If you want to give your boat a little extra visual appeal and a more modern look, then underwater boat lights might be just the thing that you’re looking for.
In this article we uncover the best underwater boat lights, taking into account factors like installation, aesthetic appeal and reliability.
Let’s dive in and see which lights belong under your boat.
Read next: Check out our review of the best underwater fishing camera, marine VHF radio, and marine stereo.
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Best Underwater Boat Lights - (Comparison Table)
Boat Lights - (Video Review)
Top Underwater Boat Lights
Best Overall Underwater Boat Lights
Lumitec SeaBlazeX LEDs
The Lumitec SeaBlazeX LEDs come in white, blue, green, and white/blue. Lighting up to 4000 lumens, they are one of the brightest lights available. They are also some of the most versatile, with strobe and cross fade options available.
Powered by 12 volt DC to 24 volt DC, they come in marine grade bronze alloy housing and can be mounted onto a transom with ½” through holes, making installation relatively easy.
With these LED lights, you’re paying for quality. Not only in the clarity and brightness of the lights themselves but also the bronze alloy housing, which is widely considered to be amongst the most durable marine grade material. As a result, these lights won’t corrode as quickly as some of their competitors and are likely to last well over the lifetime of the LED bulbs themselves.
Installation and control are both easy. The features available, strobe and cross-fade, can be operated with the flick of a single switch. There’s no complex wiring involved, you simply need to ensure that you drill holes of the right size so that the lights can fit snugly onto the underside of the boat.
- Highly powerful lights (4000 Lumens) with various color options and programmable lighting controls like strobe and crossfade.
- Extremely resilient housing makes for a longer-lasting underwater boat light
- Easy to install and easy to use, meaning minimal fussing for you
Best Surface Mount Underwater Boat Lights
Jiawill CREE LED Surface Mount Underwater Boat Lights
The Jiawill Surface Mount Lights offer impressive lighting of up to 2853 lumens. One of the most impressive features is the installation kit that allows one to quickly and easily mount them to the surface of a variety of different transom types. A mounting bracket can also be bought separately to attach them to the boat’s trim tab if that’s your preference.
The Jiawill lights lack some of the versatility of other options. They do have a dual color feature, but they have no strobe or crossfade features to note, but this is more than made up for by the sheer quality of their design. Even out of the water, they are light and attractive to look at. However, when attached, they are extremely low profile, standing no more than 17mm from the surface of the boat.
The quality goes beyond the aesthetic appeal of these lights, as well. Not only are they housed in marine grade stainless steel and a shatterproof polycarbonate lens, but these lights are also vibration resistant and shock resistant, making them incredibly durable. Bright, heavy-duty and with minimal visual disruption when they are turned off, they make for an elegant solution for your under boat lighting needs.
- Surface mount installation makes them easier to install than most competitors
- Low profile, meaning they don’t interrupt the profile of the boat or stand out when they’re not on.
- Highly durable thanks to marine grade steel and shatterproof lens, on top of being resistant to both vibrations and shocks.
Best Budget Underwater Boat Lights
AGPTEK Stainless Steel IP68 Waterproof LED Marine Underwater Light
Like the Jiawill lights, the option from AGPTEK are surface mount lights that come in a marine grade stainless steel housing, offering great anti-corrosion properties, as well as a chrome plating that makes them look even glossier while improving wear-resistance. Shockproof and waterproof, they’re well-tested against the conditions at sea as well as the engine movement.
Easy installation is guaranteed with two surface mount installation methods and a fuse kit that comes with every light that’s not difficult to attach and operate at all. They can be fitted at almost the lowest position of the boat at 3 inches over the very bottom, and each light offers up to 1400 lumens of blue light. While it may not be quite as powerful as some of the other listed competitors, it creates a gorgeous glow. At its price range, you’re not likely to get anything more powerful than the AGPTEK lights.
While it doesn’t offer lighting as effective as the more expensive options, it still looks good and is useful for a variety of applications, such as night fishing and night swimming. Relatively high quality compared to other lights in the same price range so those who aren’t willing to pay for the most powerful of underwater LED lights still have an option to give their boat the glow they want.
- Shockproof, waterproof, and highly resilient housing for long-lasting LED lights
- Easy to install with two different installation methods
- Unique dark blue glow that adds its own aesthetic allure to your boat
Great Value Underwater Boat Lights
Lumitec SeaBlaze3
In the mid-range, we have another product in the Lumitec SeaBlaze3 line. These lights provide up to 1729 lumens on 12 volt DC to 24 volt DC. Like the SeaBlazeX, they are transom mountable and require the drilling of a ½ inch hole to install them. Unlike the SeaBlazeX, they are dimmable without the need for any external controllers, giving you a lot more control over exactly how much light your under-boat LED gives off. What’s more, it has the cross fade feature of the more expensive model, even if it lacks the strobe feature
The marine grade anodized aluminum housing might not be quite to the same standard as the more expensive bronze alloy available from the SeaBlazeX, but is still resilient enough to provide the protection necessary, with every product through 2000 continuous hours of salt spray testing to ensure their anti-corrosive ability.
Larger yachts may need slightly more powerful lighting, but the SeaBlaze3 LED lights still provide all the visibility a smaller boat could need with no more than two needed to create the ambient glow, available in white, blue, green, and dual-color white/blue. For a slightly cheaper, mid-range option that’s still more powerful than the AGPTEK lights, these are a highly recommendable choice.
- Easy-to-control with crossfade and dimmable, allowing for a little more versatility and lighting customization
- Anodized aluminum housing provides cheaper, yet still highly effective protection for the lights
- Lots of color options offer effective lighting that allows you to decide what kind of appeal you want to give your boat
Best Underwater Boat Lights For Easy Installation
Pactrade Marine Bright S.S.316 Underwater Light
These blue 120-lumen lights are a comparatively budget friendly option better suited for smaller ships. While they may not provide the highly effective lighting available from the other products reviewed here, they still work for providing an atmospheric glow for small boats.
They may not be quite as compact and low profile as some of the more expensive options, but Pactrade Marine Bright underwater LED lights are still designed with quality in mind. They have a corrosion-resistant marine grade stainless steel housing, with a low heat emitting light that ensures it can withstand the harsh conditions of the water with very little power use.
Installation is relatively simple. Though not as easy as the surface mounted options, these lights only require a small hole to be drilled, through which they are connected to a separate, provided wiring box.
While they may not have the dazzling effect of more powerful lights, they still bring their own visual appeal, which is much more appreciable when you’re out on the water. What’s more, they’re effective for attracting marine creatures when night fishing and improve safety during night activities like swimming, loading, and docking. They may not be quite as impressive as the other products reviewed here, but they very much do the job for those who need less expensive lights for a smaller boat.
- Budget-friendly option that’s better for small boats
- Good at attracting fish for night fishing
- Provide lighting and safety for nocturnal boating activities
Buyer's Guide for Underwater Boat Lights
There are a range of things to consider when buying your lights. The best underwater boat lights tend to be LED, using little power to provide long-lasting bulbs.
You should also consider the ease of installation. Most lights require a hole to be drilled into the boat but most come with the kit to help you do that, so that’s another feature worth keeping an eye out for.
The best underwater boat lights also need to be able to stay underwater without the material housing them corroding them over time.
Underwater boat lights add a whole new level of class and visibility to your boat, but they aren’t cheap.
While some options are more expensive than others, it’s worth investing in quality not just for the quality and versatility of its lighting options, but also because these are the lights that will stand the test of time and won’t need a replacement too soon.