Where to install a spotlight?

[auguste]

Hi

Here is a pic of my boat . . . I am going to install a bow rail and it will be painted white to reduce the glare from lights at night . . . and white fits better with the boat

I want the spotlight to help find buoys at night, and heaven forbid, use during a search for man over board . . . I have 4 very large lights that light up the water's surface to the sides and rear of the boat.

Question: Where should I install the spotlight? Is it better mounted high on the flybridge or lower?

Question: What type of spotlight should I buy? My current thought is to get one that can rotate and be controlled from the bridge?

Question: Is there such a thing as an LED spotlight that is strong enough to do the job?

All help will be greatly appreciated!

[ReelNauti]

If your putting a bow rail on it, I would mount the spot on the rail and keep the rail stainless.

A stainless rail would be less maintenance in the long run. Putting the spot forward eliminates illuminating any part of the deck which kills your night vision.

[4/0]

Auguste,

Mark ( offshore 3144 ) made a mount for his boat that turns and the light is removable. He had someone making them for him and it looked very good, might be an option for you.

I can e-mail him and ask about it for you if would like.

Butch

[auguste]

Auguste,

Mark ( offshore 3144 ) made a mount for his boat that turns and the light is removable. He had someone making them for him and it looked very good, might be an option for you.

I can e-mail him and ask about it for you if would like.

Butch

Thanks for the offer

I chatted with Mark a couple of days ago and he talked about his searchlight mount and he is planning to maybe get another batch made

I like ReelNauti's suggestion of mounting it on the bow to reduce glare . . . but would have to be careful not to get in the way of deploying an anchor

I am wondering if I would see better if it was mounted higher up as the bow is close to the water . . . but preventing glare is important as it would kill my night vision

I then wondered if it would be better if the light was mounted on the top of the flybridge . . . glare is still an issue . . . and the light would be coming from behind me

Just not sure what is the best solution

Edited January 2, 2010 by auguste

[Boz]

Gus, the farther forward you can mount the light, the better. As previously mentioned, if you put it up high and toward midship, you're going to get an awful lot of glare off the foredeck, destroying your night vision. A good remote-controlled light will reduce that glare to almost non-existant, and you can tweak its position to sweep the water ahead of you. Also, with it being farther forward, the full intensity of the light will be where directed where you need it, and away from where you don't want it.

[Chisox]

Gus,

One thing you might want to consider is mounting the spot upside down on the underside of the bowrail. The harness plugs can be rewired so that starboard is starboard, port is port, up is up, and down is down, to match the movements of the joystick.

What this type of install does is eliminate many issues with spotlight mounting. Nothing on top of the bowrail, nothing on top of the deck, no glare from a high mounted light off the foredeck...

Give it a thought...

[Pearl Diver]

I thought you mentioned you would be purchasing a "flir" system in the coming months. Would the spot be for redundancy?

PD

[Chisox]

I thought you mentioned you would be purchasing a "flir" system in the coming months. Would the spot be for redundancy?

PD

FLIR does not take the place of a spot. FLIR allows you to see unilluminated objects that have a "heat signature". It does not "light up" things...

I've installed 2 of these guys so far, both on Donzi 29 ZF Commercial boats for the Wisconsin DNF.

Pretty slick, but work totally unlike a spot...

Edited January 3, 2010 by 250 Osprey

[Pearl Diver]

Good to know, I assumed it was like a typical "night" vision, not thermal... Pretty sweet!

X2 on the inverted mount for the spot on the bow rail! I mounted a set of Hella spreaders on the front of my t-top and removed them a day later after the install. way too much glare. I have a much smaller boat than you Aug, but I would reco getting the light as far forward and as low as possible.

PD (PUI)

[Chisox]

The concept of FLIR is just that, "Forward Looking Infra-Red". It relies on a heat signature to show images, and really isn't that much use in day-to-day boating issues. I interfaced the cameras to display on RayMarine E120s, and in the morning, when dark, you really couldn't see much on the display, but ask one of my buddies to walk in front of the boat (they were still on land), and he showed up like a beacon. The Wisconsin DNR uses them for detection of folks who are trying to hide (if you know what I mean). I also installed fore and aft GoLight spots on their T-Tops. When the FLIR camera finds who they're looking for, the spots light them up...