Hi there!
My husband and I have opted for LED lights in our refit of Gypsea ('77 Catalina
27) and couldn't be happier. We're working toward replacing all the lights,
inside and out, with LEDs. We were hesitant at the beginning because of the
blue-white color of first-generation LEDs and the prohibitive cost. Also, in
the beginning it looked like we'd have to replace all the fixtures - again at
prohibitive cost and, hey, we actually like some of Gypsea's original fixtures!
We found LED reading lights at Swego (http://www.swego.com) on introductory
special and decided to run for luck as Gypsea had no reading lights originally.
I just checked and Swego has many more models than they had when we ordered
ours. The new generation of LEDs is significantly warmer in color than the
first, yet still bright. They also run very cool. I can curl up in the V-berth
for hours reading and the light won't get hot. Because they draw so little
power, they're the only cabin lights we'll use while we're at anchorage or
rafted up.
You can now buy LED "bulbs" to retrofit most standard lighting fixtures so you
won't have to buy new fixtures. We're starting to replace all the original
bulbs in the cabin with LEDs. It's not a cheap job, but we're very happy with
the result thus far.
I can't speak to the LED nav lights as we haven't started that project, but I
can't image that we'd be displeased with them. We'll tackle that job after a
few more pressing projects get done.
Fair winds!
Debbi
Gypsea
'77 Catalina 27, #3170
--- In [email protected], "spkaldor" <spkal...@...> wrote:
> I'm looking forward to your updates on cabin LED lights... that is a project
> I also have been thinking about.
