Is It Time to Upgrade Your Boat’s Lights?

Upgrading to LED vs. Traditional Boat Lights: Making the Best Choice

Before you decide if it’s time to replace your boat’s lights, it’s worth understanding why LEDs have become the most popular choice on today’s boats:

Pros and Cons of Traditional Boat Lights

Traditional boat lights (most commonly halogen or incandescent) generally come at a lower upfront price with no learning curve for installation or operation. However, their lifespan is quite short, often rated at 2,000 hours or less. They draw more power than modern options while producing less light and more heat. This additional demand places additional strain on boat batteries and generators. At the same time, they’re also prone to damage or breakage due to moisture, vibration, and shock—all a given in harsh marine environments.

Pros and Cons of LED Boat Lights

On the other hand, LED boat lights can run 40,000 hours before you start noticing a degradation in overall illumination. They’ll keep running even longer than that as long as the housing doesn’t fail first (more on that at the end). They draw a fraction of the power when compared to traditional lights, so you can install more and run them for far longer without any issues. Their solid-state design requires minimal maintenance and can withstand vibration and impacts that would damage traditional lights.

8 Signs It’s Time to Upgrade Your Boat’s Lights

If you’re considering new boat lights for your center console or sportfisher, any of these eight signs generally indicate that now is the right time for an upgrade.

Sign 1: Eye Strain at Night

With the right marine lights on your boat, you shouldn’t have to strain or struggle to see at night. If you have to squint your eyes to see when boating at night or in foggy conditions, it’s time to upgrade your boat lights. As industry innovations like dual-mode LED lights with red light for preserving night vision, eye strain when boating at night should be a problem of the past.

Sign 2: Limited Range

Ever wish you could see farther out over the water at night? Your boat’s navigation lights should reach far enough on the water that you can spot any obstacles or hazards ahead while still leaving time to react and safely adjust course. If they don’t, it’s time to upgrade your boat’s lights.

Sign 3: Condensation Inside the Light

If you notice any condensation or water droplets inside of the light, it’s an indication that a gasket or a seal has likely failed and is open to moisture ingress. If you dry out the inside of the fixture and any moisture returns, you could consider replacing the seals, but it’s generally a better option to upgrade your boat’s lights at that stage. When seals start breaking down, internal component corrosion has likely already begun, and you’re more likely to experience performance issues later on as other components fail.

Sign 4: Feedback From Others

Has anyone on your boat reported issues or concerns about visibility when walking around the deck at night? Have other boaters made comments about your lights being too bright for them to see? If so, it’s time to upgrade your boat’s lights to a model with a dimmer so you can fine-tune your setup for maximum visibility while being courteous to others.

Sign 5: Changes in Regulations

It’s the responsibility of each owner to understand and ensure their vessel displays the correct configuration of navigation lights that abide by all applicable national and international maritime regulations. However, these safety regulations are subject to change, so another common reason you may need to replace or upgrade your boat’s lights is because of changes in boat lighting regulations.

“Craft constructed prior to November 2003,” for example, “may or may not (all too often “not) meet the specifications contained in the [U.S. Coast Guard’s] Rules and their annexes.”1 Whenever outdated lights do not meet the most recent regulations or do not have the requisite signaling capabilities, it’s time for an upgrade.

Sign 6: Limited Visibility When Loading and Unloading

If you ever have to load or unload your boat in the dark, you know that deck and dock lights aren’t always enough to illuminate loading and walking areas. If your current lights do not or no longer effectively illuminate areas you access when loading or unloading your boat at night, it’s time to upgrade.

Ever wish you could have courtesy lights for your boat the same you do for your car? With DuraBrite’s Gen2 lights, now you can. Our Gen2 lineup features remote control functionality that allows you to turn your boat’s lights on before boarding and then switch them off again when you’re done for the night—all with the touch of a button. With DuraBrite’s newest lights, you can safely load and unload your boat every time without worrying about tripping over anything in the dark again.

Wondering how the right boat lights can also enhance your nighttime fishing excursions?

Find Out Here

Sign 7: Common Performance Issues

Some common performance issues that could also mean it’s time to upgrade your boat’s lights are:

Lights flickering intermittently or consistently
Excessive heat coming from the unit under normal operation
Lights draining the battery
Frequently blown fuses

Sign 8: Physical Damage

We’re saving this one for last because it should be the most obvious, but if you notice any signs of physical damage to the light fixture itself, it’s time to replace it because it’s only a matter of time before it fails. Damage to watch for includes:

Significant corrosion or rust on fixtures
Lens discoloration or distortion
Cracked or broken lenses
Broken or loose fixtures/mounts
Exposed or frayed wiring

What To Look for Before Buying Modern Boat Lights

Even among “marine-grade” lights, not all units are designed and engineered the same. As with most things, you get what you pay for, and budget LED boat lights may last a season or two, but outdated housings can quickly degrade and break down when pitted against water, salt, and UV rays. That’s why it’s always worth researching before buying new boat lights. It could mean the difference between having to replace your system in a year or never worrying about it again for the life of your boat.

What should you watch for? Many manufacturers today swap out the internal components of conventional marine housings with LED bulbs. The problem is that those housings were designed for conventional lightbulbs rather than LEDs which are an entirely new technology than in the past. If you want to maximize the longevity of your new lights, you need a luminaire built to outlast the 40,000+-hour lifespan of LEDs.

As you research your options, check whether a manufacturer’s housings match those of halogen counterparts or if they’ve redesigned their LED housings from the ground up to maximize the performance and lifespan of the latest technology.

Upgrade to DuraBrite for Best-in-Class LED Boat Lights

When it’s time to upgrade or replace your boat’s lights, choose DuraBrite if you don’t want to bother with them again. Whether you’re a weekend warrior or you make your living on the water, DuraBrite lights are specifically engineered to withstand the harsh conditions of marine environments season after season. We back our lights with a best-in-class ten-year warranty, and they’re trusted by the likes of the NYPD Harbor Unit, the captains on Wicked Tuna, and Lobstermen across Maine. Start exploring your boat lighting options today.

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1 Chapman Piloting and Seamanship, 69th Edition. Page 146.