Why Get Underwater LED Lights for Your Boat

Underwater LED lights have become an increasingly popular accessory for boat owners all over the world, for more reasons than just making a boat stand out and look cool. 

LED lights under a boat not only help maximize the resale value of a boat, but they’re also an inexpensive way to upgrade runabout boats. If you’re a night owl and like to do things after dark, they’re a fantastic accessory to do nocturnal boating activities like night swimming and fishing. There are also several other uses for underwater LED boat lights. Here are some of the benefits of adding underwater LED lighting to your boat.

Better Fishing

Once again for the nocturnal boaters, LED lights are great for fishing at night. Underwater LED lights, particularly the green kind, are known for attracting fish. 

Green LED lights also serve as a form of bait, since they attract zooplankton and bait fish, which of course attract larger fish. From a topside perspective, underwater LED lights also help you spot what kind of fish are swimming around your boat. Even if you’re not interested in fishing, just being able to clearly see marine wildlife swimming around your boat in the glow of LED lights at night is quite an impressive sight. 

Ambiance Creation

Besides the gnarly sight of fish swimming around your boat at night, underwater LED lights give your watercraft a cool ambiance. They provide an ambient glow around your boat, and if you get the color-changing kind, you can set the lighting based on your mood.

As mentioned, if you want to fish or just see fish, green light is the way to go. If you’re in a more relaxed mood, purple or blue lighting will provide you with a chill vibe. And if you’re hosting a party, take your pick and have the colors change to whatever music suits the vibe. You’ll surely impress your guests with some underwater lighting, especially if they want to jump in and go nightswimming.   

White LED lights are known to repel bugs that are naturally attracted to other types of heat-emitting lights on your boat. So if you or your guests are getting bugged or bit, fire up those white LEDs to make them go away. Many modern underwater LED lighting setups can be remote controlled or adjusted through a mobile app. This includes controlling the colors, as well as the brightness and tones. 

Increased Visibility

Safety is of the utmost importance when boating at night, which is another benefit of underwater LED lights, as they help increase your boat’s visibility in the water. 

If your boat gets stranded at night, underwater LEDs serve as a beacon of sorts to help rescuers and nearby boaters easily spot you. This increased underwater visibility also helps prevent collisions with other boats and other obstacles while you’re cruising at night. LED lights also deflect grainy particles in cloudy water for improved navigation safety. Additionally, underwater LED lights illuminate your mooring space to help you watch your step while navigating the dock on foot after dark.  

Lighting Efficiency

LED lights are not only much more cost- and energy efficient than other types of boat lights, but they also have a longer shelf life. 

Underwater LED lights consume very little power, and are built with long-lasting diodes that can provide tens of thousands of hours of use. These lights also have a high resistance to shock, vibrations and heavy impacts brought on by the force of the water. While they’re by no means a substitute for other types of boat lights, underwater LED lights are the most sustainable lighting solution you can get. 

Easy Installation

Underwater LED lights are not only inexpensive to buy, but they’re also easy to install. As with any other product, follow the instruction manual, but there are a few basic types of underwater LED types that can be mounted several ways. 

Depending on which lights you get, the installation could either be surface mount, drain plug or thru-hull installation, with varying results as to how much illumination they provide based on where they’re mounted. 

LED lighting technology has evolved dramatically over the years, and as of this writing, it remains an efficient, durable, cost-effective and value-added way to light a boat. And once again, it looks cool, so why not add some underwater LED lights to your boat?