deer_predator

I would keep the halo's and find some GE ultra's. A GE Ultra 225 will only drain 225 watts on the genny but give you the same lumens as a 500 watter!...The HPS are decent on murky water but you also have to concider the excess weight you would be adding to the boat. They are way heavier than the halos.

slim23

id stick with halogens. ive shot over metal halides, hps and halogens. i have been offered both lights for free.

robow7

Thanks for your suggestions. DeerPred, I've always used the Ultra 350's which in fact are equal to the std. 500's in lumens but the Ultra 225's are more similar to the std. 300's.

Mark S

Dr. Rob, I think you have a great setup. Sure, you'd save some watts on the genny with hps, but you already have plenty of generator. Are you wanting to run a smaller one?

Seems like the weight evens out between hps or halos. Hps means heavy fixtures with a light weight generator. Halos mean a light weight fixture with a heavy generator.

With the ultras getting harder and harder to find, has anyone found an alternative? I've been running standard 300 watt bulbs but really miss the light of 500 watt'rs. I can't get the 500's to live in my housings. I used to end the night with only half my bulbs lit.

robow7

Mark, I was hoping to reduce the draw on my genny and make it even more quiet. Six of the 150 HPS would put out more lumens than my 8 350 Ultras, which like you said are becoming more difficult to obtain. The 150's will definitely weigh more if I consider the capacitors that I would really need to add in order to lower the amp draw. Seems like some of the guys on Bowfishing Country just rave about their switch over to HPS and I really would love to see what if anything I'm missing. So I'm kicking around the idea of switching over one side of my lights to the HPS and could then compare the two before switching over completely.

deer_predator

Well I took the 1st step into bowfishing insanity today by doing the most illogical thing I could think of. I bought a second genny for my boat, it is a Honda IU2000i and I also added 2 more GE Ultra225's. My plan is to have my 3500 Wen run the the lights, leaving the ultra quiet Honda available to run the converter for the troller. It will be a great welcome to run the Honda during the day.

carpsniper

I got the troller base of the boat today... Dang what a fight wound up drilling the heads off of three bolts.

deer_predator

Should have just got a bigger hammer!!!!

Bulzeye

Boat plans for me include replacing the genny since I couldn't fix it last year, and I should really return the small genny I borrowed from Fishpoint.

My bigger project is to repair/rebuild the bow. The 'modified-V' has decided to self-modifiy itself a bit further and the seems are failing. I need to reinforce the joints up there so she doesn't end up as a fish shelter on the bottom somewhere.
Any suggestions on methods or materials would be welcome.

carpsniper

Bulz, I'm a big fan of welding to fix something like that. If it's structural.