I bought a light at Pep Boys for about $3. It's about 2" long and hooded. I
either used red nail polish on the bulb or bought a red bulb - don't
remember. The hood didn't block enough of the light from view, so I extended
the hood by lining the inside of the lens with foil; it blocks the light,
and reflects it. I mounted it so it would cast light on my row of switches.
I've been satisfied with it for over a year and it's helpful to others using
the boat who aren't familiar with the switches - now they can read the
labels. Cheaper than replacing all switches with illuminated toggles.

"Gary" wrote in message
om...
The switch panel at the helm of my boat is very well laid out and marked,
but for whatever reason, is not lit. While running at night, it's not
possible to see which switch is which without turning on an overhead light
or using a flashlight.

I'm a pilot and know that on the instrument panels of many airplanes,
there
are small "post lights". These lights illuminate the instruments if they
are not back lit. They have a small hood on them so they don't shine in
your face, but on the panel instead. Something like this would be a
perfect
solution to my problem...just drill a small hole and mount the light and
wire it up, however, I doubt seriously that they are water proof.

I just spent several minutes searching the web for something similar to
this
for marine use, and came up empty handed.

Does anyone know of a source for these, or perhaps a better solution to
the
problem?

Thanks!

Gary