Practical Boat Owner - July 2018

PRACTICAL

1

Cut two identical pieces of

20mm-thick hardwood slightly

larger than the size of the light unit: in my

case they were 160mm x 115mm. To

assist with the next stage – drilling the

tube clamp hole – I first clamped then

screwed the two pieces together with

35mm screws. I drilled pilot holes all the

way through the upper piece (seen left)

but made sure they didn’t go all the way

through the lower piece. The upper piece

will be covered by the light unit and the

lower piece will become the back of the

mount, and thus won’t have any exposed

screw holes.

Cut mounting boards

Make a versatile solar-

powered cockpit light

Tired of trailing cables to external lights,

David Moore bought a solar-powered

floodlight and built his own bespoke mount

E

ntertaining in the cockpit on a

warm evening is one of the joys

of sailing, especially in the

Algarve and Mediterranean

where I cruise my yacht.

But setting up good cockpit lighting

invariably means trailing leads from plugs

to overhead lights, which always seem to

get in the way and get damaged easily, or

you have to rely on battery-powered units

which need fresh batteries regularly.

I set out to resolve this with some of the

latest breed of waterproof solar-powered

floodlights that are readily available at a

reasonable cost. I used a LitOm 24 LED

wide angle light which is rated at 526

lumens and is waterproof to IP65, but

different types and sizes are available.

The LitOm unit has three lighting modes:

medium light mode, dim light sensor light

mode (switches to full brightness when

movement sensed) and sensor mode.

Mounting the unit up high on the bimini

frame was ideal because it is then also

easy to recharge the solar-powered

battery by rotating the unit outward to face

the sun. I couldn’t find a suitable mounting

online so I made a simple wooden clamp

from some 20mm-thick oak planking.

The finished product can be quickly

clamped to any 25.4mm tube. Mine also

features a second, smaller clamping slot

for fitting to the shroud – and I’ve also

used it as a cabin light clamped to a

handhold when one of my interior light

switches was faulty. Step

by

step