearing about. I did a search and didn't come up with much. I did come up with what you said over and over about blinding others.
Posted By: SARG

Re: LED light bars on boat. - 06/22/17 09:41 AM

A 24" of good quality throws alot of light
I have two 3.5" mounted in my rear bumper that I wired to my reverse lights
20'X 40' is well lit when I back up to launch.
I leave it in reverse,set the brake and kill the engine
All the light I need to get done what I need done.
Two 3.5" mounted about 4' apart
Posted By: scruboak

Re: LED light bars on boat. - 06/22/17 10:49 AM

Guess I have a gun boat and I only use anchored.If moving yes illegal. I don't use my fishing lights moving.
Posted By: SARG

Re: LED light bars on boat. - 06/23/17 01:08 AM

Aint no shame in a GunBoat,loads of fun busting carp
Problem is when they run with the lights on to run up the lake
Aint no cops on the water after dark,so they do whatever

Originally Posted By: scruboak
Guess I have a gun boat and I only use anchored.If moving yes illegal. I don't use my fishing lights moving.
Posted By: Txduckhunter

Re: LED light bars on boat. - 06/23/17 03:20 PM

We run them on our duck boats - work great.
However, we (or other duck hunters) are usually the only ones out at 4am in 25degree weather so blinding folks isn't a problem. We have a switch that we can reach and turn off IF someone is coming to us.
Posted By: SARG

Re: LED light bars on boat. - 06/25/17 01:50 AM

Exactly,the boat we were shooting on last night was rigged correctly with a kill switch for every light bar and submersible.
All the legal lights had their own switch(factory)
200-300yrds shut them down and let the rigs pass by
Then back to WHAACKIN
Originally Posted By: Txduckhunter
We run them on our duck boats - work great.
However, we (or other duck hunters) are usually the only ones out at 4am in 25degree weather so blinding folks isn't a problem. We have a switch that we can reach and turn off IF someone is coming to us.
Posted By: Bminchew

Re: LED light bars on boat. - 06/29/17 03:53 PM

I have a 24" light bar on the front of my boat. Its nice because it lights up a large area, it also makes catching bait at night a lot easier. The downfall is bugs are horrendous.
Posted By: V-Bottom

Re: LED light bars on boat. - 06/29/17 07:44 PM

I put a 20" on the railing that's over the W/S on my sled. It's wired to the engine's start battery via fused gangblock. I had my boat wiring completely re-wired. Some boat manufactures do a sloppy mess.I found that out.
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