Power & Motoryacht – June 2017

BOATYARD

HOW TO MAKE A GOOD BOAT EVEN BETTER

Light Show

SO YOU OWN A SMALLER VESSEL BUT WANT THE TOUGHNESS AND RESILIENCE OF A BIG-BOAT,

FULL-FEATURED, THROUGH-HULL UNDERWATER LIGHT? LUMISHORE’S GOT THE GOODS.

BY CAPT. BILL PIKE

Tonight! Perfectly choreographed

radiance behind that transom!

This Page Add a little cool to

your cockpit. Pg. 72 A renowned

mechanic stops by. Pg. 78 A few

tips on hose clamps. Pg. 79

WWW.PMYMAG.COM JUNE 2017 / POWER & MOTORYACHT 71

Lumishore says the TIX402’s LED module should last for 50,000-plus hours. Replacement is easy, though—merely unscrew it from inside the vessel.

G

enerally speaking, there are two va-

rieties of underwater lights on the

market these days. On the low end,

you’ve got the surface-mount type, which

is generally made of plastic, adheres to the

exterior of a given hull via adhesive, gets its

power from an electrical cable that passes

through a small, caulked hole, and appears

on smaller vessels. On the high end, you’ve

got the through-hull type, which is typi-

cally larger and more robust (being made of

bronze or some other metal), costs consider-

ably more, gets its power from an electrical

cable that remains entirely within the hull,

and tends to appear on yachts, oft en biggies.

But hey, Lumishore’s just nixed this cozy

little arrangement. With the introduction

of its new TIX402 Color Change light, the

company is now making a beefy, albeit

relatively small, reasonably priced through-

hull unit for folks who own boats within

the 25- to 80-foot range. And it’s pulled

this magic off without sacrifi cing many of

the features that larger, much pricier and

yachtier lights off er.

As with other through-hulls that Lu-

mishore sells, the TIX402 is preprogrammed

to sync with an onboard stereo so that colors

change or pulse (via the computer-controlled

blending of red, green, blue, and white LEDs)

in relatively complex, rhythmic, precise

ways if desired. “You just hook it up to the

audio output on your stereo and you’ve got

one color for treble, another color for bass,

another color for mid-range, and yet another

color for background,” explains Christian

Redditt, Technical Operations Manager for

Lumishore USA.

Other big-boat, through-hull features?

Th e TIX402 is sealed from the outside

(with “hard glass” i.e. a toughened BK7

Borosilicate lens) so you can address the

LED module from inside the hull without

having to haul out. Moreover, this cool

little through-hull (with an outside diam-

eter that’s just 3.5 inches) also off ers a raft

of preprogrammed or customizable color

modes, more than 50,000 hours of LED

life, and a highly intuitive controller that

can be mounted at the helm or in some

other convenient location.

Th e TIX402 is packaged in pairs as a kit

(with a Wi-Fi-capable controller, distribu-

tion hub, and wiring) and lists for $5,700.

More lights and hubs can be added, of

course, depending on how groovy an owner

wants to get. lumishore.com