Best place for a spotlight

[DeLawterJ]

I have been reading the site and I have seen that this is a popular topic, however I need some help. I have an 18ft CC that I want to put a spotlight on and it seems there are two common spots. 1) on the pulpit and 2) on the t-top. There are two problems with this a) the 18ft CC does not have one and b) putting it on the t-top it will have a good amount of reflection off the bow rails. I have attached a pic of my boat and any advice that you can give would help. I know there are some of you out there that can make MacGyver jealous with some of the things you come up with.

Thanks

JD

 

[pelagic2530]

personally, mine is mounted on a metal plate that is mounted to the pulpit rails. keeps it forward and no reflection, and really doesnt get in the way. i realize that since you dont have a pulpit, this wont work for you, but perhaps you can fab up some sort of plate to span the "v" formed by the bowrail and mount the light to that. ill try to dredge up the pics, i kow theres one on maybe page 3 of the 2530-show em off! thread in the Parker Boats forum. good luck finding a solution that works for you!

 

[DeLawterJ]

Pelagic

If you could find me those pics it would help me out a lot. I think you are on to something with your suggestion

JD

 

[TheOtherLine]

Pelagic

If you could find me those pics it would help me out a lot. I think you are on to something with your suggestion

JD

I think he did all you can expect him to do... :wink:

"I know theres one on maybe page 3 of the 2530-show em off! thread in the Parker Boats forum."

 

[tara11]

I built a mount for mine way up front, it is in here , the pics, as far foward as you can, or you will get blinded, I have already made the mistakes for you on where to mount !

 

[DeLawterJ]

TheOtherLine

Good point

JD

 

[Megabyte]

Not real easy to see, but check out the bow mounted light on this 21SE.

 

[DaleH]

That's a GREAT idea! Make up a triangle-shaped plate that affixes to the TOPs of the rails and mount it there. Dress the wires up one vertical stanchion ... or inside it ... if you dare. Make a dummy plate out of scrap plywood then use 1/2" Parker-colored CPG Seaboard or King Starboard.

 

[DeLawterJ]

Ok I see that we are getting some great ideas. I want to help new (ie ME) people in the future that may have the same issue I did so I am going to ask some pretty trivial questions here. CPG is a type of marine plastic to mount the light. How do I go about mounting the plastic piece to the bow rails? I think this is the best option to move forward with so Dale if you could elaborate with how to do this I will report back the final result. Thank you in advance if you could help me further.


JD

 

[DaleH]

I'd use SS "U-bolts", like shown below, to fit the diameter of the rail, if permanently mounting the base.

Or, if using the 'portable Go-Light wired spotlight (that I use), I used (3) SS squiqqly-type spring clamps, see below, that hold the plastic base to the rail, secured by a bungee. It takes but seconds to deploy and is only mounted when I know I will be out late and may need the light.

Now, as a 'blend' of the 2 options above, you could permanently mount the base, as the Go-Lights comes with a slide-in, snap-in base that can mount to the plastic base. Then you just slide the spotlight in when needed and plug the wire end into a cigarette lighter-type electrical port.

Go-Light portables are awesome! And if anyone needs it, I re-wired mine with a resistor in-line to the motor connections that slowed the pan & tilt to a more manageable level. BUT ... you need to do some 'marinizing' to the wiring and unit to make it bulletproof for boat use. But, for < $100 ... it's easily doable. Did I say I'm a 'cheap' ******* ... ??

And yes, CPG Seaboard is just like King Starboard, but around here (New England) I can typically get it for 1/2 to 2/3rds the price of starboard. Their 'sand' color matches Parker's gelcoat perfectly! Try a plastics distributor.

 

[pelagic2530]

scroll down a bit on the page here: http://www.classicparker.com/phpBB2/vie ... w&start=25 and the pics should be there. sorry, its not a great pic, but it shows the install. ill comb through my files and see if i cant come up with anything else.

 

[DeLawterJ]

WOW I called a couple fabrication shops in MA and my god $1200 for a stainless steel piece to be welded and the wiring to be done. Oh that does not include the $300 for the Golight. I am going to go with the above suggestions and only pay for the wiring to be done. If anyone has some suggestions for a newbie on how to do it I am up for the challenge

JD

 

[pelagic2530]

WOW I called a couple fabrication shops in MA and my god $1200 for a stainless steel piece to be welded and the wiring to be done. Oh that does not include the $300 for the Golight. I am going to go with the above suggestions and only pay for the wiring to be done. If anyone has some suggestions for a newbie on how to do it I am up for the challenge

JD

if youre looking to cut costs, i might suggest instead of having the plate welded to the rails, just making a template and having the shop cut out a piece to spec. i cant imagine that theyd charge you much more than cost for that, not exactly a hard order :roll: . from there, i would secure it to the rails myself with the u-bolts suggested above. probably way cheaper to go this route than to pay $1200, which i agree is absurd. good luck however you go about it.

 

[M5]

8)

 

[DeLawterJ]

It came with the boat when I bought it last year. I am the the third owner and from what I remeber the original owner had it installed in 03. Sorry I cant be of any help

JD

 

[Gotofish]

My boat used to have a spotlight mounted under the bow rail....here is the empty mounting location, looks like it could be done on the cheap

 

[pelagic2530]

My boat used to have a spotlight mounted under the bow rail....here is the empty mounting location, looks like it could be done on the cheap

huh! hadnt thought of that... yeah, a couple bow rail joints from West Marine and a few pieces of rail, and youre in business!

 

[DeLawterJ]

I LOVE THIS SITE!!! That is an awsome suggestion.

JD

 

[DeLawterJ]

Spot light placement back again.... but with some good news. Maganlight sells a rail mount for GoLights. Seeing that I want to remove the spotlight at to my next boat I am going with the rail connection with rail clamps to a connecting piece of bow rail, see below.

PHEW now any one have suggestions on how to wire this bad boy? Go through the rails or attach the wiring with some zips to the rails. Any help is appreciated.

JD

ps guys I cannot that you enough for your suggestions and I will follow up with pics.

 

[Megabyte]

any one have suggestions on how to wire this bad boy? Go through the rails or attach the wiring with some zips to the rails.

I would go through the rail, then down thru to the underside of the washboard. You'll have to unfasten the down leg of your railing to drill the through hole, but fishing the wire should be pretty straight forward with either a fine fish-tape, or a string and shop vacuum.

Sounds like you are well on your way!
BTW - That Go-light mount looks sweet!