I participated in the Mission Bay Parade of Lights the first year I had my
19' bow rider. I mounted a Christmas Tree shaped lawn ornament on a six foot
pole. I made a 1' square box , about 3" tall to serve as a base (drilled a
hole in it for the pole) and ran two guy lines to cleats to keep it in
place.
I bought a 1 to 3 connector to plug into the utility outlet and wired three
strands of lights on the tree. It only took me a few minutes to get it set
up after the boat was launched.
I took one of my granddaughters, my wife and some hot chocolate.
My wife froze, my granddaughter slept to ignore the cold, but I had a great
time even though I followed a 40' cruiser and felt like their tender.

"Bryan" wrote in message
. com...

"John H." wrote in message
...
On Sat, 03 Dec 2005 21:49:50 GMT, "Bryan"
wrote:

So, for those who will be participating, or who have participated, in
christmas light boat parades, thank you. We've always enjoyed watching
the
boats go by all lit up like a christmas tree. And we're looking forward
to
it this year, too!

Now, there's a long shot (more likely I'll win the lottery) that I'll
light
up my boat and add it to the parade next weekend. It's just a little Sea
Ray 185 Sport. So, I'm wondering, what do I need besides some lights and
a
bit of exterior decorating aptitude? Can I just use my RV battery, and
an
inverter, or is it a converter, to power the lights? I'll have to put
the
boat into a temporary slip overnight; I have very little trailering
experience and I'm not ready to load it up in the dark.

Bryan
Sea Ray 185 Sport


A small inverter should handle the lights. Good luck. Post some
pictures when it's over!


Rats! As I was asking this great ng membership my questions, I found out
the light parade had been moved up a week. I had just enough time to get
the kids in the car and get down to the water to enjoy the parade. I'll
have to give it a go next year; and now that I have some serious prep
time, there will be no excuses!

I'm a sailor at heart, so I've got a soft spot for the sailboat displays
what with the lights running up the forestay to the masthead and back down
the backstay resulting in the christmas tree shape. Still, I did enjoy
the power boats and their grand (power is no object) displays. A crisp
cold night surrounded by good people and boats motoring by all lit up for
christmas. What more could we ask.