Sealing around LED light strips?

[Bantou]

I bought some green LEDs to go around the edge of my boat (similar to these) but I'm not sure what would be the best way to seal around them. Initial thought was to back and top seal with a pliable silicone caulk and put rubber washers against the metal on the inside of the boat. Would that work or is there a better option?

Many Thanks,
Bantou

 

[FuzzyGrub]

I used one of those on a bow mount trolling motor for night time directional indicator. I did seal the two bolts and the pushbutton to prevent water leakage into the head unit. I wouldn't bother sealing around the edge of them. Keep in mind that green is a navigational light and not legal on the exterior. I need to find a blue one to replace it. I used those red LED strings for interior lights, mounted just under the rail.

 

[Bantou]

I used one of those on a bow mount trolling motor for night time directional indicator. I did seal the two bolts and the pushbutton to prevent water leakage into the head unit. I wouldn't bother sealing around the edge of them. Keep in mind that green is a navigational light and not legal on the exterior. I need to find a blue one to replace it. I used those red LED strings for interior lights, mounted just under the rail.

They are only going to be used at anchor for fishing. If I understand the regs correctly, I’m fine as long as I’m anchored and not under way. I’ll give the local game warden a shout though just to be sure.

 

[airshot]

Your state could be different, but from my experience in a number of states, white should be used at anchor ! If inside your boat then any color can be used. Below the water line is also non critical on color. Outside the hull, regulated colors are supposed to be used. If your on a small out of the way place, you can get away with most anything, but in a traffic zone.......???

 

[Bantou]

Your state could be different, but from my experience in a number of states, white should be used at anchor ! If inside your boat then any color can be used. Below the water line is also non critical on color. Outside the hull, regulated colors are supposed to be used. If your on a small out of the way place, you can get away with most anything, but in a traffic zone.......???

I’ve seen a lot of guys run green LED lights around the outside of their boat. I’m waiting on a call back from the game warden to see what she says. My understanding is that the LEDs are fine as long as they are angled down, you can still see the required lights, and you aren’t underway. Worst case, I’ll buy a set of red lights as well to run down the left side. That boat has enough issues without putting more holes below the waterline. I wouldn’t mind having some reds on the inside anyway so I’m not fumbling around with a flashlight trying to find stuff.

 

[airshot]

We have a couple area July 4th fireworks shows in our area on the water. It has become popular to add bright blue LED lights on the outside of boats, especially pontoons that it destroys other folks night vision ! It is supposed to be illegal for this same reason but the officials seem to look the other way with thousands of boats moving after the fireworks shows. Numerous accidents have taken place, but none serious at this point, due to slower moving boats at night. These lights destroy a persons ability to see the required red and green lights as they are so bright.....guess we won't pay any attention until serious injury or a death takes place. My boat has some small interior lights for night fishing, but not these extremely bright lights that destroy night vision and can't really be seen from outside the hull.

 

[Bantou]

I’m going to have to do something different with the green lights. I mocked up one of them tonight and it was a lot brighter than anticipated (I was expecting early 2000’s rope light, not just shy of the sun) and won’t be angled down enough. I’ll probably rig up something with pvc that will sit in the oar lockers and allow me to lower a few lights into the water.

 

[thill]

I was going to mention the legal thing, but I see others already did.

I have LED nav lights in my rubrail. They are the ones that come sealed in silicone, and they work well. They are the ones with the CORRECT colors, and they are set so the viewing angles are correct, so they ARE legal, in case anyone is wondering.

View from the front:



View from the side:



But notice that once you pass 115 degrees, they are not visible anymore:

It is easier to set them correctly on V-bottom boats than square-nosed boats. I've seen boats where they put some in the front and some on the side, and they are not technically legal.

We took time to set them correctly on my last two V-bottoms. I don't think the law bothers you much if not perfect, but catch the wrong officer in a bad mood, and he might give you a hard time, a ticket, and possibly even make you remove them, so do it right and eliminate that possibility.




What is your purpose for the lights? To give a neat look to your boat, or to draw in baitfish?

If the latter, I strongly recommend you buy some underwater lights made specifically for that. They WORK. Very well, too. Takes about 20 mins to really bring in the bait, but you will end up with thousands of fish under the boat.

 

[Bantou]

What is your purpose for the lights? To give a neat look to your boat, or to draw in baitfish?

The purpose is to attract bait fish. I have this light but it's kind of a pain to keep at the right depth on it's own and doesn't have a great way to tie a line to it. The idea is to have something that I could more or less set (or turn on) and forget about until I needed to move.

I like your marker light set up but I don't know that it would work on my jon. With the (mostly) rectangular shape, getting the right angles would be a real bear.

 

[thill]

These are the ones I have, and I strongly recommend them, but they are currently out of stock. They were $35 each, and MUCH nicer than a lot of the others, as they have 3,400 lumens:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B081ZGCB3V

I got them in 2019, so prices are probably higher now. Let me see if there is something similar currently available...

This looks similar to mine in the 45 watt size: https://www.amazon.com/SF-Underwater-Attracting-Submersible-Waterproof/dp/B0D7PW3534/

This one has more efficient LED's and puts out more light per watt. One might do the trick, instead of using two, so it may be cheaper in the end: https://www.amazon.com/SF-Underwater-Attracting-Submersible-Waterproof/dp/B0D7PW3534/

Search "Green underwater light" and you will find many, many options in all price ranges. They really, really work well everywhere I've gone, in both freshwater and saltwater.

 

[thill]

The purpose is to attract bait fish. I have this light but it's kind of a pain to keep at the right depth on it's own and doesn't have a great way to tie a line to it. The idea is to have something that I could more or less set (or turn on) and forget about until I needed to move.

I like your marker light set up but I don't know that it would work on my jon. With the (mostly) rectangular shape, getting the right angles would be a real bear.

I attach lead weight to mine so they stay still in a current. I have several 8-16 oz sinkers and a big snap swivel to add or remove weight as needed. Works really well.


With a square nosed boat, you probably need the side-mount ones, something like this:
https://www.amazon.com/RVZONE-Navigation-Lights-Waterproof-Pontoon/dp/B0CPL3MWQ2

Some of them are low-profile, not sure about this one, as it was just the first one I saw. But the low-profile ones, you put just under your rubrail, and they work really well. Some may require riveting on an aluminum tab, if your hull has a lot of angle.

 

[FuzzyGrub]

I was going to mention the legal thing, but I see others already did.

I have LED nav lights in my rubrail. They are the ones that come sealed in silicone, and they work well. They are the ones with the CORRECT colors, and they are set so the viewing angles are correct, so they ARE legal, in case anyone is wondering.

View from the front:
View attachment 124365
View attachment 124368

View from the side:
View attachment 124366
View attachment 124369

But notice that once you pass 115 degrees, they are not visible anymore:
View attachment 124367
It is easier to set them correctly on V-bottom boats than square-nosed boats. I've seen boats where they put some in the front and some on the side, and they are not technically legal.

We took time to set them correctly on my last two V-bottoms. I don't think the law bothers you much if not perfect, but catch the wrong officer in a bad mood, and he might give you a hard time, a ticket, and possibly even make you remove them, so do it right and eliminate that possibility.




What is your purpose for the lights? To give a neat look to your boat, or to draw in baitfish?

If the latter, I strongly recommend you buy some underwater lights made specifically for that. They WORK. Very well, too. Takes about 20 mins to really bring in the bait, but you will end up with thousands of fish under the boat.

View attachment 124363
View attachment 124362

On the DMI 1648 that I pictured above, used LEDs like that, mounted near the same for the nav lights. I don't think it is 100% legal, but I'll take that minor risk.

The green light on top of the trolling motor, only gets bright if it is near full power. I still plan to replace with blue, and "black-out" the sides, so that it will mainly only be visable within our boat.

I have used red and green for interior lights, and prefer red. It doesn't interfere as much with night vision, and they seem to attract less bugs. White light is a bug magnet.

We also use headsets with red lights, to watch our top-water lures on retrieves.

 

[Bantou]

On the DMI 1648 that I pictured above, used LEDs like that, mounted near the same for the nav lights. I don't think it is 100% legal, but I'll take that minor risk.

The green light on top of the trolling motor, only gets bright if it is near full power. I still plan to replace with blue, and "black-out" the sides, so that it will mainly only be visable within our boat.

I have used red and green for interior lights, and prefer red. It doesn't interfere as much with night vision, and they seem to attract less bugs. White light is a bug magnet.

We also use headsets with red lights, to watch our top-water lures on retrieves.

Sitting here thinking about it, I'm probably going to have to add side marker lights as well. Once I mount the TM and spot light, the bow light is going to be totally blocked to the right side and at least partially blocked to the left.

 

[FuzzyGrub]

Sitting here thinking about it, I'm probably going to have to add side marker lights as well. Once I mount the TM and spot light, the bow light is going to be totally blocked to the right side and at least partially blocked to the left.

A traditional bow nav light would have been blocked by the trolling motor position. Even if I went with one of those taller plug-in types, it was going to get vlocked when TM deployed.

 

[thill]

On the DMI 1648 that I pictured above, used LEDs like that, mounted near the same for the nav lights. I don't think it is 100% legal, but I'll take that minor risk.

The green light on top of the trolling motor, only gets bright if it is near full power. I still plan to replace with blue, and "black-out" the sides, so that it will mainly only be visable within our boat.

I have used red and green for interior lights, and prefer red. It doesn't interfere as much with night vision, and they seem to attract less bugs. White light is a bug magnet.

We also use headsets with red lights, to watch our top-water lures on retrieves.

For what it's worth, I've done a lot of lighting in boats for numerous customers, and by far, Amber has proven to be the best color for most people. It doesn't mess up your night vision but is bright enough to see where you are going and works with most interior colors.

Red is the absolute best for protecting night vision, BUT being the lowest frequency color, many people can't see well enough and find it frustrating. Amber is the next higher frequency above red and most people can more clearly see without having to raise the lumen levels.

Green or blue are often requested at first. Those two colors, blue in particular, (the highest frequency color) give some people headaches. I warn people of this, and sometimes they insist. Out of curiosity, I later ask how they like them, and some admit they don't use them. Quite a few ask how hard it would be to swap them out. I usually leave a little extra wire for just that reason.

Because of this, I keep various colors to demonstrate in their boat. I show them whatever colors they like, and show them amber last. In recent years, about 90% end up going with amber, and use them regularly. I have never yet had anyone ask to change to another color.

It's hard to capture how smooth the color is on a cell phone pic, but here is a white center console, with the amber lights on high. I install dimmers on some boats, and sometimes also mount white LED's right next to the amber on a separate switch, so they can light the boat up fully when needed.



With "natural white" light on:


Here are the flat, high-intensity spreader lights, for when you really need to see. These light up the interior very brightly, but are mainly for docking and to briefly flash to locate buoys. The light doesn't look so blue in real life, it's just how my phone interpreted it:



Lighting can add to the fishing and boating experience if done right. Some never go out at night. It is very peaceful, with very little to no boat traffic. Watching the sun go down and the stars come out, watching animals, birds and fish that you never see during the day and of course, catching more and bigger fish are all part of it.

I usually take the pontoon boat out at night and we always bring the grill. Fishing at night with the smell of grilled burgers, dogs, steak, corn or whatever, is amazing.

 

[airshot]

For what it's worth, I've done a lot of lighting in boats for numerous customers, and by far, Amber has proven to be the best color for most people. It doesn't mess up your night vision but is bright enough to see where you are going and works with most interior colors.

Red is the absolute best for protecting night vision, BUT being the lowest frequency color, many people can't see well enough and find it frustrating. Amber is the next higher frequency above red and most people can more clearly see without having to raise the lumen levels.

Green or blue are often requested at first. Those two colors, blue in particular, (the highest frequency color) give some people headaches. I warn people of this, and sometimes they insist. Out of curiosity, I later ask how they like them, and some admit they don't use them. Quite a few ask how hard it would be to swap them out. I usually leave a little extra wire for just that reason.

Because of this, I keep various colors to demonstrate in their boat. I show them whatever colors they like, and show them amber last. In recent years, about 90% end up going with amber, and use them regularly. I have never yet had anyone ask to change to another color.

It's hard to capture how smooth the color is on a cell phone pic, but here is a white center console, with the amber lights on high. I install dimmers on some boats, and sometimes also mount white LED's right next to the amber on a separate switch, so they can light the boat up fully when needed.

View attachment 124384

With "natural white" light on:
View attachment 124385

Here are the flat, high-intensity spreader lights, for when you really need to see. These light up the interior very brightly, but are mainly for docking and to briefly flash to locate buoys. The light doesn't look so blue in real life, it's just how my phone interpreted it:
View attachment 124386
View attachment 124387

Lighting can add to the fishing and boating experience if done right. Some never go out at night. It is very peaceful, with very little to no boat traffic. Watching the sun go down and the stars come out, watching animals, birds and fish that you never see during the day and of course, catching more and bigger fish are all part of it.

I usually take the pontoon boat out at night and we always bring the grill. Fishing at night with the smell of grilled burgers, dogs, steak, corn or whatever, is amazing.

I am sure you don't do this in the middle of a busy channel or where there is heavy boat traffic!! This is the issue I brought up, doing it when there is traffic. Added lighting makes it difficult for others to distinquish what direction your moving and how big you might be, and if they are bright led lights, others may have difficulty seeing you at all as they mess up your night vision. Off to the side, or in a cove or down a creek as long as your out of the way of boat traffic then light her up like a Christmas tree !!

 

[Bantou]

I am sure you don't do this in the middle of a busy channel or where there is heavy boat traffic!! This is the issue I brought up, doing it when there is traffic. Added lighting makes it difficult for others to distinquish what direction your moving and how big you might be, and if they are bright led lights, others may have difficulty seeing you at all as they mess up your night vision. Off to the side, or in a cove or down a creek as long as your out of the way of boat traffic then light her up like a Christmas tree !!

I'm adding and LED spot light to the front of mine because of the lake and species I intend to fish most frequently. There is a small lake near me that is kind of a hidden gem for crappie and cats. It's shallow (~60 ft at the dam and averages 15-20 over most of it), with a mud bottom, stumpy as all get out, and the water level drops significantly during the summer. Running on that lake at night without illumination is just asking for trouble. A path that was perfectly fine in April may be full of hazards come September.

That said, once I have her in the water and balanced out how I want her, I plan on aiming the spotlight down as much as possible to avoid blinding other boaters and I will only be using it intermittently when I'm going slow through the stumps. There has to be a balance between personal safety and consideration for others' safety. Personally, I would rather have to slow down and/or stop to let my night vision recover than have to fish someone out of the water because they hit something in the dark; doubly so if the situation is reversed.

 

[Bantou]

Red is the absolute best for protecting night vision, BUT being the lowest frequency color, many people can't see well enough and find it frustrating. Amber is the next higher frequency above red and most people can more clearly see without having to raise the lumen levels.

What luminosity would you recommend for amber lights inside the boat? I’m thinking about mounting some round amber marker lights in the middle of the bench seats. The middle seats would have one light each facing the bow and the back seat would have one towards the bow and one towards the stern. They are only 60 lumens a piece though and I’m concerned that, that won’t be bright enough.

 

[FuzzyGrub]

I think it would work as long as they don't shine direct toward your eyes. As you see in Thil's pictures, the lights are recessed and shine down and into the boat, but not up.

 

[airshot]

I'm adding and LED spot light to the front of mine because of the lake and species I intend to fish most frequently. There is a small lake near me that is kind of a hidden gem for crappie and cats. It's shallow (~60 ft at the dam and averages 15-20 over most of it), with a mud bottom, stumpy as all get out, and the water level drops significantly during the summer. Running on that lake at night without illumination is just asking for trouble. A path that was perfectly fine in April may be full of hazards come September.

That said, once I have her in the water and balanced out how I want her, I plan on aiming the spotlight down as much as possible to avoid blinding other boaters and I will only be using it intermittently when I'm going slow through the stumps. There has to be a balance between personal safety and consideration for others' safety. Personally, I would rather have to slow down and/or stop to let my night vision recover than have to fish someone out of the water because they hit something in the dark; doubly so if the situation is reversed.

If your out of the way where no other boat traffic is, you should be fine. Do keep in mind that the law states no brite lights like a headlight are allowed for navigation at night....no excuse !! That is the law period. No matter whether your looking for stumps or not. If no one else is around then no one will know, but if your concerned with being legal......a brite light to approach a dock is all that is legal.....