# Got the lights mounted!



## boatnbob (May 31, 2009)

Again, thank you to all the folks who made suggestions and offered good ideas. Here is the run down on the light mounts:

Wiring: Wired light to light with 16/3. This gauge wire does fine and fit into the recepticle well. I daisy chained two together with a pigtail coming out of one of the two to plug in two at a time. I bought 12/3 marine wire, but it was larger than I expected and unable to fish two sets through the opening. I will use 12/3 to run from the generator to under the front deck where I will mount the outlet/switches (dry zone). The wire is sealed with RTV going into the lights.

Brackets: Went to T&C Metals and bought 1/8" x 2" flat stock. I looked at the 1/4" and 3/16" stock and settled on the 1/8" hoping it is substantial enough. The material is thick, bendable and will hold its shape well. I used blocks of wood in a vice to sandwich the metal and good old human power to bend it. I am fairly pleased with the results. The cost of the metal was $12 for a 12' length! Pretty cheap.

Attachment: Bought Stainless 5/16 bolts in Elberta while buying my weed chemicals. They have stainless bolts/nuts at $5.99/pound. $2.00/pound for washers. I should have bought more at those prices! The flat area I drilled for mounting is angled and the bolts don't come out straight as I wished, but I can accept that. I would have to grind down something at an angle to fix it properly. Also, the drilled area is very thin. I used fender washers to try to spread out the weight and strengthen the structure. I cut 1/2" PVC pipe for the spacers as you need to have the ears wider than the box to allow full rotation of the light. I also rounded the edges on my belt sander to eliminate cut hazards. To create the angled mounting, I cut down some scrap mahogany at to allow for the lights to pitch over the edge of my mounting plate. The mounting plate is 1/2" plywood X 2 glued with liquid nails and a bunch of brad nails. Puttied over and painted 3 x with white exterior and some goofy texture paint for nonskid (fail). Everything is mounted to the plywood and it is bolted to the boat for easy removal.

Lights: Econolight HPS150w lights - painted inside with high temp white. Still need to paint the outside with the truck bed liner paint from the autoparts store.

Now to stab some flatties


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## Flounder9.75 (Sep 28, 2007)

Clean looking set.


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## Jason (Oct 2, 2007)

Good looking job, now lets see some stabbin!!!


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## boatnbob (May 31, 2009)

*Rough water and stupid tilt/trim crapped out last night = grrr!*

Go figure, finish propping up the position lights, get the HPS setup running, motor out, no trim. I have one on order and it will be here tomorrow! I wanted to go local, but the $300 price vs. $225 on line was too much to eat. (I could almost buy two more HPS lights with the savings - lol!)

I may have to work on positioning the lights differently, but I can tell a big difference. Even with the North wind beating the shore where I was, I could see a bit of the bottom. 

Be out there soon!

Bob


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## dsar592 (Oct 12, 2007)

Looks great!!


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## markbxr400 (Jul 23, 2013)

Nice clean install. Looks like some major lumens there. Light 'em up!


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## bamafan611 (Mar 1, 2010)

Bob, great job and real good timing. Best months coming.


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## flounderslayerman (Jun 3, 2011)

Nice clean setup. The only negative I see is no trolling motor.


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## Kim (Aug 5, 2008)

I have a feeling that Bob has a cookie jar in the kitchen that he will stuff his trim tilt and other savings in until he finds a deal on a good trolling motor set up. Happy hunting!


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## 2RC's II (Feb 2, 2012)

Nice BOB! Lets go!!!!


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## boatnbob (May 31, 2009)

*Trim motor will be in tommorrow - lol*

I have a transom mounted trolling motor. I had to move my foot switch when I made the mount for the lights. I still need to find its new home on deck. I poll the boat around when using the trolling motor.

Admittedly, I can be a bit crafty. I am an avid DIY'r. I really like my electric supply I made. It is a three gang box with an outlet wired to two light switches. Each plug is turned on/off with the switch. The box stays dry up under the deck.

The other end goes to the generator.

Thanks for the kind replies. I think my wife nailed it when she said I have more fun building things than using them. Now to prove her wrong - :whistling:


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## boatnbob (May 31, 2009)

*Trim motor will be in tommorrow - lol*

Double post? Tried to delete, so just erased it 

Got the trim motor. Panicked for about 2 minutes when the new one didn't look like the Yamaha design. Stupid design that Yamaha used. Rusted housing failed. Fortunately, the 4 allen head bolts came out with no problem. First, I had to lift the stinking motor - took a bit of engineering until I got it about 60 degrees up. Then it was cake. Had to use the manual release screw then jack to a point I could grip and lift. To get to the rear two bolts, I disconnected the lower pivot arm allowing me to swing the unit out the get at it. It took about two hours as I took my time. Someone said the difficult part was threading the new wire back in - they were right! The new Arco unit works like a champ.

Back on and ready for floundering!

Cheers,

Bob


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## boatnbob (May 31, 2009)

*Got the first flattie*

:thumbup: We passed another guy with an led light bar going the opposite direction. Shortly afterward, my wife spotted this guy nestled amongst some rubble. I know the placement could have been better, but we almost passed it by. I stabbed it before we passed by. She got a shot in later but lost it in a muddy bottom. The water chopped up after a couple of hours scouting the shores. Good night for the first outing with the new setup.


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## Fish-n-Fur (Apr 2, 2009)

Looks like dinner to me! :thumbsup: So, how do you like the HPS lights?, and are you able to compare them to any other light setup?? Hope the wife enjoyed her time on the water as well, cheers.


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## boatnbob (May 31, 2009)

*Good times*

We had a good night putting around. She is a smooth water boater, do I have to pick my times. The lights could have been reduced to three lights. Plenty of light. Projects out to 20-30 feet easily. I tried tilting them down more and up with little noticeable difference.

I liked my old underwater halogen lights but they would drain a battery quick and hit an occasional stump. For light output, I would say HPS definitely wins. With a little chop, it is harder to see underwater. I had good visibility to 3 foot of water easily. My average depyj was 10"-18" of water. 

If the guy with the led lightbar was friendly, I would have pulled up side to side for a comparison. I suspect since he was coming towards me, the HPS lights might have overwhelmed him. A couple of shore fisherman were hollering at me when I motored out of the canals. I intentionally gave them a wide birth to try not to disturb their fishing. I also noticed that the lights can be an issue when weaving in and out of the docks. The houses on shore really get illuminated. I try to be courteus. Still learning good practices.

We had a good time. I may go out again tonight. 

Cheers,

Bob


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## OHenry (Apr 28, 2011)

*Well Done*

Great looking set-up! And impressive workmanship too! :notworthy:


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