Cat Tip of the Day: Big Cat Boat Light

I’ve been using this boat light for the past two seasons and it has worked out very well so I thought I would post it. I run a 400 Watt Power Inverter off the front trolling motor battery. This converts the DC power to AC and allows me to plug in any number of electrical accessories I may want to use. I made the pole lamp shown out of pvc, an outdoor light receptacle and a cheap 12′ power cord. I use one of the newer low wattage florescent bulbs to light the boat. I use a 23Watt amber bug light that puts out the equivalent of a 100 Watt bulb. The light attracts very few bugs and does a great job of lighting the boat and out about 6′ all around the boat.
Whenever I want to use the light I simply hit the power switch on the power inverter and presto – “Let there be Light”. I’ve posted this before but with the pre-spawn bite getting into gear I thought some of you may be interested in trying this set-up on your own boats.

That’s pretty cool, Steve. How do you have it mounted in the boat? Does it fit into a seat pedestal hole?

Hey Ryan – Yes, I have an extra seat pedestal and it just slides right into it. I went so far as to make a small table top for the seat pedestal. I use that little table top to set my camera tripod on when I take digital pictures when I am alone.
One other thing that is nice about the light. When I am pulling out my boat late at night on a dark launch site the light makes the take out easy.

Here is a picture of the light base:

Note to self:
1. Buy boat
2. Make a light pole for it

You set up is way cool C15

I’ve heard of it done with a standard size vehicle turn signal light or a brake light. You can get the base for them at an auto parts store then buy an amber bulb if you want.

The one I saw the guy crammed the base into some pvc with some glue or something, put the bulb in and then split open a 20oz pop bottle and taped it closed again over the light bulb to protect it.

I guess your way is more friendly to lamp shades?

hi Steve,
pretty cool idea, thanks for the tip.
Jack..

I will agree since I have fished under this light.. it does work great!

My only question is.. why run the converter and run 110v lights when there are 12v lights out there that should do about the same job? I know the flourescents have less current draw, but the power has to be aplified to run them.. so I don think it saves on the run time.

I kind of stumbled on the power converter on a clearance sale and got it for almost nothing. I saw a light set up similar to the one I use on the internet – that one was using DC lights. He was running the 55 watt lights you can buy at Walmart and it looked pretty effective. I decided to use the converter because it gave me more power options.

Here is my wintertime light project. They are wide angle fog lights. Used 12 volt twist lock plugs so they can be romoved. Switch on the console, relay back by the batteries.

That looks very nice, RB. Are they adjustable?

Nice rive rig. What ya got for a motor?

Under the rubber boot is a gimbal to adjust up/down and side to side.

Suzuki 140
4 stroke

A catten machine!

Have ya had it out this year?

That is a sweet looking ride, RB. Those lights will work great on those foggy runs in late at night. You looked rigged and ready to go.

Pretty sweet!!

It seams like all the boats I’ve been in with foglights/headlights when it gets foggy don’t work really well. Unless you are on plane, the lights usually point up into the air so you don’t have much visibility unless you are planed out or idling along. Running in fog requires that you be cautious (of course) and that usually involves some kind of half throttle boat speed. Sometimes there is too much light and that causes problems too. Just like driving in the snow with your hi beams on.

Of course they’ll work awesome on non foggy nights.

If it were my boat, I would be putting some big PIAA’s on the front ’cause they look cool!

I didn’t buy them because they were “fog” lights. I don’t think any kind of lights work well in fog. I bought them because they have a very wide beam, as opposed to regular driving lights.

The wide beam illuminates the shoreline and trees to help you figure out where you are. I’ll still use a regular handheld spotlight for a powerful long range beam.

RB

I agree on the foggers being a way wider beam than the driving lights and it does help a lot. I have a pair here that I bought at wally world a while back and had on another vehicle.. I havent installed them on this vehicle because I think I am going to use them on the boat instead. The wider beam is great for vehicle driving conditions also.. really illuminates criters in the ditch quite well, and also any type of reflective surface for a long distance which would be a huge advantage on the water.

I have seen fog/driving lights mounted on RAM mounts and they seem to work well and easily adjustable. I have been in several different boats with different lighting systems and the ones that worked by far the best were the ones mounted forward far enough not to illuminate any part of the boat to ruin your night vision.