Boat Lighting 

The choice in marine lighting fittings generally lies between filament bulbs and fluorescent tubes.

The latter tend to have a longer life in the marine environment, and give considerably more light for a given power consumption, but not everybody likes the harsh white light they produce, at least not for cabin interior lighting.

The best compromise is to have a mixture of boat light fittings, some filament and some fluorescent, so that the cabin lighting can be set for the particular mood. However, standardisation reduces the number of spares required.

Watertight plugs and sockets at the base of yacht masts show white wires, which carry the power for the navigation lights, whilst the black wires are for VHF antennae.

Any outside lighting, wherever it is located, must be waterproof. This applies to cockpit lighting in sheltered locations just as much as to the exposed navigation lights. If you use recessed light fittings for outside, then only the fitting needs to be watertight on the outside; it can be linked by standard wiring which is protected on the inside.

Fittings such as navigation lights and searchlights can be connected by a watertight deck plug and socket which allows them to be removed easily. The socket should have a waterproof cover to screw in place when the plug has been removed so that water can't get to the live connections in the socket.

Try to keep switches in protected places. It is convenient to have a light switch just inside a door or hatch, but make sure that water can't drip on to it when it is raining or when spray is flying about outside.

Even with an enclosed wheelhouse, any switches mounted flat on the dashboard should be waterproof, or at least splashproof, because water can drip onto them from wet oilskins or hands.

With an open cockpit, all switches and fittings must be watertight; where possible, you should mount switches vertically where there is less chance of water collecting on the switch.