Most of the installations I've seen in other boats of LED's for utility (as opposed to decorative) lighting in the cockpit have been where the rope or other lights were mounted under the gunnels to prevent night blinding, as well as keep them out of the weather, and out of the way of fishing equipment interference. Haven't really seen any that were red, but have seen very few examples. Some were on center console boats and mounted under the hardtop bimini cover, too.
I read on one site where someone was using blue LEDs claiming that blue was the "new" preferred color for night lighting because it provided better contrast, and that the Air Force was changing all their instrument lighting over to blue instead of red (!!!) This would go against everything I've ever heard about night vision, but will have to research it further.
I remember once, with some of my high school students, setting in a B-52 flight simulator with 100's of glowing red gauges and other instruments, and being impressed with the macabre hellish feel of a true instrument of death! It was quite another matter trying to fly it over the terrain below at under 500 feet of elevation to avoid enemy radar detection. Most of us felt it was better than an E-Ticket ride at Disneyland!
Mounting a string of 12-v rope lights under the gunnels could be kind of difficult just from the standpoint of drilling and screwing in all the hangers necessary.
It might be a lot easier just to mount a weatherproofed florescent light with a red filter (or red painted tube) instead. One of those 12-v rubber-encased garage/automotive worklights would work and be quite portable so you could bring it right down to your cutting board, etc. One could also just use your rear of cabin flood lights too, just adding a red filter or shower cap over the housing. Halogen lights would require some form of heat tolerant filter as they get hot enough to burn skin or anything else sensitive to temperatures of 200-300 degrees F.
I have a couple of sets of 120 v rope lights that have every other bulb white alternated with blue. One can have them on
1.white on
2.blue on
3.both blue and white on at the same time
4. fading back and forth from blue to white on about a 10 second interval.
Could run them off an inverted or my Honda 1000ie generator, but probably ought to have them for the lighted Christmas Parade.
So what do you want, a C-Dory that looks like it escaped from a Las Vegas sign installer? Joe.
What a great couple of days on the R-Matey. We launched at Squalicum before noon on Friday. Then we decided we'd go to Cornet Bay and spend the night. Said hello to Fred (Anita Marie) as we passed by LaConner. Arrived at Cornet Bay and got a nice spot on the inside of the dock. Walked up to the store and then over to EQ Marine. There's a new red 19CD out front; a 'Hunky Dory' in the side lot and we could see the Bambina sitting inside the shop.
