tower lights...any suggestions

OK fellas, I'm wanting to put some lights on my tower so we can ride in the evenings. With daylight savings time and the days getting shorter our riding has deminished. Can I get some input on what brand/how many I should get from some knowledgable folks. Looks are important to me as well as function so no KC light suggestions please ;0). I put this topic in the wanted section as well so please forgive me for posting twice. I think I'll get more suggestions here.

Thanks,

Waste of $$$, can't see jack with most tower lights. they are ok for being seen -- unless you want to try some bi-xenon car lights up there.
skip work early to get your runs in !

Agree totally....waste of money to try and ride with them at dark/dusk. only thing they are good for is docking at nite and cleaning up. I've had good luck surfing with them at nite. mine are mroe of projection beams. Lights will not reflect off water at distances only objects in the water....it may sound confusing, but I woudl not reccomend using them to wakeboard.

Uhm...Adam...isn't that what we are after...locating objects in the water? But, I do agree with Adam and Choppy. I have 55w Halogen Fusion X lights on my tower and they kick out the light. However, there is some light defraction that hits my dash, which then reflects off my windshield and completely eliminates any possibility of seeing through the windshield - all I see is a bright reflection of my gauges. But, they do work well for being seen, docking and cleaning up. I was disappointed that I couldn't ride at night with lights, but we will still get one more run in than everybody else because we can go later into the night. I say buy them but have low expectations on the outcome.

Used to do midnight barefoot runs when I worked in Martinique. The best advice I could give is to turn off every light and let your eyes adjust to the moonlight. You can actually see quite well on full moon nights. Alternatively, you can have somebody sit in the bow and hold a spotlight over the edge below the deck and help you look for objects.

In all cases put a glow stick or two on the shoulder strap of your rider's vest. It may help you save the life of your rider if he were to get knocked out.

I love my lights, but I hand selected them and built the bar too. Four 55 watt dichroric lenses facing back and two forward. I solved the glare problem with a half-bimini, (custom made also) that blocks the forward facing lights from reflecting off the dash. Works great. Plenty of light for night riding. It's dark way out in the flats but that's it. They're great for driving too but illegal in Cali. (blind other boaters) and are mandatory for packing gear to a campsite at night.

We have roswell tower lights and it is pretty well pointless to try and use them for wakeboarding but for wakesurfing they work wonders and as far as reflection off the boat goes, we either put the bimini up or face all the lights backwards.

got to love the midnight boarding with sparky and crew... its more of just experiencing it once a year or so...you will be so incredibly pumped up riding at night.. i could not stop shaking i was so pumped up..but it is very dangerous.. plot your course make sure there are no other boaters or debris in yor run.. full moon definetly helps out..

I'm planning building and wiring my own light bar for surfing and driving down my canal at night.

I have lights. Good for houseboating / docking and that sort of thing. Not worth the price for using them 1-2 times per year.

Go to your local auto parts store and ask for 100 watt H3 bulbs about $6 each fits all light bars I have run into and puts out much more light.Be sure your wireing is big enough to handle the extra amps though!

I have tower lights that get used once per year for 10 minutes. I would never get them again. I would get more audio equipment instead.

WOM! if you want lights, get REAL lights:

After an adventure at Naci from the Narrows back to the main ramp at night, with no light, a boat that wouldn't hold an idle, no moon, and it was so fricken dark I couldn't see the boats anchored off the beach of the campsite, I thought, "hmmm, a light bar might be worthy investment". (thank you Mr. Naci for the channel marker bouys)

I agree they aren't that great for riding at night, and you may only need them a few times, but when you need them they are worth it, imo. I made my "bar" with lights from an auto store and a piece of alum tube

Yeah, don't spend the cash unless you're gonna use em alot. Mine cost me a hundred bucks in parts and materials and I use the heck out of em.

Steve, a 1 million or 2 million candle power flood light is much better than these silly tower lights. The tower lights are illegal while underway too. I have come back from fireworks on the fourth many times on the delta -- the tower lights stay off and the flood light rules for spotting the shoreline.

GD-
Oh, after that night at naci, I have the spot light too. I like the combo of using both. When I need them, the man is usually not around, but I'm sure we'll cross paths some night. Besides my DIY tower lights were cheap.

I have a different take on tower lights. I liked mine and did use them for riding at night. Night riding is a blast. Kinda weird in that when you cut out you can not see out too the side until you move out of the light beam then you can see. When cutting back in the wake is plenty lit up and easy to time. The boat driver is the one struggling to see. I had a seven light bar by BOSS and wired it so there were three lights forward and four lights back. They were run off relays that allowed the driver to control fore and aft lights independently. The driver only used the front lights when trying to locate the rider at slow speeds and relied on their eyes to see the available moon/star light for driving.

Every boat should have a mandatory handheld spot light onboard period! Things happen and having "safety gear" is a good thing. A spot light can be had for under $20.00. They work best when someone in the bow holds it under the gunnel so it does not blind the driver by reflecting off the deck.

One of the best type of lights to have mounted too the boat are the ones that get mounted in the bow of the boat, under the gunnel. They can then be aimed and used as headlights. Most companies sell them as "docking lights".

...night riding is a blast, and my lights work just fine for it. Smoothest water I've ever rode.

i have a boss knight rider series light bar with 5 lights... 2 facing forward, 3 facing back. i recently turned all of them to the back and was finally able to get enough light to ride at night. for surfing, its perfect.

It's perfect for surfing indeed. Use a 6-light Skylon with no problem. Never tried wakeboarding though, but it's an option we use almost every time we went out after work (late hours).