PONTOON LIGHTING - Underseat LED Install

[@anthonypalasota870]

Your THE BOSS.

[@tomspontoons]

Technically River is the shop boss 😂

[@pontoonlifeforever]

Thank you for this! Going to install some lights. :)

[@tomspontoons]

They're really a nice touch and add some serious convenience and safety for evening cruises.

[@robertstephens9323]

Nice work

[@tomspontoons]

Thanks for watching! I'm hoping this helps a few folks out with their projects at home.

[@awakenedtotruth8419]

Greetings Tom, I also end cap my open LED strips, except I use heat shrink with glue lined walls. I also use a heat gun on shrink tubing and linesman pliera to close the ends. Commercial installs called for the nylon strip components but honeatly nobody would detect the difference.

[@tomspontoons]

Great information! Thank you for sharing those tips!

[@tallaheist]

Tom love your videos . I've learned a lot. Thanks a bunch. I have a 98 Tracker 20' fishing barge. I've never seen you do a rebuild on one or any aluminum deck pontoon boats. Just started my rebuild. I live in Pensacola,FL. Any chance you could do an aluminum deck rebuild/redesign?

[@tomspontoons]

Thanks Tommy! We haven't tackled an aluminum decked boat in the over 60 boats we've restored in the last couple of years. We've had a few inquiries about doing them, but essentially have had to turn them away. The main reason is not having an outdoor space to work on them to clean the old flooring and adhesive off. The biggest task on an aluminum deck boat is the cleaning to get down to bare aluminum. From there you must use a solvent based adhesive that requires a different process for gluing down the flooring...not the end of the world, but takes more time. From there it's straight forward like any other pontoon boat. One of these days I will find an aluminum decked boat and tackle the project for our viewers. In the meantime keep an eye out for a video showing how to go about flooring an aluminum deck...we're going to film that soon showing vinyl flooring on a scrap sheet of aluminum mocking up the process on a smaller scale!

[@jamesfranks4142]

I agree with Tommy would like to see a aluminum build

[@tomspontoons]

One of these days I'll take one on for all of the aluminum deck folks out there! The flooring is the main difference. We will be making a video showing that process in the near future on a smaller scale.

[@whatevaonyx]

Hi Tom! What kind of wire do you use for your LED light installs? I used leftover 16 ga InstallGear speaker wire?

[@tomspontoons]

It’s such low draw that I’m sure that’ll be fine. I typically used a marine grade coated 16 gauge 2 in 1 (a black and a red together). I think the main difference is the different insulation for speaker wire, but the gauge is the same and should be able to carry that load no problem.

[@whatevaonyx]

@@tomspontoons thanks so much Tom as always!

[@vicesparis]

Nice

[@tomspontoons]

Thank you, and thanks for watching!

[@PontoonPilot]

What switch or controller did you use? These are just solid Blue? No RGB. Option? In my experience.. I installed these on my Boat, but an RGB version.. However the Controllers are first to burn out and fail.. making the lights useless.. so I may go to a solid color and easier straight to power connection

[@tomspontoons]

The only RGB lights I've trusted on a boat were from Green Blob Outdoors, but I'm not sure if they have underseat options. The lights in this video are a single color, blue-ish tint, and have been great for my customers used as under-seat options as well as the full length under-deck lights. There is so much movement, vibration, and moisture on a boat that I just have trouble trusting a controller to hold up over the years. I've been very happy with these light kits from Pontoon Stuff.

[@PontoonPilot]

Awesome! Thanks for the info! I may just gobthe solid color route myself this year.. one last attempt ibwas going to try were these RGB rock lights for trucks I have... they seem to be pretty well sealed and good wiring.. with their own controller.. we'll see how that goes ... if not... solid color it is!

[@tomspontoons]

@@PontoonPilot Sounds like you've got a solid plan!

[@brybino]

Could you use a rivet rather than a screw to prevent needing to file the screw point off?

[@tomspontoons]

Absolutely. It would just have to be quite small and obviously pre-drilled in most cases. Might end up faster to quick file down a screw?

[@adaminjp]

How do you ground all the equipment in your boats?

[@tomspontoons]

Essentially I ground everything back to the negative post on the battery. Everything I wire has a positive and ground that make their way back to a switch, common ground buss bar, or the battery. If there are multiple batteries in parallel I'll go back to the common ground on a battery negative post or a buss bar. If there are multiple batteries not in parallel or series I ground the items power by each battery to the respective negative post. I was taught to never use the frame of the boat as a ground by a long time marine mechanic.

[@adaminjp]

@@tomspontoons great thank you for letting me know.

[@tomspontoons]

@@adaminjp Happy to help. Another thought is that I've never seen a boat rigged from the factory any other way. Definitely never have I seen a factory wiring job include grounding to the frame of the boat.

[@dude5576]

hey tom where can i get the strips for the lites

[@tomspontoons]

The strips come with the LEDs when ordered from Pontoon Stuff. I'm not sure where they can be purchased separately, but I also believe they're specific to that size light strip Pontoon Stuff sells.

[@ledlighting8250]

Hi , how do I contact you for business inquiry

[@tomspontoons]

Email is best: [e-mail]