My Marlin300 has an ACR RL75 search light mounted on the hardtop. It is almost unusable do to the glare off the fore deck. Has anyone done some modifications to deal with this? I was thinking of moving the light to the bow rail above the anchor pulpit. The anchor prohibits mounting on the pulpit itself. Wiring it is the issue. I was considering drilling an access hole into the bow rail to try to chase the wires to the helm. SO !!! anyone have any suggestions ???? Anyone done similar ??
mARLIN300 sEARCHLIGHT
- Thread starter ttles714
- Start date
The prior owner had a semi-circle of starboard installed to handle some of the flare. I don't use the light much so I can't really say if it works all that well. I'll post a photo of I have one.
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thanks..... that is the exact set up I have. Grady should have taken the boat out at night after they installed the light there !!! I am going to try the same thing. I am going to make a "pulpit like" platform and mount it under the light. I kind of put the cart before the horse and spent the day pulling a line from the helm to the bow anchor locker area. It was a real PIA. Grady chose not to run a PVC chase from the helm area forward, so I had to snake the line under the "walk way". I Did not pull any wires, I just ran a 1/4 nylon line to pull wires later if I re-locate the light. Thanks for the reply and picture.
I run over 100 miles at night. I have the open array radar but the double lights with no glare helps pick up the lobster pots
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The glare shield is a good idea and it's worthwhile to see if that solves your problem, first. An easy thing you can do is to experiment with some thick cardboard or 1/8" hardboard. You can simply tape them onto the hardtop to try it out. You probably don't even need to remove the light - just cut the material to go around the base of the light.
If you end up moving the light to the bow, you can have a flat piece of stainless sheet metal welded to the bow rail to act as a mounting base. Drill the access hole for the wires on the BOTTOM side of the rail. One step further would be to plug it with some sealant -- not too much or you risk plugging the interior of the rail which would prevent chasing wires in the future. You might want to use some foam - use it as a plug around the wire and to fill the hole - then put sealant on top of it. That will keep the sealant from penetrating too far in.
If you end up moving the light to the bow, you can have a flat piece of stainless sheet metal welded to the bow rail to act as a mounting base. Drill the access hole for the wires on the BOTTOM side of the rail. One step further would be to plug it with some sealant -- not too much or you risk plugging the interior of the rail which would prevent chasing wires in the future. You might want to use some foam - use it as a plug around the wire and to fill the hole - then put sealant on top of it. That will keep the sealant from penetrating too far in.
I decided to make a "shield or platform " out of 3/4 in starboard. It is approx. 18x17 ". The forward cut was contoured to match the contour of the hard top. I sandwiched it between the light and the hardtop using the same holes with longer bolts. It seams to have worked out with a trial at the dock at night. I really like the Double Design that you sent pictures of. My older Grady pulpit uses an anchor roller that is at the end of the platform and the anchor is pulled over the top, rather than "through the hole." All of the pictures and comments are much appreciated.