Amidships blue LED lights now for night sailing, update - 2019

These blue LED light strips on the solar panel above the dodger light 
the fore deck nicely. However, the switching for them needs to be improved
 upon.  Originally we put these up for anchoring and sailing and now 
we see the value during night sailing. The switch can be set to flash and dim but we probably won't ever use that on the dodger with these lights.  

March 2019 - We are currently anchored in Chamela Bay  Mexico 

In this recent video you can see the use while night sailing. They work great for reducing sail from a 135 Genoa to a jib and for poling out the jib, as an example. They also give off enough light to organize lines in the cockpit on half moon or less nights.

The problem with them is that turning them on\off is a pain. You need stand on the lazarett and to reach under the solar panel and feel for the switch. The switch needs to be moved to the cockpit for easy access. So that part of the project is not working well.

Also, after anchoring and sailing using the blue bow, stern and amidships blue lights we can see the automatic "On" for the amidships lights can be removed. We do not use them for sitting at anchor as the bow and stern lights are doing a great job. They come on at sunset and shut off at dawn just as planned. They would be fine for up-anchor before daylight as we do on some passages. We have not tried them for that yet.

So, the plan is to remove the light sensor form the amidships under the solar panel area and add the switching to the Blue Sea Systems WeatherDeck™ Waterproof 6 position Fuse Panel  we installed in the cockpit.. There are a couple switches still available on that panel.

Then by just reaching down, we can turn on\off the blue amidships lights😎

Looks like this will go on the summer's project list😊

Got another project, too, for the light sensor switch - we'll put some cockpit lights in that we will attach to the same light sensor switch so we can have instant lights when it gets dark!!