Underwater lighting experiences

We are getting close to hauling our boat out and I have been thinking about the addition of some underwater lights. I admit to a little bit of jealously when we were in the Bahamas last trip and were anchored near some of the underwater light equipped boats. They appear to be great fish attractors and something fun to look at, at night at anchor.


I've kind of fixated on the Lumitec SeaBlaze 3 Underwater Lights
Lumitec Lighting » Blog Archive SeaBlaze3, the benchmark for value in underwater lighting.
as they seem to have a reasonable lumens output (1729 white) and a reasonable price (under $300) and no big hole in the hull. But, I'm still open to suggestions.

I was wondering what everyone else's experience has been with these model lights, or others that you selected instead, and what your thoughts or recommendations are based on that.

Group9 said:

We are getting close to hauling our boat out and I have been thinking about the addition of some underwater lights. I admit to a little bit of jealously when we were in the Bahamas last trip and were anchored near some of the underwater light equipped boats. They appear to be great fish attractors and something fun to look at, at night at anchor.


I've kind of fixated on the Lumitec SeaBlaze 3 Underwater Lights
Lumitec Lighting » Blog Archive SeaBlaze3, the benchmark for value in underwater lighting.
as they seem to have a reasonable lumens output (1729 white) and a reasonable price (under $300) and no big hole in the hull. But, I'm still open to suggestions.

I was wondering what everyone else's experience has been with these model lights, or others that you selected instead, and what your thoughts or recommendations are based on that.

Click to expand...

Thanks G9 for starting this thread! Will open your link.

I'm going to follow closely, and, if I get info worth sharing will do so.

Although never before really thought much about having uw lights the topic is beginning to interest me.

One item I see as detractor, at least where we anchor, is that after dark there becomes a barrage of flying insects... at close of dusk we encapsulate ourselves inside boat for watching a movie, or reading and early bed time so we get up at or before sunrise. Therefore the dark hours where I believe uw lights would be most fun would not be when we'd be outside to enjoy them.

That makes me wonder... seeing as our boat has very large windows in its salon: Maybe I could hook up uw lights onto some sort of "outrigger" that could be deployed while at anchor and by the lights being away from edge of boat we could watch the uw fun of lights attracting fish while remaining inside boat?

Would also like to have lights on transom for when the bugs are not to thick... like evenings when a good breeze is occurring.

We installed SeaBlaze X lights in October, and they are awesome. Love having an aquarium out the back door

We used then for squidding last winter- the white attracted the squid perfectly, and fresh calamari is hard to beat!

After seeing these posts and with my boat ready to be pulled for paint, I'm also following with interest. My concern is how well these would work in murky water. We are on the Mississippi River. Are there any other folks that have experience with these in a similar river/murky water setting?

If you want a similar result with no holes in the hull, no lift and a $50 spend.

GREEN Underwater fishing light Bright Squid Fish Prawn 180 LED Light. 12-24V | eBay

If you want a similar result with no holes in the hull, no lift and a $50 spend.

GREEN Underwater fishing light Bright Squid Fish Prawn 180 LED Light. 12-24V | eBay

Simi 60, that is the one I use. It comes in green, blue, and white. I think I got them on amazon for $13. Still good two years later. Gives a nice 360* vs. just out the back. I can drop one off bow, one off stern and usully get 150' circle of light.

2 years ago I used these
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00AJVLHIE/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o05_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 , and mounted 6" aboveLWL . Cost $18.50 each I mounted 2 white and 2 blue. We have huge tarpon etc every night round the stern in the BVI's. But are careful not to use them in the USVI (It's highly illegal). I balked at the high cost of the trendy ones . But found these on amazon, I tested them before fitting, no problems, been used extensively since fittings and some days they fail to be tuned of at the evening. Running into the next night!

WOW - This is a cool thread! We will eventually end up with some sort of uw lights.

I would NEVER start punching holes in a perfectly good fiberglass hull just to mount an UW light. Every hull opening is a weak point, for not only catastrophic flooding but seepage into the core causing permanent damage.
Reality is only a few boats this size cruise the crystal clear waters of Bahamas or Carib. most boats are kept in murky waters and do you really want to see things lit up and floating by in brown water?? Not me.
Mount something on trim tabs or swim platform brackets that way you haven't devalued your hull come resale time.

I bought and installed two on the transom of our 19 foot tender
It looks real cool at night and it does attract fish and shrimp at night
I put the lights on so that when at night when beaching the boat I could see what was under the water
Lady smith BC has a coal beach that at a low tide has a lot of old steel parts

I ain't putting no holes in Magic's hull.

I want them and I was thinking of somehow zip tying them to the diagonal swim platform struts and have them point out at an angle on each side. No holes underwater and then I can run the wires back up and along the swim platform to the transom.

The good ones should only need a tiny hole for wires....and some, the wires can come in just above the waterline.

Epoxy a block to the hull and screw into that...virtually no breach of virgin hull underwater.

Must say that I will neither put new holes underwater or even just above water line in the hull. I'll figure out some other way to power and fasten the lights.

Whatever you do, don't install them like this guy. This is a transom waiting to rot!


I would consider an above-waterline transom hole only because I have a solid FRP transom and the ability to hide the wires under the swimstep. I think they'd be a great help when operating by dingy at night.

I also have one of those portable fishing lights with a 12V plug. I'm going to try that as a night lighting aid when using the dink this summer. It's not LED, but it'll work as an experiment. I have a portable battery pack to provide the 12V power.

With inductive power, why do we have to drill a hole to power an LED light? Why can't we wire a power puck to the inside of the hull and have the electricity inductively transmitted into the receiving light fixture? I charge my toothbrush this way and all it takes is a small battery for operation. Charge during the day (if needed) and operate at night. Would the transmitted power cause electrolysis?

Greetings,
Mr. FW. Only lasted until the first minute where they mentioned SILICONE! This bozo may have been in the mechanical trade for 25 years but I'd take a chance fixing my OWN bicycle before I'd call him.

FlyWright said:

Whatever you do, don't install them like this guy. This is a transom waiting to rot!

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You got that right!!

OMG - What is wrong with that company showing thing like that that will for certain eventually rot the heck out of that boat's transom????

That's just wrong to show newbie boaters... any boaters for that matter!


I'm at the video they produced!

what was wrong with that installation...he sealed all the holes ?

Benthic2 said:

what was wrong with that installation...he sealed all the holes ?

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I'll let Al explain that if he likes. I usually end up writing too many words and reasons. Anyway, Al recognized the problem first.

well...please check back in....if no one else explained it...please feel free. It looked like a good install to me, so I obviously need to learn this.

Thanks for all of the replies.

Sealife said:

Simi 60, that is the one I use. It comes in green, blue, and white. I think I got them on amazon for $13. Still good two years later. Gives a nice 360* vs. just out the back. I can drop one off bow, one off stern and usully get 150' circle of light.

Click to expand...

Simi 60 said:

If you want a similar result with no holes in the hull, no lift and a $50 spend.

GREEN Underwater fishing light Bright Squid Fish Prawn 180 LED Light. 12-24V | eBay

Click to expand...

I have to admit, I like the idea of 1) $13 or $50 and 2) low installation cost and trouble!

I had looked at these, but was afraid they wouldn't put out enough light. But, I can definitely live with 150 feet of lighted area.

It also seems like a good way to test the concept without committing completely.

Benthic2 said:

well...please check back in....if no one else explained it...please feel free. It looked like a good install to me, so I obviously need to learn this.

Click to expand...

There are better ways of installing said light....

Such as predrilling all the holes oversized and filling with epoxy then screwing into the epoxy plugs......

But it was installed correctly to the industry standard, probably just like in the instructions, not the highest possible level.

For a boat that probably lives on a trailer anyway, not sure the highest standard is anything more but overkill.

Most guys would rather fish today and fix some rot in the transom 20 years from now....oh thats right, .... it may never be there and they wont own the boat any more......

Sea Q said:

I bought and installed two on the transom of our 19 foot tender
It looks real cool at night and it does attract fish and shrimp at night
I put the lights on so that when at night when beaching the boat I could see what was under the water
Lady smith BC has a coal beach that at a low tide has a lot of old steel parts

Click to expand...

And, that, is another great idea.

We will we taking our center console as our big tender on our upcoming trip. The idea of punching holes in it's transom (it's cored with solid waterproof 3M Liquid Transom compound already) is a lot more appealing than putting in in the big boat's hull.

Would make a great test bed!

Greetings,
Regardless of the various lighting options, I think Mr ps's suggestion of gluing a block on the transom and THEN screwing into the block is the best suggestion thus far.

RT Firefly said:

Greetings,
Regardless of the various lighting options, I think Mr ps's suggestion of gluing a block on the transom and THEN screwing into the block is the best suggestion thus far.

Click to expand...

Yeah, that's a good one, too. Lot's of good ideas and thoughts. The discussion went in a different direction than I was thinking, and that's what I needed.

Maybe I'm incorrect in my thought pattern... but...

Seems to me that having permanently affixed uw lights is OK but not necessary. I wonder if there already exists a way to have uw lights with their own rechargeable battery [similar to a drill battery]. Lights with battery could be attached to a "floater". That way the floater with light could be dropped into water anywhere off the boat with attachment by a thin line for retrieval.

To go the next step: Floater could have a small jet motor in it and by remote control the floater could be made to take the light any place near the boat as well as anywhere alongside the boat.

Little fishes need night lights too! :lol:

Seems to me that the under water lights are simply a form of boat bling. I agree that watching the fish etc. is interesting but for how long? YMMV.

hmason said:

Seems to me that the under water lights are simply a form of boat bling. I agree that watching the fish etc. is interesting but for how long? YMMV.

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"Pleasure Boats" in and of themselves are BIG BLING! :lol:

Installed systems require the least amount of additional effort...thus the least forgotten or other issues....

For some who like it or for fishermen, all night every night is the right amount of illumination. For some it is to be cool, for others it is hours or more of entertainment.

Sometimes it takes hours till you attract what you want.