Headlights for Osprey

[Fishhawk]

Greetings,

Has anyone out there put headlights on a CD22? It would be good to not have to reinvent the wheel with this.

Hammock Creek Alabama is narrow enough with lots of overhanging trees. We need to navigate about a half mile of that in the dark.

My thinking so far is that permanent headlights mounted below the line of sight from the helm will provide the best no glare lighting. I set up a DNR night electrofishing boat with them and they worked well. The problem is I didn't care where I drilled holes on that boat and it never was intended to be a thing of beauty.

Maybe mounting on the bottom of the bow rail uprights on each side, hanging down below the deck would be good.

Any thoughtful brats want to share what they've done or thought about doing?

Thanks for any ideas,

Capt Dan

[DaveS]

Capt. Dan,
Several of us have a Go-Light mounted on the apex of our bow pulpit. This works well for what your intended purposes are. Additionally, the beam direction can be controlled from the helm. The light will "pan" up and down and turn 360 degrees. There is no glare, because of the way it is located. If you look at page 2 (photo #46) in my photo album, you can see a "distant" picture of it.

Not really headlights.....more of a "cyclops" effect... .

[Fishhawk]

Dave,

Now that's what I'm talkin bout, a good brat gettin me straight fast. Thanks very much.

Looking at the 2020 model. Have you got a plate welded on the railing to mount it on? Does somebody make a RAM - railing mount for the light?

Did you run the wires down through the railings into the V-berth?

CD

[DaveS]

Capt. Dan,
When I purchased the boat through EQ Marine, I asked Les (EQ Marine) to do the install. He welded a stainless steel plate on top of the bow pulpit and ran the wiring along the bow pulpit tubing and into the v-berth. The stainless steel plate is located a few inches posterior to the tip of the pulpit, so I can mount a flag standard on the bow pulpit (if desired). If you look closely through some of my pix, I also have flood lights mounted on the radar arch on the port and starboard side as well as one mounted on the arch that illuminates the cockpit, transom and the engines.
I don't know about RAM mount that will fit.

[localboy]

Dave, what's the small white round item mounted starboard of the door facing the cockpit? I assume it's a small reading-type light.

Was thinking about how much real useable light was out there. The cockpit lights in the 25 seem just enough to light the deck for that "romantic" feel [which is fine most of the time] but they're hardly enough to do any serious task etc. I like your idea of a "flood" type light on the radar arch. Just enough to light the area without looking like a crab boat on The Deadliest Catch.

[DaveS]

[jkidd]

This is how I mounted my Golite. It is removeable and has a suction base as well. The suction cup works great for the top of the radar dome, back windows, side windows. When its not up front I use it on the back to clean fish.

[cbull]

good light. however, remove the handle. I have the go light mounted on top of Knot Yankee. The black handle drips black marks. great light for 99 bucks. I wish I could figure out how to slow the movement down.

[jkidd]

Mine sits in a zippered bag most of the time. The remote has 2 speeds, I just hit the +- key to change the speed. I stopped mounting them permanent because the sun gets to them fast and turns them yellow. They are very handy lights though.

[DaveS]

[Fishhawk]

Jody,

Removable Golight, I like the idea.

How do you handle the wires and control cable when the light is not in use?

CD

[jkidd]

The Light only has one cable with a cigarette lighter end. In my pictures you can see I ran it down the hole for the anchor rope. I have ran it through the center window as well. The light uses a remote control to run, so no wires there. I have 3 lighter jacks in the v berth that is where I plug in. I do need to make a shim to tip the light down a little more. It works fine just want to be able to aim it down a little more. The nice thing is if you go to shore at night you can turn the light on and off from about 100-150 feet with the remote, nice boarding light. When it's not in use wire just gets rolled up with the light and stored in a bag.

[Sea Wolf]

We've discussed all of this before, and a Search would find several threads.

Here's my solution:

The wiring goes down the bow pulpit tubes into the v-berth and then to the helm.

More lights can be added for docking and close up work:


And you can do it to the rear too!

The rear searchlight isn't remote controlled (manual), but also comes out on a flexible cord for hand use, etc.

More lights give your more flexibility and portability:

Not shown: Several flashlights and the light on the emergency starter/lantern/air compressor stored under the helm footboard. Also have an underwater attractor droplight on a 75 foot cord for fishing at night.

Light em up if ya' got 'em!

Joe.

[localboy]

If there is one thing I learned on the job is the more & better flashilights, the safer and easier to work. And your backup had better be just as good as your primary.

[thataway]

I got the idea we use off this C brat sight. It is a tractor utility light, with a magnetic mount (Northern Tools has these)--and we put a cigarette lighter plug on the end of the cord--and put the magnetic mount on the underside of the anchor. The light is not overpowering. (You don't really want "head lights"--you want something which will light up the nearby banks and docks etc. It is removiable and used when you need it.