Bow Flood/Spot/Search Light

F

Foggy

New member
Hello:

Is there a consensus to placement and brand of a bow light?

I've read top of the pilothouse causes glare off the bow SS railing.
I've seen pics of deck placement lateral to the windlass. This is sometimes
a busy and crowded place with light snag/damage potential as well as the light
beam being partially blocked by the anchor/roller.
Then there is centerline mounting on the SS bow rail which I'm tending to favor
to reduce the above problems.

And, what about brand? LEDs seem the way to go. Stationary, moveable,
remotes?

Maybe just a handheld light stuck out the window from the helm is all
that is needed.

Any thoughts, previous experiences?

Aye.
 
My personal preference is the hand held light rechargeable type out the window. If you are going into a narrow channel where there needs to be a low level light--a utility light with a magnetic mount on the anchor (cigarette lighter type). Then down the line in personal preference is the light which mounts on the top of the bow pulpit. Usually there is a piece of SS welded on the top of the pulpit to accept a remote controlled light. It is desirable to have the wiring run up thu a leg of the bow pulpit. This means that the pulpit has to be removed, the holes (one thru the plate at the bottom into the center of the SS tubing, and the other just under the bow rail--or the bow pulpit constructed so the wiring could be run thru the tubing to the very front. Some boaters have used the remote control "GO Light" on the top of the bow pulpit.

There are some advantages to the LED lights, such as longevity of bulb and low battery draw. I use LED up to about 700 Lumen in tactical flashlights. When you get up to 2000 to 3000 lumen, it is probably best to go with the Halogen bulbs. I am sure others have better thoughts about this.

Rechargeable vs corded: I have noted that the rechargeable batteries seem to give out before the light bulbs. Unfortunately the replacement batteries seem to cost more than the lights do in the larger sizes. So the corded (cigarette lighter plugs) are a better buy--but then you are limited by the cord. Recently I am trying a Ryobi Xenon Bulb 3000 Lumen light using the one + 4 amp hour 18 volt lithium ion battery. It is very bright, and the battery seems to be holding up very well.

The fore deck of the C Dory/Venture is too crowded for the mount on the deck. Agree that there is too much light flash back from a cabin top mount.

Of course there is always the option of FLIR--and that is what the Venture 26 Blue Eagle has. They run up and down the Pacific Coast from San Francisco to Catalina every year.

Is the new boat "home"--Congratulations!
 
My bow light is placed forward on top of the roof. You can see it in my album. Make sure that location does not mess up your dink storage. Can't remember the brand. The previous owner had it installed as an option when he bought the boat new. It is not LED, but then I do not use it a lot, so that does not worry me. It is remote controlled from the helm which I like. Not noticed any significant glare-back. Very handy when checking the anchor at night during a blow.

Martin.
 
Thanks, Bob and Martin.

After flipping catalog pages, reading references, some cerebration and
reflection on my own history of needs for a bow light, I'm leaning toward
KISS: the handheld, model TBD.

Currently, the boat is at the downstate dealer being powered, rigged and
adjusted on the trailer. We still have ice on the lakes around here and,
once thawed, are in no hurry for a bone chilling sea trial. So, lots of time
for more arm chair planning.

Aye.

PS: I had some Ryobi 18V battery tools in the shop. They worked fine for
about 3 years when both rechargeable batteries went south. And, now
pricey to replace.
 
Last year I installed a remote controlled (wireless) Go-Light LED spotlight on the brow of my CD25. It's very bright....320,000 candela with a very focused beam. Since it's LED, it draws 2.8 amps.

We get a lot of debris in the river here and I boat at night quite often in the fall / winter months. I have had a strong hand-held spotlight since day one, but wanted something permanent that didn't require opening the windows each time it was used. Call it user error, but without fail....at least once per night cruise, the person on spotlight duty would hit the trigger before the light was completely outside of the window. When that intense beam reflects off the white fiberglass of the cabin a foot or two away from it...wow...talk about losing all night vision. Not to mention the open window and winter rain / wind around here.

I really struggled in deciding where to place the permanent spotlight. On the brow with the noted back-scatter issues? On the bow rail with the wiring / always-in-the-line-of-sight issues. I decided that not seeing the spotlight during the day was more important to me.

I'm relatively happy with the decision (and the spotlight). The back-scatter off the deck was not as bad as I was expecting it to be. That very well may be a function of how focused the beam is. Yes, when the beam hits the bow rail you'll get some back-scatter. Really no worse than my hand-held spotlight in that regard. When aiming the beam toward something in front of the boat, no matter if it's hand-held or on the brow, you're going to get reflection off the rail. The solution to this in either case is to angle the boat away from what you are trying to light up.

For me, my complaint isn't bow rail back-scatter, but more that the bow rail is just plain in the way of what I often want to light up. If something is far off in the distance, no problem.....the beam goes over the bow rail. But if I'm trying to see what's in the water 10 yards in front of me, that darn bow rail is right in the way. In that case, I just angle the boat away from it.
 
Well, it's been a long time since I a posted a message here on the C-Brats site, but I was catching up on what's been going here for the last few years and saw this thread.

We mounted mine (Stryker Go-Light) on the bow rail, and it works great up there. I have a remote control for it on the helm.

It was a piece of work running power up to the light through the railing, but it was well worth it. Fortunately, I didn't have to do that myself. :)

I have pictures of it on the mods gallery page on the site I put up to sell the boat. The details are in the ad I put up here in the C-Brats ads section earlier today.

Yes, I sadly am selling my TomCat. :(

Mike...
 
Foggy,
My RV mechanic put me onto the Ryobi lithium ion 18 volt batteries. So far my NiCad have been doing OK, I rotate them to keep them charged, but not leave them on the charger. He felt that the new batteries are far better--and so far I have to agree. He did caution that the best was the more expensive, and larger $99 battery. These get good reviews. The smaller two lithium ion batteries do not get as good review. I'll have to compare it with the Ni Cad on the Ryobi chain saw--which really uses the power.
 
On our 22 I mounted a go light with remote. I would not do it any other way. You eliminate the glare issues for the most part and once its mounted it's very easy to use. I have tried to use a hand held from the window and if you are looking to the side they are fine but for forward use, well not so much. In fact I find them a hazard to use. Hanging out the window with the light while trying to drive combined with the glare is just awful.

The install for a bow mounted light is straight forward. You remove the bow rail and drill thru the deck where the wire will come thru the bow rail. That's the time consuming part but well worth the effort. We used the light a lot as we like to fish late in the day so the effort paid off greatly.
 
We often run at night on the St Lawrence river, where we need light to negotiate the narrow entrance to our marina and to dock in pitch blackness on our island. We used a hand-held searchlight on our first boat, but had a remote-controlled spotlight installed on the bow pulpit of the Cosmic C. Hands down we prefer the latter. It's much safer - zero back scattering, controlled from the comfort of the helm in all weather, full range of view (try looking at something on the port side of the boat while steering and hanging out of the starboard window with a hand-held!), etc. We have kept the old hand-held on the boat for possible use from the cockpit, but have never used it in 11,000+ miles.
 
We often run at night on the St Lawrence river, where we need light to negotiate the narrow entrance to our marina and to dock in pitch blackness on our island. We used a hand-held searchlight on our first boat, but had a remote-controlled spotlight installed on the bow pulpit of the Cosmic C. Hands down we prefer the latter. It's much safer - zero back scattering, controlled from the comfort of the helm in all weather, full range of view (try looking at something on the port side of the boat while steering and hanging out of the starboard window with a hand-held!), etc. We have kept the old hand-held on the boat for possible use from the cockpit, but have never used it in 11,000+ miles.
 
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