If you’ve looked at a new boat recently, then you know that lighting has become an integral part of marine design. Aside from the standard red and green navigation lights and a white stern light, custom lighting solutions are a huge industry, and they can make your boat look amazing! Let’s look at some of the options available to make your boat stand out when the sun sets.

Required Boat Lighting

Depending on the size of your boat, there are strict rules about navigation lights, stern lights, all-around lights and, on sailboats, masthead lights if you’re going to operate the vessel after sunset or before sunrise. Larger boats require additional side lights, and fishing boats need a red all-around light above a white light. The guidelines also specify that these lights need to be bright enough to be seen for at least 1 mile on small boats and 2 miles on larger craft.

Modern LED lighting can ensure that your boat is visible to other boaters. Your local mobile enhancement retailer can retrofit high-efficiency light upgrades and resolve any wiring and control issues that might be present in an older system. Likewise, LED interior lighting for the nav station, berth, cockpit, galley or head can further reduce power consumption in a cruiser or sailboat, so you don’t have to worry about batteries dying.

Interior Marine Lighting Options

If you’re going to be out after dark, then it’s essential to have lighting inside your boat so you can see objects and steps. Even if you have a small fishing boat or a little bowrider, proper illumination ensures safety. On the flip side, unique lighting installations can also add some style to your boat. RGB LED lighting under the seats, at the helm or along walkways can deliver almost any color under the rainbow.

Multicolored lighting systems use either a hand-held radio-frequency (RF) remote or work with an app on your Android or Apple smartphone using a Bluetooth connection. You can choose from millions of color combinations of the red, green and blue LEDs to create almost any color you want. Many systems include options to switch between two or three colors, or gradually flow through the entire color spectrum for a subtle change and ambiance.

Underwater Lights

Another popular option for adding some style to your boat are underwater lights. These light pods are designed to be installed on or in the hull of your boat, beneath the waterline. In most instances, you’ll see them mounted on the stern to light up the swimming area at night. Of course, installing anything that will operate underwater means you’ll want to select only the highest-quality lighting solutions. We asked some industry friends about what they use. The names Shadow-Caster, OceanLED and Lumitec come highly recommended. These lights feature one-piece bronze housings and scratch-resistant glass lenses.

Audio System Light Upgrades

If you’re upgrading the audio system on your boat, several companies offer marine-specific speakers, subwoofers and wakeboard tower speakers that feature integrated lighting. You may also want to combine the speaker lighting with lighting around the amplifiers.

The Importance of Proper Installation

While the excitement of adding unique lighting to your boat may make you forget, we want to remind you that proper installation practices are essential to the safety of your boat. When it comes to wiring, the American Boat and Yacht Council has strict guidelines that need to be followed. Make sure your installer is using ignition-protected circuit breakers, fuse holders and battery switches. Likewise, you will want to see examples of their marine wiring practices to ensure that your boat will be safe and the upgrades they install are reliable. As with all mobile enhancement upgrades, you should be shopping for the best craftsmanship and quality, not the lowest price.

Make Your Boat Look Amazing with Custom Lighting Upgrades

If you want to add safety, efficiency or style to your boat, contact one of your local specialty mobile enhancement retailers today. If you can, take your boat to their shop so they can see what you have in mind. If your boat is too big, get as many photographs as possible. Several dozen pictures aren’t too many to make sure they understand the scope of your upgrade project. Adding lights to your boat is a great upgrade that can make your time on the water after dark a lot more fun!

This article is written and produced by the team at www.BestCarAudio.com. Reproduction or use of any kind is prohibited without the express written permission of 1sixty8 media.

Marine radio designs and features have come a long way. Years ago, when Clarion introduced the first marine radios to the world, they were enhanced versions of Clarion’s car stereo solutions. Soon after, water-resistant faces were added to allow the radios to stay outside in the cockpit all year long. Over the next few decades, remote controls were added to make controlling the radio from anywhere onboard easier. In the last decade, marine source shapes have become flexible, and the source selection options are downright impressive.

Marine Radio Size Options

Most marine radios started as single-DIN car radios. The standard 2-inch-tall by 7-inch-wide chassis was outfitted with a front panel with silver or white trim. The displays were upgraded from their car audio brethren with reverse-LCD displays that were easier to see in bright sunlight. Inside these radios, the circuit boards were sprayed with a plastic layer called a conformal coating. This barrier helped keep the tiny connections on electronic components from corroding in high-humidity conditions.

Companies like Kenwood, Sony, Clarion, Fusion and Aquatic AV offered radios with an oversized front panel that was water-resistant. The large face mounted securely to the boat, and a flip-down design provided access to the cassette (remember those?) or CD slot. Over the years, these radios evolved into digital-media-only designs. Fusion had radios with room for an iPod inside the unit. The latest radios no longer have flip-down faces as many boat owners play music stored on their smartphone via a Bluetooth audio streaming connection.

Two-piece radios grew in popularity around 2010. These radios featured a hideaway control box that was suspiciously similar in size to a standard single-DIN radio, then a compact control module that was roughly 4 by 6 inches. The controller had the benefit of not requiring any significant amount of mounting depth, other than for its control cable. Currently, the most popular of these are available from JL Audio, Rockford Fosgate, Kicker and Fusion.

The final evolution was the gauge-sized radio. Many companies, including JBL, Hertz, Aquatic AV, Dual and Kicker, offer a compact radio that will fit into the same opening as a 3-inch dash gauge like a tachometer.

Modern Marine Integration Options

As the popularity of multifunction displays (MFD) from companies like Raymarine, Lowrance and Garmin has increased, radio manufacturers have developed integration solutions to let these navigation devices communicate. Clarion offers the MW6 interface that provides basic NMEA 2000 connectivity with a host of MFDs. JL Audio’s MM80-HR hideaway marine source unit works with Simrad, Lowrance and B&G MFDs and features a four-channel, 30-watt-per-channel amplifier. Rockford Fosgate also has a black-box NMEA 2000 radio called the PMX-8BB that works with its PMX-CAN interface to communicate with many Garmin and Raymarine MFDs.

Fusion’s Apollo Series radios have a Wi-Fi radio built in and allow iPhone and iPad users to stream audio using Apple AirPlay 2. Fusion says this wireless communication protocol offers a dramatic improvement over Bluetooth.

Upgrade Your Marine Radio Today

Whether you need to replace an older, water-damaged or worn-out CD player, or you want state-of-the-art connectivity and control, upgrading the radio in your boat is a great idea. Drop by your local specialty mobile enhancement retailer today to find out about the options available to make your time on the water more enjoyable and entertaining.

This article is written and produced by the team at www.BestCarAudio.com. Reproduction or use of any kind is prohibited without the express written permission of 1sixty8 media.

Upgrading the stereo system on your boat with new speakers, high-power amplifiers and subwoofers is a great way to make a day on the water a lot more fun. Just be aware that the behind-the-scenes work involved in these installations can take more time and is a lot more complicated than the equivalent work on upgrading a car or truck. Let’s look at a few reasons why marine entertainment system upgrades cost a little more.

Marine-Grade Wiring Ensures Reliability

Depending on whether your boat is used in fresh- or saltwater, marine-grade wiring is either a good idea or an absolute necessity. High humidity levels associated with boats and personal watercraft can accelerate the corrosion process and cause electrical connections to amplifiers, batteries, speakers and source units to fail. Taking precautions like coating connections with dielectric silicone and adhesive-lined heat-shrink tubing can help a lot.

What works even better is for the installer to use dedicated marine-grade cables and wiring. Companies like JL Audio, T-Spec and Stinger offer power cable that includes tinning — a thin coating of tin — on top of each copper strand. This coating helps to prevent corrosion so your sound system will play reliably for years and years.

Running Wires Takes Time

If an installer has to run a power wire, speaker cable or interconnect to the trunk of a car or truck, they can typically lift the door sill trim panels, raise the carpet and lay the cables in place. Depending on the application, this can be much more difficult in a boat, especially a sailboat. Often, the factory wire harness on a boat runs through dedicated cable channels, but without access, so adding new wiring can be time-consuming. The process may involve removing storage cabinets or upholstery to execute correctly.

If you are planning to add speakers to a wakeboard tower, you’ll want the cables to run inside the tubes for a clean look. Once again, this process takes time. Holes have to be drilled, a wire fish run through the tubing, then the wires pulled afterward. Proper grommets on access holes are paramount to ensuring the system functions reliably. Since most people want to listen to their tower speakers at high volumes, the wire should be relatively large — 14 gauge as opposed to 16 or 18. This added bulk adds further complexity to the install time.

Ignition-Protected Devices are Mandatory

If your battery bank or electronics share space with your engine or fuel cell, it is mandatory to use American Yacht and Boat Council (ABYC) E-11 or SAE J1171 Ignition-Protected devices. For example, circuit breakers, battery disconnects and any electronics must be designed in a way so they will not ignite a combustible air/fuel mixture. Stinger and T-Spec offer circuit breakers that are compliant. Several companies also offer source units and remote controls that feature Ignition-Protected designs. There have been many cases of explosions due to electronics igniting fuel vapors in the hull or engine compartment of a boat.

Corrosion-Resistant Fasteners and Water-Resistant Materials

In a car or truck, an installer can create an amp rack or subwoofer enclosure in the spare tire well or behind a seat out of plywood or MDF. The wet conditions of a boat will cause these woods to swell up, deform and fail. Materials like PVC or ABS plastic are commonly used for amplifier mounting panels. Speaker spacers are often cut out of acrylic plastic. Dedicated marine-grade materials like King StarBoard high-density polyethylene (HDPE) have built-in UV protection to ensure they won’t chalk, fade or turn yellow over time. These plastics cost significantly more than wood, adding to the cost of installation.

When it comes to mounting equipment, especially speakers that are directly exposed to water from splashes and rain, corrosion-resistant stainless-steel fasteners are a must. Again, these fasteners cost a little more than their black oxide or zinc-coated brethren. In the long run, preventing rust and streaks of brown running down your hull makes this upgrade a worthwhile investment.

Professional Marine Electronics Installation Ensures Reliability

Before you ask a friend who’s an electrician or a cousin who used to install car stereos in the ’90s to work on your boat, ensure they have the tools, training and materials to ensure the installation, integration and configuration will result in an audio system that’s enjoyable and reliable. In the same way you’d search for the best painter to create a family portrait, be sure to choose an expert to upgrade the electronics and entertainment systems on your boat.

This article is written and produced by the team at www.BestCarAudio.com. Reproduction or use of any kind is prohibited without the express written permission of 1sixty8 media.