Light rail

[Xpress_442]

Also anyone have any clamp ideas I'm trying to avoid drilling any more holes in the boat

 

[PSG-1]

Also anyone have any clamp ideas I'm trying to avoid drilling any more holes in the boat

What kind of boat is it? If it's a war eagle or a triton, you can buy the slider clamps that will fit the inside track. Other manufacturers may have something similar.

If there is not an available track, you can always make a clamping mechanism out of some channel, sized to fit the gunwale's drip rail... then drill a hole in your piece of channel, weld a nut over the hole, and use a T-handle clamp.

I'll update this with some pics in a little bit to show what I'm talking about.

 

[Xpress_442]

It's an Xpress so it doesn't have a track. I have aluminum flat bar and pipe. I may be able to fashion something out of it

 

[PSG-1]

OK, here's a few photos I took this afternoon, at the dock:



This is my Triton 1650SC. Like I said before, the light bar design allow it to fit more than one boat.






Note that the pivot point of the light rail, is also the mount point for the light bracket. One bolt is all you need.




OK, this one shows what I was talking about when I said to put a spacer block under the high side of the pivot. You can see that small tab of 1/4" flat bar, welded to the underside. If you don't have a welder, you could always D&T (drill and tap) from the underside, and use a short, countersunk screw, so nothing protruded from either side.

But you can see how that little block levels it out.





These brackets were made from an extrusion that the manufacturer uses to mount livewells, consoles, etc, to the rail system of the Triton. it also turns out that War Eagle uses the same inside track rail system, so, as I said before, these extrusions also fit my girl's war eagle...she has since parted with it.

As for the source to buy the extrusion.... I got a short length of it from the local boat dealer, and cut it into a few shorter pieces to make these brackets, as well as a couple of rod holder brackets.


Not sure where you could find this stuff. Maybe someone here knows?

Anyhow, you can see how the backside of the extrusion has a notch cut in it, and the mounting screw is in fact a regular flat head 1/4 x 20 SS screw with flats ground on it, then it uses a clamping knob.



And, as I told you before.....


....the lightbar fits neatly inside the toolbox I use as a dock storage locker.



OK, so you say it's not a war eagle or a triton. Allright, how about this?



WTF is that, you ask? A rodholder bracket for my Duracraft. It fits my 16 footer, and it also fit my 14 footer, which is what I originally designed it for. But I didn't take the photo to show you the rodholder.



See how there's a channel, and a T-shaped clamping knob made from aluminum round stock? This is what I was talking about, as far as a clamping mechanism.






As the clamp is tightened, the end goes into the gutter of the channel along the gunwale, which locks it down.

Again, we're talking about securing a light bar, not a ski pole, not a whole lot of stress being put on it.... so, a simple clamping mechanism like what's shown, should be adequate.

Hope this helps!

 

[Xpress_442]

Thanks alot I got ahold of a piece of a small piece of aluminum unistrut that I should be able to fashion into a gunnel clamp. I'll post pics when I get it finished.
As for the light rail I think I'm goin to go with 1/4" flat bar with counter sunk bolts on the underside to mount the lights and since my boat is a square nose i will only have 2 pivot points to deal with (considering just welding the 2 joints) then where the two ends stop towards the rear of the front deck I will weld the unistrut to the flat bar and use that as a clamp (if I can make the unistrut work) and if not I will fashion a clamp out of scraps. Thanks for all the help guys this site is awesome!

 

[Xpress_442]

By the way these are the lights I use
Sadly they're not made in the U.S. but they work great regardless. They are 20w LEDs I got off of eBay for around 40 a piece. I use the 12v ones but the 120v ones are even cheaper

 

[PSG-1]

Thanks alot I got ahold of a piece of a small piece of aluminum unistrut that I should be able to fashion into a gunnel clamp. I'll post pics when I get it finished.
As for the light rail I think I'm goin to go with 1/4" flat bar with counter sunk bolts on the underside to mount the lights and since my boat is a square nose i will only have 2 pivot points to deal with (considering just welding the 2 joints)

Although I'm a welder and I often cuss bolts and fasteners, saying that stuff puts me out of a job.....but, why weld it, when you can bolt at those 2 points, allowing it to pivot and fold for compact storage? :wink:

then where the two ends stop towards the rear of the front deck I will weld the unistrut to the flat bar and use that as a clamp (if I can make the unistrut work) and if not I will fashion a clamp out of scraps. Thanks for all the help guys this site is awesome!

Not sure what 'unistrut' is, but if it will fit over your gunwale's drip rail, and you can rig it with a clamping mechanism, it should work just fine. Good luck with it!

 

[PSG-1]

By the way these are the lights I use
Sadly they're not made in the U.S. but they work great regardless. They are 20w LEDs I got off of eBay for around 40 a piece. I use the 12v ones but the 120v ones are even cheaper

I hope they're brighter than the LED I tried on my light rail, that's all I'm sayin'. As mentioned, I tried a single LED in the center of my light rail...I was sorely disappointed in the amount, and wavelength, of light emitted, especially considering I paid about 70 dollars for that *******.

As for 12V or 120V....in my case, I'd have to run 12V, we have a law that pertains to this specific area of the SC coast that says no generators can be used to run lights for gigging. I actually helped write this law, because we had commercial giggers coming into the inlet, raping the resources. On any given night, you would see 10-15 boats out there that looked like floating football stadiums, putting off not only light pollution, but noise pollution as well, with noisy generators...and as mentioned, raping the resources, taking way more than the legal limit.

After these rapers would hit the creek, the hook-and-line flounder fisherman wouldn't catch anything for a few weeks, until more fish moved in here. Not only did we get rid of the generators, but we also got the possession limit of flounder cut in half, for this specific area of the SC coast. Other areas of the coast, the limit is still 20 flounder per person, But here, it's 10, and it should be, because this is a small body of water, basically just a marsh, not connected to a river like an estuary.....with only one inlet going in and out of here, and that inlet being constrained by jetties, which creates a funnel effect, making it that much harder for fish to migrate in and out of here.

Not only that, but in the case of accidentally getting 'bit' by some stray current, I'd rather take my chances with 12V, not 120V, especially around water. They say that amperage is what kills, and most batteries have a higher amp output than a 120V system rated at 20 amps, but it is a fact that more people are killed by 120V, even more than with 240V. 240 will throw you off, 120 will grab you. So, with that said, even when we WERE allowed to use generators out here, I never did, as 120V and water do NOT mix, especially in a metal boat. To me, that just seems suicidal.

 

[Xpress_442]

Lol I see your point, I use the 12v versions. I can run 3 of them off of one 12v battery for 3 or 4 nights in a row no problem. They are green so they penetrate the water really well and the area of light you actually see is like 8' around but the distance you can see the fish is much more than that

 

[PSG-1]

Lol I see your point, I use the 12v versions. I can run 3 of them off of one 12v battery for 3 or 4 nights in a row no problem. They are green so they penetrate the water really well and the area of light you actually see is like 8' around but the distance you can see the fish is much more than that

Sounds like a pretty good light. Might be worth checking into. My incandescents are nice, but they kill a battery WAY faster than LED's. The one drawback with deck-mounted lights is they have more glare than underwater lights, and don't penetrate the water as well.

But, the drawback to underwater lights, at least around oyster rocks, is being able to keep the lights deep enough that they're in the water, but shallow enough they don't bump bottom, which is hard to do in a shallow-draft boat.

For a while, I ran standard underwater gigging lights, but as I often tend to do with things, I modified them to work better. Instead of the crappy little 12V bulb that looked like a household bulb, I removed that socket and bulb, and installed a socket for a 12V halogen headlamp bulb. Yes, they are about 20 dollars for one bulb, but they are much brighter, and they also don't burn out after just one trip, as the 12V models seem to do. But, as I said, I found them to be problematic, gigging in shallow water around oyster beds, so, that's why I went to the deck-mounted lights.

 

[Xpress_442]

Here's a link to where I get them. They take a while to come in but they are worth the wait. I use the 20w mostly but the 10w are surprisingly bright as well

 

[Xpress_442]

https://item.mobileweb.ebay.com/viewitem?itemId=230827083606&index=11&nav=SEARCH&nid=57831047526

 

[bigwave]

PSG, I really appreciate your insight when it comes to fabricating stuff for tinboats.....here is the Led light I was talking about the other day. It is simular to the one you have except the light output is equlivant to a 5ow halogen. I sell this light for 77 bucks. I have many comercial customers that use this light for working at night, the feedback is good, and they draw very little amps.

 

[PSG-1]

I paid about 70 dollars for the LED I have, but as I said, I was disappointed in the amount, and wavelength of light it emitted, the color was too blue, and definitely not intense enough.

My MR-16 LED prow lights on the jetboat are WAY brighter (equivalent to 55W halogens), and they are only a single LED. If the light you sell has an output similar to that, and it sounds like it is....then, I might have to consider trying one, and if I like it, maybe switching out the other 2 lights on my light rail to the same thing.

 

[bigwave]

The light you have is definatly blue....the other light is a bright white light.....way different. I am also waiting on some pricing on a different company that I visited at ICAST. It also has 6 led's and has more lumens than the Taco light. I will let you know if we purchase, I have the ability to test side by side in a dark room. If the price is right we will be purchasing the other light too. The Taco light you have IMO is a POS, we had many of those lights returned because the light was too dim, and some of the led's failed causing the whole light to stop working. They do have a decent warranty though.

 

[PSG-1]

The Taco light you have IMO is a POS

I concur with that! =D> Maybe it's a taco bell, or at least, the sound a bell makes (dung) :LOL2: :mrgreen: LMAO

Keep me posted on the newer lights you're talking about....sounds like what I need for gigging.

 

[Xpress_442]

Here she is fellas

 

[bigwave]

Nice looking boat.......lots of potential.

 

[Xpress_442]

I'd like to raise the floor to the level of the bench and the front deck but I don't have the funds right now because of college costs

 

[PSG-1]

I'd like to raise the floor to the level of the bench and the front deck but I don't have the funds right now because of college costs

Well, if you ever DO decide to change the configuration, check out my thread where I modified my Triton 1650 SC.

I changed the multi-level platform on the bow to a single-level platform, and by raising it up to that level and leaving an empty space underneath, it allowed me to move one of the fuel tanks and one battery forward in the boat, that weight forward means I can now plane off faster, reduce porpoising, and faster steering response.

As far as the rail design for your boat, it can definitely be done with the flat bar design like mine. For your attachment points, I would use a piece of aluminum square tube, just big enough on the ID that it fits over the gunwale rail. Make it out of 1/4" wall, that will give enough meat where you can take a 3/8x16 tap and cut threads, then take a piece of 3/8 aluminum rod, cut 3/8x16 threads on the end, and either make a T-handle, or simply bend the other end and cut off about an inch or so beyond the bend, so it's like an L-shaped piece, this will also work as a handle, for clamping.