Advice on mounting red/green nav lights

[wild.coast]

18ft RIB, no radar arch unfortunately. Trying to figure out how/where to mount the red/green navigation lights.



Any advice?


My one thought was to get the low profile ones and glue them on top of the bow tube?

[Pikey Dave]

Originally Posted by wild.coast

18ft RIB, no radar arch unfortunately. Trying to figure out how/where to mount the red/green navigation lights.



Any advice?


My one thought was to get the low profile ones and glue them on top of the bow tube?

Do you have a console or is it tiller steer? A photo of the boat showing the layout would be helpful.

[paulbrown22]

Either on the sides of the console (if you have one), or on our new club safety RIB we put a single tricolour on a demountable pole that slots into the rear jockey seat back so we can choose when to fit it (given dark/night operations are very rare, and not having it fitted for 99% of the time means people can't bash it off...).

[Peter_C]

Possible to run wiring to the bow? Is there a bow locker? You could make a top mount for the tip of the bow on top that bungeed down for temporary use, and gets put into a storage spot inside the bow locker for the 96% of the time you are not boating at night. Or even just put a plug in the bow for the light to connect to, and store the light elsewhere.

The reason to not have one mounted permanently in the bow is because it could get ripped off or broken fighting the anchor chain/line in wind or current. (In my case I have a cleat glued to the top of the bow, so removable makes sense.)

[wild.coast]

Photo of boat:

Have center console but it's small and not very tall


Have an anchor line on the rigid hull below the tubs. Was thinking of somehow gluing it on the bow pontoon?

[Pikey Dave]

Originally Posted by wild.coast

Photo of boat:

Have center console but it's small and not very tall


Have an anchor line on the rigid hull below the tubs. Was thinking of somehow gluing it on the bow pontoon?

I'd be scheming some way of fixing the nav lights to the grab bar around the helm & then a pole at the rear with an all round white & incorporate a mount for the VHF antenna onto the same pole. How often do you boat at night? would some temporary battery powered lights suffice?

[Johno99]

I’ve just fitted an A Frame on my 5m Bombard and fitted nav lights to that. Expensive and a bit of a faff option. But in my case it looks good and it makes shoving the boat around easier.

[Peter_C]

Originally Posted by wild.coast

Have center console but it's small and not very tall

My antenna is on the starboard side mounted on the "over rider" grab bar of the center console. I did put it on the outside near a mount so the 8ft leverage of the antenna wouldn't bend the grab bar. It folds into the bow area.
Antenna tubing mount.

Nothing wrong with putting it on the stern either. Every foot higher does make a BIG difference in reception though.

Originally Posted by wild.coast

Have an anchor line on the rigid hull below the tubs. Was thinking of somehow gluing it on the bow pontoon?

Usually that would be called a painter which is nice to have for docking and tying the anchor line to. Still need to pull the anchor line and chain over the bow though.

[User name]

Originally Posted by wild.coast

Photo of boat:
Have center console but it's small and not very tall


Have an anchor line on the rigid hull below the tubs. Was thinking of somehow gluing it on the bow pontoon?

Railblaza make nav lights that fit in their standard starport mounts. Might they fit with what you need?