# light ideas for duck boat



## BaldwinHunter (Oct 4, 2016)

Alright guys I need some ideas. I have a 12 foot jon boat with a 4 horse motor. What are my options for lights for the front and how do I rig them?
Thanks


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## smoke (Jun 3, 2006)

On a boat that size with no battery charging system I would go with a deep cycle battery and a small (10"-12" bar) led light set up up front. They take less amperage to run and they are very bright. They only problem with them is when you are running open water with no foliage to back light they do not work well for lighting ahead of you. But with a 12' boat you probably are not running much open water. If you go on ebay you can find them very reasonably priced. Wire them up to the battery and a switch and mount the switch in a good spot back where you run the boat. Also when looking for a light, get one that can be pivoted back towards the transom so when backing in a launch with no lights at zero dark thirty you can have a bright back up light while backing in. It works great.


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## deadduck365 (Nov 5, 2010)




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## UplandnWaterfowl (Jan 3, 2010)

Get one of these and you got the best of all worlds.
http://www.predatorhunteroutdoors.com/wp-site/index.php/product/class-2-nightsnipe-headlamp-kit/


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## Sampsons_owner (Dec 30, 2005)

I have the same rig and use clamp on Navigation lights with extra d cell batteries and a rechargeable spot light. Also we all wear head lamps or cats eyes. Steve


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## smoke (Jun 3, 2006)

I wish I had a picture of my light set up at night. Its a 20 wav (wide angle view) it's curved and all LED lights 28,000 lumens. I call it the retina burner.


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## BaldwinHunter (Oct 4, 2016)

Sampsons_owner said:


> I have the same rig and use clamp on Navigation lights with extra d cell batteries and a rechargeable spot light. Also we all wear head lamps or cats eyes. Steve


 I just hate holding the spotlight. not a big deal just don't like it


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## BaldwinHunter (Oct 4, 2016)

UplandnWaterfowl said:


> Get one of these and you got the best of all worlds.
> http://www.predatorhunteroutdoors.com/wp-site/index.php/product/class-2-nightsnipe-headlamp-kit/


 this thing looks sweet!


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## BaldwinHunter (Oct 4, 2016)

smoke said:


> On a boat that size with no battery charging system I would go with a deep cycle battery and a small (10"-12" bar) led light set up up front. They take less amperage to run and they are very bright. They only problem with them is when you are running open water with no foliage to back light they do not work well for lighting ahead of you. But with a 12' boat you probably are not running much open water. If you go on ebay you can find them very reasonably priced. Wire them up to the battery and a switch and mount the switch in a good spot back where you run the boat. Also when looking for a light, get one that can be pivoted back towards the transom so when backing in a launch with no lights at zero dark thirty you can have a bright back up light while backing in. It works great.


 is the higher the wattage the better? It looks like some of the lights on ebay are only like 30 bucks. Seems cheap....


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## smoke (Jun 3, 2006)

BaldwinHunter said:


> is the higher the wattage the better? It looks like some of the lights on ebay are only like 30 bucks. Seems cheap....


Yes the higher the wattage the brighter they are, but with that said the light also draw more amperage and will drain a battery quicker. It all depends on what you are looking for. I bought a seelite brand but there are other alternatives out there. My light was built in Arkansas but you can buy *nearly* the same light made in China for a considerable amount less. Also the lumens you require for your needs could be different than mine. I wanted a very bright light for running at night and with the speeds i'm carrying going up or down the river or across the open water, I wanted to be able to see well ahead of me for potential obstacles. You may be able to get away with an 8" led mounter to the bow and be happy with it. LED lights started off extremely expensive several years back, but as with any new product, as technology improves and more and more companies start to use this technology the price drops considerably. If I was you and wanted a light for my boat of your size, I would look at something in the 8000-10,000 lumen range. 

Not to get off subject but: A couple years ago, my company installed led high bay lighting through out our 50,000 S/F shop. The price to install and purchase the lights was approx. $60,000.00. But with the rebates we received from the power company, coupled with the savings in electric bills every month we will recoup our investment in just 3 years. We had metal halide lighting and we did a test of how much electric these lights used. We isolated 8 m/h lights and metered the electric used in an 8 hour shift. The electric used for just 8 m/h lights was the same amount used to run a dual head robot, welding non stop for a 10 hour shift. We had 57 of the m/h lights through out the shop. We checked just 5 years earlier and the price for the lights and the install was over double what it eventually cost. Plus these new lights will light harvest from daylight outside the shop and will dim and eventually shut off if no motion is detected in the area they are in.


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## DirtySteve (Apr 9, 2006)

smoke said:


> Yes the higher the wattage the brighter they are, but with that said the light also draw more amperage and will drain a battery quicker. It all depends on what you are looking for. I bought a seelite brand but there are other alternatives out there. My light was built in Arkansas but you can buy *nearly* the same light made in China for a considerable amount less. Also the lumens you require for your needs could be different than mine. I wanted a very bright light for running at night and with the speeds i'm carrying going up or down the river or across the open water, I wanted to be able to see well ahead of me for potential obstacles. You may be able to get away with an 8" led mounter to the bow and be happy with it. LED lights started off extremely expensive several years back, but as with any new product, as technology improves and more and more companies start to use this technology the price drops considerably. If I was you and wanted a light for my boat of your size, I would look at something in the 8000-10,000 lumen range.
> 
> Not to get off subject but: A couple years ago, my company installed led high bay lighting through out our 50,000 S/F shop. The price to install and purchase the lights was approx. $60,000.00. But with the rebates we received from the power company, coupled with the savings in electric bills every month we will recoup our investment in just 3 years. We had metal halide lighting and we did a test of how much electric these lights used. We isolated 8 m/h lights and metered the electric used in an 8 hour shift. The electric used for just 8 m/h lights was the same amount used to run a dual head robot, welding non stop for a 10 hour shift. We had 57 of the m/h lights through out the shop. We checked just 5 years earlier and the price for the lights and the install was over double what it eventually cost. Plus these new lights will light harvest from daylight outside the shop and will dim and eventually shut off if no motion is detected in the area they are in.


You will grow to hate the auto dim/shutoff features. It only takes about a year for sensors to stop working properly. My company had lighting installed with a huge rebate from the power company. 2 yrs later we were removing them because malfunctioning sensors. Lights were either on all the time or we couldn't get them to turn on at all.


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## UplandnWaterfowl (Jan 3, 2010)

BaldwinHunter said:


> this thing looks sweet!


Might seem a little pricey but worth every penny. Super bright, outperforms my handheld, light and comfortable wearing, keep it on to set decoys and holds a charge a very long time. Plus you don't have to put a battery in a small boat.

I use mine year round.


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## smoke (Jun 3, 2006)

DirtySteve said:


> You will grow to hate the auto dim/shutoff features. It only takes about a year for sensors to stop working properly. My company had lighting installed with a huge rebate from the power company. 2 yrs later we were removing them because malfunctioning sensors. Lights were either on all the time or we couldn't get them to turn on at all.


Well crap that's not good news Steve. We'll see how it goes, but so far so good.


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## Far Beyond Driven (Jan 23, 2006)

I gave up on the D cell powered clamp on lights and finally hard wired my boat to a small battery. It's nice not having to worry about the CO catching you when they're dead, or having to quit early as you can't get the lights to work.

Although from my limited experience at Harsen's and Shiawassee, I would say that nav light compliance rates 30-50% on a good day. Seems to think if the CO's wanted to make that an issue, that they could.

Those LED light bars are great until you have someone come up behind you and just nuke you with one as you're paddling down the canal. Reminds me of the same guys who can't figure out how to turn off their lights at the boat launch.


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## Birddoggem (Jul 25, 2016)

smoke said:


> On a boat that size with no battery charging system I would go with a deep cycle battery and a small (10"-12" bar) led light set up up front. They take less amperage to run and they are very bright. They only problem with them is when you are running open water with no foliage to back light they do not work well for lighting ahead of you. But with a 12' boat you probably are not running much open water. If you go on ebay you can find them very reasonably priced. Wire them up to the battery and a switch and mount the switch in a good spot back where you run the boat. Also when looking for a light, get one that can be pivoted back towards the transom so when backing in a launch with no lights at zero dark thirty you can have a bright back up light while backing in. It works great.


Dang that light that points backwards for backing the boat down is awesome wish I thought of that


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## Birddoggem (Jul 25, 2016)

Far Beyond Driven said:


> I gave up on the D cell powered clamp on lights and finally hard wired my boat to a small battery. It's nice not having to worry about the CO catching you when they're dead, or having to quit early as you can't get the lights to work.
> 
> Although from my limited experience at Harsen's and Shiawassee, I would say that nav light compliance rates 30-50% on a good day. Seems to think if the CO's wanted to make that an issue, that they could.
> 
> Those LED light bars are great until you have someone come up behind you and just nuke you with one as you're paddling down the canal. Reminds me of the same guys who can't figure out how to turn off their lights at the boat launch.


Had a guy with tons of lights come up behind me last year at harsens. He lit up everything and I swerved to avoid my own shadow it was weird.


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## LooksMoosey (Aug 29, 2015)

Have a hunting partner sit in the front with a spot light. haha that's what Dad and I do.


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## The Reel Slacker (Mar 7, 2016)

JMO, but I would stay away from adding the weight of a deep cell battery in a small rig like yours. A rechageable spotlight works great and is much lighter.


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## DirtySteve (Apr 9, 2006)

The Reel Slacker said:


> JMO, but I would stay away from adding the weight of a deep cell battery in a small rig like yours. A rechageable spotlight works great and is much lighter.


I agree. You don't even need spotlights anymore. You can buy 800-1000lumen hand held flashlights that are incredible for $30


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## Lamarsh (Aug 19, 2014)

I bought a cheap LED light bar off amazon, and it works great. it comes with open wires, so you will have to rig it up to the 12v plug or hard wire it yourself, being careful to use the right gauge wire for it. I forget which one I used. There are charts for it. I mounted mine to our trolling motor mount, because my boat is a composite skiff with a plastic bow platform, but with a jon boat you should be able to just mount it somewhere by the bow with no problem. Not sure what the guys do who have winches mounted up there, but I imagine there is an easy solution. 

This is the one I got: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00T7GYDTC/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Here's the 12v plug I used as well: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0026KY79M/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o06_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1


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