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What's the best way to decorate a boat for the Christmas holidays?
I want to decorate my boat (32' power) for December. What kind of 12V
light strings should I buy? I've seen ads for ones that claim to be LED
based, and others seem to be just very small bulbs. Which ones are the
best ones to get?
How many lights per linear foot I should run for the best effect, and
what's the best way to attach them to the boat? Wrapping them around the
safety railing seems obvious enough, but what do you do to securely
attach them to the fiberglass -- for just one month? |
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-We use a 300W inverter from Circuit City ($59 if you don't buy it from
the most expensive boat dealer in town) to get 120V sine waves. Mine
is a Tripplite. Then you can use regular Xmas lights from WalMart.
Spiral a small line around any large diameter lifelines to hang the
lights from. Then use Xmas tree ornament hangers to hang the lights
from the lines. For sailboat "Med Lights", the Xmas tree hangars are
easily bent around any halyard going up the mast. Xmas tree hangars
make hanging the lights easy from anything you can bend them
around....(c;
Merry Christmas!
Hmm.....come join us! Each year, boaters in Charleston Harbor spend
hours and hours lighting up everything from a jonboat to the harbor
tugboats and everything in between for the Harbor Christmas Parade,
held just after dark. USS Yorktown (CV-10) and Patriots Point Naval
Museum open up their docks so the public can fill the deck of the
aircraft carrier with kids and those who wish they were. The boats
parade by in all their electric glory to the sounds of Christmas Music
played by local bands on deck. It's a great parade, usually 50-100
boats! It's a Charleston tradition that dates way back....(c;
Besides, you didn't wanna spend Christmas chipping ice from around the
rudder post, anyway, did you? Come tie up to a WARM water dock! -I have had very good results using modified strands of regular, small bulb,
outdoor light sets. Below is a set of instructions from an old member of
the rec.boats community, Bob Curtis. It explains how to modify regular
light sets to work on 12V, I did 2 50 bulb sets and they take a combined 3
AMPS or so at 12V (pretty miserly, and no need for a genset). I made the
sets in 1995 and have had them since.
REALLY IMPORTANT! put a different plug on the finished light set or lable
them VERY well, if you plug a modified set inot 120, it'll go off like a
flash bulb! |
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