Electrical Wiring - Kayak Fishing Adventures on Big Water’s Edge

Lets_Fish · 06-14-2011, 09:31 PM

Are you installing the lights because you are going to run the yak with a motor? If no motor you only need the 360° white light.

Now to some of your questions:

Having installed both a bow & stern light onto a prior kayak, I would say that the bow light most likely has an expanding "nut" (plastic wedge over a nut) that holds it in place. I installed a Perko 360° light behind the seat. This type of light is a two pin plug-in available at West Marine. If you go with this style, make sure that the mast is tall enough to be over your head for others to see you. It's easy to wire also.

For the multiple applications you could use a bus bar to distribute the power to each application (never did this before so not sure how to layout this).

Marine grade wire (nothing less) with shrink tube well fitted (use a heat gun) & do not forget good wire connections.

Toggle switches or "profile" switches work well for on-off applications (just remember MORE holes to be concerned with).

Hope this helps.

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06-14-2011, 09:31 PM	#5
Lets_Fish Senior Member Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: Wildomar, CA. Posts: 294	Are you installing the lights because you are going to run the yak with a motor? If no motor you only need the 360° white light. Now to some of your questions: Having installed both a bow & stern light onto a prior kayak, I would say that the bow light most likely has an expanding "nut" (plastic wedge over a nut) that holds it in place. I installed a Perko 360° light behind the seat. This type of light is a two pin plug-in available at West Marine. If you go with this style, make sure that the mast is tall enough to be over your head for others to see you. It's easy to wire also. For the multiple applications you could use a bus bar to distribute the power to each application (never did this before so not sure how to layout this). Marine grade wire (nothing less) with shrink tube well fitted (use a heat gun) & do not forget good wire connections. Toggle switches or "profile" switches work well for on-off applications (just remember MORE holes to be concerned with). Hope this helps.