Spot Light Idea - would it work?

[brute898]

Hi ausfishers, I have finally turned 18, so I am old enough to go out fishing by myself when I want. I mainly fish Port Phillip Bay but go out either very early in the morning or late at night. I dont like going out to my spots or coming back to the ramp in complete dark. There is oyster racks and lots of other bits and pieces in the way.
My younger brother will be coming with me, so my idea is to get a bright spot light and get him to point it infront of us to where we are going, that way I can see everything and I would feel much safer.
So would this idea work, and does anyone know if I can get a good bright spotlight that runs on batteries or has leads that connect to a 12v battery? I need it to connect to a battery.
Thanks Brock

[Midnight]

Mate search Blue Eye spotlight here.
They are the best I have found, but you need to upgrade the plug on the end to a heavier one or good clips if used directly to your battery.
They are usually 99 bucks at BIAS or Whitworths
Cheers,
Myles

[ashh]

depends how much you want to spend?

Lightforce do a handheld version of their spotlights but is a very expensive unit to be bashing around in a boat...

Grab a few spare batteries and one of those 3million candle power spotlight torches, cheap and effective.

Like you, most of my fishing/crabbing is done in the dark, so I have a pair of Hella Rallye 1000 spotties mounted up front on my little boat. I love em.

[brute898]

Thanks for the hekp, now that I have started to research soptlights I am so confused. I see that there are alot of different candle power so what candle power would I need. Also hopw long would it last running on a 12v battery?
Thanks

[ashh]

what is your boat setup? Tinny? half cab?
Does the battery start the motor? Are you running a dual battery setup?

Do you rely on the battery to operate other instruments like navigation lights, gps sounders or even start the motor (electric start)?
If yes, is your motor wired with a rectifier so as to charge the battery while underway, like a car alternator charges a car battery?

If your relying on the battery to run all these things and you have no way of charging it you will be much better off and it will be much safer if you just use a handheld battery operated spotlight such as the ones from bcf or bunnings etc.
$60-$70 should see you walk out of there with a 3million candle power spotty with a few spare batteries.

If your looking for a more permanent setup you could do something like I have.
All up it cost me around $150 for the lights, 1x flood, 1xpencil beam, all wiring, sockets and custom removable mount. Diy will save you alot of money and you can get it setup to your boat and your needs.

The way mine is setup I can swivel the lights around so I can light up the bank with the flood and spot ahead with the pencil beam, all while still being able to have one hand on the wheel and one on the throttle.
Just think about what you want and how to set it up, you might find all you need is one of those hand held units. HTH

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[Sea-Dog]

Hey Ash,

Don't the spotties light up the foredeck and reduce your forward vision?

Have you thought of mounting a horizontal plate directly below and in front of the spotties to stop them throwing light down onto the foredeck?