turning a SUP into a night time SUP

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so ive been given the task of turning a sup into a night time sup. i was given a kit with some led lights. a battery, and various other thing to install the lights. well i thought about it for a while and since they want the lights at the bottom of the rail i would have to free hand cut it. i really was hoping to be able to make some sort of jig for my router to run along the rail but since the rail line is always changing i dont think it would be possible.

by the way im probably going to have to do more of these so i any one has any better ideas on how to cut out the rail feel free to let me know.

so i taped off the area that i need to cut out and went at it with my dremel with a cutting wheel

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so now you can see that when i cut out the rail it got really hot and messed up some of the foam. so i put in some pour foam to fill it back up and then sanded the channel back down the the required depth

more to come later

This strikes me as a terrible idea considering sharks are attracted to shiny objects and lights at night, and night time is their feeding time… one of the key dangers you encounter when night-diving - but that’s just me… I’m interested to see how this turns out though

Don’t dispair.     It’s a Darwinian principle being activated.     Humbolt Squid like bright lights too.      YIKES !

you could have made a template to lay / clamp on the bottom of the board to use as a router guide

 

Plus-One made one, good pictures on FaceBook.

www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=338414906194531&set=a.338411272861561.69179.146972022005488&type=1&theater

Damn man… better make sure you get your seals good with all those electronics and a high-output ballast on board. One bad leak and TZZZZT! Kentucky Fried Paddleboarder

great idea for rivers and lakes though. the facebook pics are awesome thanks for posting Ian. One less SUP at a surfbreak during the day…I like it!

ya i dont thinks its the best idea for around here but hey im just getting paid to do a job

well now i have routed out a spot to put the battery in

this was a pain in the but cause my router doesnt go that deep so i had to chizzle out the stringer and take the dremel to the foam

now i have to drill a hole from where the battery is to the nose which was not a easy thing to do either

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hey Ian, thanks for that link, good to see others having to do this as well

but the system that i was given doesnt have has much wiring but his system does look like it might be easier to install

Is the battery and other electronics in its own waterproof case? Or does the manufacturer just suspect that if the board gets a ding nearby, the foam will magically keep the water off the battery?

 

Just hard to see from the pics but I’m surprised that it doesn’t have a whole cup you drop in as opposed to just having it embedded in the raw foam

The battery and controller were in their own compartment.  The entire circuit is DC so it can survive

submersion.  There is also a spray on coating from the boat stores which waterproofs things like circuit

boards and electrical connections, pretty amazing stuff.

 

I designed and built the whole thing from scratch, the remote control was the most interesting aspect

since the hull is carbon fiber, the radio signal would not penetrate, but figured that out.  The LED light

units are sealed and made for deep water submersion.  I set up the 3 lights to work independently,

controlled from a waterproof key fob worn by the paddler.  The lights are VERY high intensity, and are

painful to look at, they have copper heat sinks which are designed to be water cooled.  This was a

high-end expensive build, the owner paid close to 5 grand for the whole deal.  It was designed to be

used on flat bay water to check out sea life- very interesting what happens even in our bays at night

BTW…

 

Here is a link to some video I shot,

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=12NzNvgEk-M&feature=g-upl

 

Wished I knew you were building a lighted SUP because I did a few tests with different set-ups,

but only got onto this thread just now,

George

here is on i did back in 2007/8 it had mercury swithes and recharchable  batterys, so deck up lights on… deck down charging circuit was on… 

 was pretty simple to build with a little electronics knowledge…

lights on

lightup

bottom

 

hey George and Dave, those are some nice looking builds you guys did

the system that was given to me are 12 foot long led light stripes that you install along the rail so we will see how it comes out

so since i have to use straight resin to fill in the channel that i cut out to cover the lights i decided it would be best to seal it up first so resin doesnt keep soaking into the foam or chance having the foam getting too hot, so i put a bunch of filler in there and routed out a spot for the lights

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hey Ken that was my first thought but since the router is going to change angels as it moves up and down the rail it would not have worked

the kit did come with some sort of putty that you mold around all the electronic connections so hopefully you dont get zapped, but we will see how that goes later

but that will be it for now cause i have way too many repairs coming in, so i gotta keep the costumers happy, so until later hope every one have has a nice Thanksgiving

I do some night-time paddling - both in kayaks and on SUPs.  I just wear a waterproof headlamp.  Here's a deal on a two-pack....

http://www.outdoorpros.com/Prod/Stansport-160-Waterproof-Headlight-Blue-2-Pack/83523/Cat/41?gclid=CPSE7c6W3LMCFcaDQgodDXoAKg

I guess to be totally legal, one should have proper navigation lights - red/green up front and white in back. 

http://www.cheaperthandirt.com/product/5-5346805

It would suck if after all the retrofitting on the SUP, your guy still got a ticket from a ranger or harbor patrolman.  Some locales are notoriously strict about stuff like PDFs, lights, etc.