Pipe lights or guide lights on boat trailer - anyone ever?

[Brazman]

Ever built these, anyone? My boat trailer lights need replacing, and I'm strongly considering putting the new ones up on pvc guide posts or pipes. I'm having trouble deciding how to attach them to the trailer at the back. Anyone done this? Pics of your build would help.
Thanks!

[BowTech2010]

Tagged for later. Will post pics this evening

[ultralite09]

I dont have any pics but might find some online. My buddy and I fish deep nights pretty often in the summer time and guide posts look dumb on a bass boat so we put guide lights along the trailer frame. loading the boat looks like an airport landing strip

[Texas Grown]

I've done this many a time. Very simple. This is a quick job I did. I kept the lower lights because it's easy to see that it is a trailer. And they are all LED. I will be adding LED guide on lights at the top of the post very soon. The shaft that the 2" PVC rides on is 1"x1" angle iron. You may think it's flimsy. But it will hold just fine. I've used it on heavier boats as well. Key is how much the bottom is supported and how long the shaft is. You can go heavier, but if you do, you will need to increase the size of the PVC. Fitting the guide-on to the boat is the key. Notice how I left about 1" to 1-1/2" gap on the gunnel? This is so that the beam of the boat will slid through without problems. The post flex a little bit. But flex is a good thing as it helps center the boat on the trailer, providing it's a light boat in this situation. Heavier boats will need something a little stiffer. And that's where you go with a larger angle material and PVC. As for the lights at the top of the post, I plan to use smaller pieces of 1/2" angle about 2" long staggering them up the 1x1 and turn them inside to form a tube inside the 1x1. Then I can run a wire up inside to the top to attach to a light without having to worry about the wire getting caught between the PVC and 1x1. And ground to the trailer. That will provide a marker light for the guide-on when backing the trailer in the water. I would add larger lights to the top. But it would make the guide-on top heavy in this case. And I'm trying to keep the flex down and the guide stiff on this job.
With the LEDs, there is more light back there in the dark than one would think .

[Brazman]

Thanks for the detailed pics of the mounts at the bottom of the trailer, Texas Grown. I'm debating between using something metal (angle iron or pipe or...?) or maybe just 2X4s. My boat is a 19' Fish/Ski, and I'm more just needing the posts to get the lights high and of the water more than a guide post, per se. But, I do have some big pvc pipe in the back yard...hmmmm.

[Skipper]

Got a 06 aluminum trailer and launch it 250 times or more a year in saltwater, went to pole lights and made the connection at top, replaced lights 1 time to leds. Put them on all my boat trailers, no maintenance and always work. Unload daily in the dark and sometimes load in dark, but no problems, also have slick boards on trailer so it doesn't have to be deep in the water.

[Brazman]

Yep, I'm also leaning towards slicking up my bunks - either with plastic runners on top of the wooden bunks, or spraying down the carpet. If I go the spray route, I'll need to replace the carpet as it's torn in a few places already, and if I do that, I might as well replace the boards and hardware while I'm at it...work to do before hitting the crappie bite this late spring and into the summer. They haven't started spawning yet around here, water's still a bit chilly.