Underwater lights

Anyone put underwater lights on their transom? I have heard it attracts ocean life at night. Some of the post indicate that this is one of the coolest mods made. I am having the boat pulled this coming week and thought it might be a real neat add on. Thoughts?

I don't think I would put a through hull, just a surface mount, LED low profile blue lighting. If anything it would be kinda cool to add for night time flare.

I think Daddyo has them on his Defever. Maybe he'll chine in.Larry

I hauled a couple of months ago and when out put three blue surface mounted (sikaflex glued) onto the transom just on the water line. I did not want fully below water. The brand was aqua-bright. I asked the retailed about their life expectancy and they reported none returned faulty. I buy a lot of stuff from these guys and almost trust their response...but so far so good. The lights are only 30 each...so very cheap, which they should be. nothing complex about them but the are sealed very well. So many owners who put underwater$300 plus dollar lights have had them fail and almost everyone advised not to do what they did and drill big holes and go completely underwater. Anyway, i am happy with the results. To wire them, there is a tiny hole way above water line and under the swim platform. Can not be seen from above. I would advise using these lights. Good luck.

There is a thread somewhere on this in archives

lumishore underwater lights are very good

We have two of these facing aft and two facing down centered between the rudders and the props. Great for seeing whats going on down there and yes they will attract dinner or after dinner entertainment

You could try these portable lights first, if you don't get the results you were hoping for it's no big loss!!

Deep Glow

We did the floating portable light for years. Worked well and had a lot of fun with it. $15

I will get a portable light for next years squid fishing, I thought about using a spot mounted above water but this sounds like a much better idea

I'm going to install 4 sea blaze x thru hull this December. I'll let you know how they turn out.

A few years ago I walked down a dock in Bimini and all of the boats, big sport fish, had underwater lights turned on. It was a magnificent sight.

OKraskin said:

I'm going to install 4 sea blaze x thru hull this December. I'll let you know how they turn out.

Click to expand...

OK, share some pictures and the process with us. Underwater lights would be great to have.

Forkliftt said:

OK, share some pictures and the process with us. Underwater lights would be great to have.

Click to expand...

Yes please!

Forkliftt said:

OK, share some pictures and the process with us. Underwater lights would be great to have.

Click to expand...

These just came yesterday. The boat comes out at the end of December for a bottom painting. We'll install these at that time. Can't wait to see them in action.

For those with BoatUS insurance this months magazine has an informative article on the subject of underwater lights.

OKraskin said:

View attachment 24967

These just came yesterday. The boat comes out at the end of December for a bottom painting. We'll install these at that time. Can't wait to see them in action.

Click to expand...

Sweet!

Which model did you get? Lumitec makes several.

HopCar said:

Which model did you get? Lumitec makes several.

Click to expand...

The SeaBlaze X. They are blue and white. Bought 4. I have a 15' beam.

Nice! That's going to put out a lot of light.

My swim platform is about 8-10" above the water I'd like to attach a couple of lights on the underside of it and run the wire up a couple of feet and trough a small hole on the transom. Anybody tried this?

Steve said:

My swim platform is about 8-10" above the water I'd like to attach a couple of lights on the underside of it and run the wire up a couple of feet and trough a small hole on the transom. Anybody tried this?

Click to expand...

I've read in a couple of forums that people who have done this were sometimes disappointed by the affect. There's a lot of reflection off the water and not a lot of light penetrates into the water.

OKraskin said:

I've read in a couple of forums that people who have done this were sometimes disappointed by the affect. There's a lot of reflection off the water and not a lot of light penetrates into the water.

Click to expand...

Ditto!

OKraskin said:

I've read in a couple of forums that people who have done this were sometimes disappointed by the affect. There's a lot of reflection off the water and not a lot of light penetrates into the water.

Click to expand...

x2

Steve, I think you'd be disappointed. A friend has a house in Punta Gorda Florida that has a dock behind it. It's common for people there to mount lights under their docks to attract fish at night. They call them Snook Lights. My friend has his mounted on the underside of his dock above the water. His neighbor has them mounted underwater. The underwater lights are much more effective at attracting fish and they are just prettier to look at.

Can we hang a set off the swim platform struts that are underwater all the time that would work before we drill holes on our hulls?

Steve said:

My swim platform is about 8-10" above the water I'd like to attach a couple of lights on the underside of it and run the wire up a couple of feet and trough a small hole on the transom. Anybody tried this?

Click to expand...

Some of the brighter underwater lights need to be water cooled and they don't advise operating out of the water. Something to check on for your proposed installation.

If I was interested I would check out the surface mounted lights attached with epoxy and run the wires as you described.

Curious???? Why are people so afraid of a couple tiny holes just barely below the waterline?

Even if one leaked some...it would probably still be less than many of our trawlers that still have conventional packing after a particularly long run.

It really needs to be put into perspective....I am talking th LED ones that surface mount and just have a tiny wire run behind them....

Lots of reasons. Some lights take BIG holes and some of us don't want to commit without knowing if there is any benefit at all. In a dirty river like the Neuse or the Trent, lights might be useless and plugging the holes (especially if they are 2" in diameter) if you hate the lights is more of a PITA than to rig a test system.

Tom.B said:

Lots of reasons. Some lights take BIG holes and some of us don't want to commit without knowing if there is any benefit at all. In a dirty river like the Neuse or the Trent, lights might be useless and plugging the holes (especially if they are 2" in diameter) if you hate the lights is more of a PITA than to rig a test system.

Click to expand...

Agreed...test wire them first and I would only buy the kind that only require a 1/4 inch hole or so.....

In the big scheme of things they are really only ego lights...and yes I do like them too....but from my experience if you really want fish attractors....buy a really good, pool light capable of 15" immersion and weight it so it sits on the bottom pointed up.