LED Navigation Lights

[walkeraviator]

I have seen guys all over the internet doing LED Blacklights in teh rub rails of glass boats, but havent seen where i can get the red/green ones for teh nose... saw a sweet triton last night running and it was awesome.

[WTL]

I recently purchased LED red and green diodes for my boat on ebay. There are several asian ebay dealers who deal them cheap. I dont know how polished you are looking for in regards to installation, as these are the bare diodes, but they do a good job for me.

[bassboogieman]

Try here, this guy has everything to light up your boat, trailer or tow vehicle.
http://www.bluewaterled.com/catalogdetails.php?id=21

[nmanley]

Originally Posted by WTL

I recently purchased LED red and green diodes for my boat on ebay. There are several asian ebay dealers who deal them cheap. I dont know how polished you are looking for in regards to installation, as these are the bare diodes, but they do a good job for me.

I did like WTL and got mine off ebay. I added the red 3M double sided tape to the stock led adhesive as it holds better in the heat.

They work great but make sure you can mount them so that they are pointing straight out from your boat and not tilted back on an angle. The angle will limit the distance they can be seen effectively.

[walkeraviator]

yeah i think i would want these mounted cleanly in the rub rail insert... if the lights on the boat didnt already work and i was lookin for any lights, that method would be cool, but i am wanting to do this for my Dad on his boat and want it to look nice... may even do a black light on each side as his quit while we were night fishing last week.

It would just be nice to do something for him and his boat as i have been fishin out of it for 15 years and he has never asked a thing of me in retrun... not even gas money... he wont even take it when i offer.

[MississippiBoy]

One thing to note, is that LED's aren't Coast Guard approved to use as navigation lights. Yes, they're brighter, more easily seen, use less power, etc, but the CG hasn't approved them for nav lights. If you do use them as nav lights, I seriously doubt you'll get ticketed if stopped, but it does have the potential to be really bad if you're ever involved in a boating accident at night. The words "....use of unapproved navigation/marking lights...." keeps running through my head.

[walkeraviator]

There are some LEDs that are indeed coast guard approved... but this raises teh question. Does any light you put on teh boat have to say sepcifically on the part that it is coast guard approved??? or does it simply have to meet the 1 mile visibility rule? Because if teh first is true than the lights that came from the factory with my dads boat are illegal as they say nothing about the USCG approval anywhere on em. Yet if the second is true any light that is the right color and is visible within their segment to their specific distance is legal whether LED or not right???

my biggest concern is not the red and green but the white lights. if installed in the rear rub rail corneres as i have seen them done, then they are not visible from 360 deg as is required. Also when they are running on plane, sometimes the wake behind teh boat obscures the lights...

so i thought a good option would be LEDs on teh outboard... but thats just me brainstorming...

[MississippiBoy]

From what I've read, the lights have to be a particular color...not just any green or red, but a very particular shade of green/red. They also have to be visible from like 122 degrees around or something crazy like that. I saw the Coast Guard regulations one time...can't remember the details about it, though.
BlueWater LED's don't have any lights they've labelled as "navigation lights," because they don't meet the specs for nav lights.

[nmanley]

I'm pretty damn sure that your gonna get a ticket for NOT having light on vers what KIND of light you have on!

[MississippiBoy]

Originally Posted by nmanley

I'm pretty damn sure that your gonna get a ticket for NOT having light on vers what KIND of light you have on!

Yeah, me to....

Originally Posted by MississippiBoy

If you do use them as nav lights, I seriously doubt you'll get ticketed if stopped, but it does have the potential to be really bad if you're ever involved in a boating accident at night. The words "....use of unapproved navigation/marking lights...." keeps running through my head.

[Rebbasser]

I'd love to find some place that has the regular lights as LED-the kind that you can add/remove from the front and back of the boat that have the recepticpticle. I've seen battery operated ones, but I'm looking for the kind that store under the hatches of the boat. I'm sure they will be along before too long. I's really like to find replacement bulbs for the fillimant ones you can find now. My trailer lights are are all LED and I have been very happy with them.

[walkeraviator]

see that defeats the prupose to me.. the reason i like the LEDs in teh rb rail is there would be no more poles in my way...

but you can actually replace your current bulbs inside the light poles you already have with LEDs from autolumination.com

[WTL]

LEDs mass produced for navagation are clearly coming, but doing what I did probably wouldn't result in a ticket as others have said unless I run into a barnie fife out there. And if another boat hits me, Im probably dead, so that doesnt factor in.

I use the LEDs on the rear only cause the TM creates a huge obstacle for the 177 degree view point. You don't have 177 degree of vis. if the TM blocks one side of a light, and with conventional lights you can't put them on the side of the "rub rail" very easily. With LEDs, I just drilled the hole in the rail and stuck them in there.