# boat set up help



## tail_slider3d (Jul 19, 2011)

I've been bowfishing out of my 14ft jon boat. I put a 3 ft deck over the top rails. not a lot of elevation but its better than standing in the floor. I tried to mount lights at deck level but with me in the front of the small boat the lights aren't  much higher than a foot off of the water.  as you can guess this don't give me much of an area lit up.  maybe 3 or 4 ft from the boat. any ideas of how to raise the lights up?  I don't think I can build a rail bc of the limited space in the front of the boat.


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## castandblast (Jul 19, 2011)

I did my old deck/light rig like this. not the greatest by no means, But I shot a TON of fish off of it. Just a piece of flange on top and bottom with a piece of pvc or conduit in the middle with the lights mounted on top. The whole in the deck is from the tornado at the 2010 Muzzy...


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## FOD (Jul 19, 2011)

From what I've found,a raised deck isn't really worth the trouble unless you're shooting in the daytime,and it gives you a nice place to put your lights.After having raised decks for 10 years,I went to a flat deck,my lights get in the way sometimes,but I'm closer to the fish,and it's alot more simple.


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## j_seph (Jul 19, 2011)

What size/kind of lights are you using


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## tail_slider3d (Jul 19, 2011)

just 4 500watt worklights.  I've been thinking about building stands for the lights.  I don't why I didn't think of pvc


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## j_seph (Jul 19, 2011)

My 10 are mounted just barely above the deck and get plenty of light with 300 watts, even more now that I went with 225 ultras may even add 4 more toward the back.


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## tail_slider3d (Jul 19, 2011)

that's a lot of lights.  my boat is so small I was afraid that many lights would make me fall.  I just have two on each side angled towards the bank I'm working.  since I'm always working the bank for these carp the thought has crossed my mind to put all 4 on one side and add one on the other side just for navigation?


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## castandblast (Jul 19, 2011)

that pvc pipe and flange should work well on a flush deck as long as you dont put them too high. its just like shooting over a knee rail.  for that matter, just build a knee rail and mlunt them to it. we built one on my buddy's 1648 and my 1756 before i built the raised aluminum deck on it.


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## Augustabowhunter (Jul 19, 2011)

Do they have the smooth metal inside the lights or is it the rippled metal? Smooth will give you a wider surface area than rippled.


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## tail_slider3d (Jul 19, 2011)

I will have to check but I think they are smooth.  I went to the home depot and found pvc precut to 2ft and flanges that fit.  with a little ingunuity I should be able to run the set up free of wires around my feet.  now the big question is how to keep all of the bugs off of me. I got covered last time I tried this.


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## Michael (Jul 19, 2011)

I shot for yrs out of a 14' Duracraft with 2-500 wt lights up front and 2-300 wt lights on the side. The 500 wt lights were on a 16" pole and the 300's were on a 12" pole.


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## tail_slider3d (Jul 19, 2011)

I'm sure gonna mount them this afternoon.  my boat is a 1971 14 ft chrysler fiberglass boat.


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## FULL_DRAW (Jul 20, 2011)

tail_slider3d said:


> I will have to check but I think they are smooth.  I went to the home depot and found pvc precut to 2ft and flanges that fit.  with a little ingunuity I should be able to run the set up free of wires around my feet.  now the big question is how to keep all of the bugs off of me. I got covered last time I tried this.



What bugs???


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## j_seph (Jul 20, 2011)

FULL_DRAW said:


> What bugs???


 Good Lawd, I thought we were in em bad, but no where near did they try and push the boat down like those are


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## FULL_DRAW (Jul 21, 2011)

j_seph said:


> Good Lawd, I thought we were in em bad, but no where near did they try and push the boat down like those are



Yea that was @ Oconee near swords. It was pretty bad! took 2 hrs to clean them outta the boat! probably could have filled a 5 gallon bucket with em.


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## j_seph (Jul 21, 2011)

We had em at Oconee up the river and you could ere popping everytime you took a step. Started to go to a team name change of snap, crackle, pop lol


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## Bhightower01 (Apr 25, 2017)

*Bugs*

I would love to hear some ideas to keep bugs away


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## S Adams (Apr 25, 2017)

Keep the boat moving helps with bugs,after about the first hour they seem to go away.


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