Dry Lights

These are Easy and Safe.

The dry lights are great, they’re cheap to make and Safe, there is no heater element, no fan, but they get hot enough to move the air around in your boat and keep it somewhat dry for the winter months. Along the lines of those round driers they sell at west Marine, but these work a lot better and you can make them much cheaper.

What you’ll need from the hardware store;

1 replacement male end for an extension cord

Cheap temporary construction light fixtures, I used two for my Moore

1 gallon paint cans (the same number as the fixtures)

75 watt light bulbs (the same number as the fixtures)

Jig saw

Drywall screws

Cordless drill

Wire stripper

Can opener

So here is what I did for each dry light; take some scrap wood, I used ¾” CDX plywood, and cut a 1’x1’ square. Then take the 1 gallon paint can and put some oil around the lip and place it on another scrap piece of wood, cut the outline with your jig saw. You want this plug to fit tightly inside the can; this will hold the can in place later. Then cut two strips of wood for each side of the fixture so you can mount it and have room for the wires underneath it.

Once you’ve got the wood base pieces cut set them aside and grab an old extension cord you have sitting around your garage. For my two lights I cut off 6’ of cord from the male end of the extension cord. 2’ of cord with the existing male end for the tail and 4’ of cord for between the lights. Then take the replacement male end you bought and put it on the extension cord before your wife finds out you cut the cord. Now take the cord you cut and use your wire stripper to expose the wire and wire it in. Most of these temporary lights do not have a ground so just snip off the ground wire. Take your two power wires and screw them in tight in the lights, usually people do Black wire to gold screw, but it really doesn’t matter. Once the wiring is done your ready to screw the base together and screw the fixture to the base. When it’s put together it should look like the picture above.

Now for the Cans; Take your can opener and use the pointy end to make holes all round the sides of the can. Do not put any holes in the top, this is your heat plate. Then take the can and set it over the light and mark where the cord is so you can cut out a groove with your jig saw for the cord. 2 notches for the first light and one notch for the last light.

It’s as easy as that, your done and your boat will be nice and dry this winter. I placed one in the bow and one in the middle over the keel, if you do three you could put one under the cockpit. Another thing I found is that instead of running the cord through your companion way hatch and having a leak point, just run the cord out your man overboard pole tube if you still have one, no leaks there.