need advice on spotlight for tinny

[ashh]

hi all, I need a spotlight on my tinny because most of my fishing I do is at night, and usually on my own.
I will use it for when I am relocating just so I can see logs and debris in the water I need to avoid. (very common where I fish)
I have been using the good ol dolphin torch but am sick of replacing the batteries and @ around $10 each it soon adds up.
I have forward controls, so really need to be hands free and was thinking of mounting a spotlight on a removable bracket on the top of the windscreen.
I dont want to spend alot of money doing it.
Question is, can I use 12 volt car spottys? or will they drain my battery to quick?
I dont know what size amp my battery is, it is a deep cycle and around the size of a 4WD battery maybe a bit bigger. Not sure if I have a rectifier set up on my motor, never seen one before.
Has anyone here done something like this?

[Blackened]

G'day

I have made one of my 100W narva 4x4 spotties into a handheld with cigarette lighter connection.

I was going to suggest having a removable mounted set up there on your windscreen but then you need to think of the current drain.

I do not rely on my battery for engine starting, so it dosn't worry me.

If you can safely pullstart your engine, you will always have that for a backup so there's no real drama if you do run your battery flat, otherwise I was going to suggest som of those rechargable halogen spotlights you see for $40 and upwards from places like supercheap.

Dave

[Poodroo]

I have a little tinny with a 25hp Tohatsu on it and my motor has a rectifier. In fact today I spent wiring up nav lights, sounder, 27meg radio all to a switch box. Now for your application without a rectifier I would probably look into getting one of those 500,000-1,000,000 candle power rechargeable lights from any of the known auto accessory shops and design a mount for it. I know the most powerful version of these lights comes with its own stand so perhaps you can fasten the whole thing to the bow? If your motor has a rectifier then look into the 12volt spotlights. I prefer them not to be hands free because it is often good to do a sweeping search with the spotlight and pan in front and to the sides to get a bearing of where you are in relation to land and other boats etc. The rechargeable lights I don't think are too expensive, good ones from around $50 upwards. I wouldn't run a 12volt spotty unless it was getting charge from the motor really but that's just me I guess. Hope this helps.

Poodroo

[finga]

You can use an auto spotty and just put a smaller bulb in.
If the light from the Dolphin was enough then a real small bulb (15 or 25W) would do.
If current drain was an issue then LED spotlight would solve this problem.
Maybe an after market reversing light??

[seabug]

I have the yellow 500000 candle power spotlight.
It will light up a power pole a block away.

But the internal battery runs down very quickly.

Warning on the side (in nearly invisible writing) says not to completely discharge battery.

Very little time from when the light begins to dim untill it does not light up.

Probably be good if wired to a larger (Spare)battery

Regards
seabug

[ashh]

cool thanks for the tips, I do really need it to be hands free as I need one hand on the steering wheel and one on the throttle as its allmost impossible to see a log in the water at night untill its within 4 or 5 meters of the bow, and even going at slow speeds you gotta react pretty quicly.

I do have pull start as well as electric.

Changing to a lower wattage bulb - good idea;)

POODROO (when you get a chance) can you post up a picture of the rectifier on your motor? I have a 25hp merc, so could be a similar set-up? Just need to see what one looks like.

Thanks fellas

[FNQCairns]

Could you make up a simple bracket that sits over/hooks onto/whatever the anchor sprit or something at the front? If you can get the light illumination outside of the boat and at gunnel height or lower down a person needs bugger all wattage to see safely ahead compared to a hand held.
I plan something like this with docking lights in the future.

cheers fnq

[Blackened]

G'day

I also have a rectifier on my little 9.9 merc. It's a little diamond shaped black box that had i think 3 wires in and 2 out.

It's bolted alongside my switchbox.Just look for a pair of wires comin out of your engine to your battery and that should give you a fair idea

Dave

[timddo]

get a 12 volt bulb and put it in your dolphin. Attach a two wires to a cigarette light plug and it's a spot light.

[Manjilad]

Following up Timddo about 18 mths ago I bought a $upercheap 500k candle power rechargable spotty (the yellow one on special aboiut $15) and tooks its battery and internal charger PCB and fitted them both to my old dolphin torch ... BEST thing I ever did, lasts about 12hrs on continuously, is rechargable and 18 mths later still never cost me a cent. Then I had to do one for my son then my ..........
Anyhow I NEVER have to worry about light on overnighters ... even my grandson slept ALL night in the cabin with it on while we fished our hearts out to the bag limits 2 weeks ago.

However my old rocket launcher spotties are turning to salt&UV dust so I am looking to replace them with a RUST FEE 4wd type probably arround the $80 mark, 1 I will keep the 100W bulb to use with motor running and one I will put a 55W or less bulb in. My main concerns are to try to reuse my existing SS spot mounts (as I have never seen SS mouning gear for spots that cost under $400!) and too get a little more height above my rocket launchers.
I appreciate your comments FNQC but I dread the job of getting power up to the bow, especially when I already have it up on top .... anyhow I an still in the "thinking it thru phase ... I would be interested in others view of spotties and what hardware and mounting positions they use? I have seen bow rail mounted spotties which look good but a bit harder to adjust on the fly compared to rocket launcher mounts ... etc
Cheers

[Eagle]

I bought a "Lightforce" Marine spottie for our 4.75 tinnie. Its about 7 inches in diameter. This is a fantastic light and is virtually indestructible. Will push a beam about 300 meters or more. On the road it can pick out roos and other animals at 600 meters. I would NEVER use a spottie that has a cigarette lighter fixture. There is too much resistance in such a conection an the plug assembly becomes too hot to hold. If used for too long it will defintely cause a fire. The leads on my light have heavy duty spring clips that fit directly to the battery terminals. There is a model that can be mounted as a rotatable fixture and can be moved to any position when under way with one hand. It's the best light ever and made in Australia.

Eagle

[Poodroo]

cool thanks for the tips, I do really need it to be hands free as I need one hand on the steering wheel and one on the throttle as its allmost impossible to see a log in the water at night untill its within 4 or 5 meters of the bow, and even going at slow speeds you gotta react pretty quicly.

I do have pull start as well as electric.

Changing to a lower wattage bulb - good idea;)

POODROO (when you get a chance) can you post up a picture of the rectifier on your motor? I have a 25hp merc, so could be a similar set-up? Just need to see what one looks like.

Thanks fellas

Sure thing ashh. Will take a snapshot of it and post it up soon.

Cheers,

Poodroo

[PWCDad]

I'll second the Lightforce range. I had 250mm spotties on my F250 and they were superb. Construction is of polycarbonate and plastic housing so is virtually corrosion proof.

A 100w spottie will draw approx 8 amp so the average battery will give you 4 hrs before you are at 50% discharged. At this level there is serious doubts you will start an engine.

It becomes a time thing ... limit yourself to 1-1.5 hrs of spottie use and you will be fine ... of course the ideal is to draw off the house battery not the cranking.

The Hella range of marine lighter sockets are fine for 10 amp or so but ideally you would rig up an Andersen Plug (50amp model) connection and have it fused at the battery end (15 amp fuse in a blade fuse holder).

I have a 100w marine spottie that is just on 15 yrs old and still going ..was made by a company in Byron Bay from memory ... prolly not in business anymore. I used it two weeks ago ...

Regards
PWCDad

[Poodroo]

As promised here is a pic of the rectifier on my motor. Just looks like a little black box with wires coming out of it. ::)

Poodroo

[tunaticer]

If you visit a gun shop or hunting shop they have remote control mounts for spotlights for about the 55 bills mark. Your handheld spotty will need a 8MM thread tapped into the bottom of the handle to accept the remote control. These remotes are usually mounted thru the roof of shooting vehicles and security vehicles and are adjustable so you can take your hand off and it doesnt flop around.

The best spotlight ever for boating was the lightforce SL100 spotlight but unfortunately it is no longer made. only had a 100mm reflector but it would throw almost as good a beam as the 170mm version on sale today at nearly half the size.

I agree with not using ciggie lighter plugs for spots they are meltdowns waiting to happen.

There are new generation LED spots around now but quite expensive and i can't vouch for how good they are in comparision to halogen or gas discharge spots.

Gas discharge spots RULE!!!

[ashh]

thanks for that poodroo, but after a bit of googling I think I have found it on my motor, I could be wrong.

Can anyone say if this is a rectifier or not ??:-/

Otherwise Ill call through the mechanics one day

Thanks for all the other top suggestions fellas ;)
oh, remember its a '99 25hp 2str Merc

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