Why not join the rest of us crazies on a cold, dark, maybe windy, maybe snowy, or maybe even delightful night and hear the cheers from the crowd as you turn around City Dock in Annapolis, the Amphitheater in Baltimore’s Inner Harbor, or many of the other festive harbors on the Chesapeake this holiday season. Building a display for your boat is not that difficult, and now is the time to plan and construct your display.
Powerboat or sailboat, it does not matter. The planning starts with brainstorming what kind of design you want to have onboard and then figuring out how to make it work. Here are some lessons learned from our 22 years of participating with six different displays on our 34-foot Morgan sloop. Most of them apply equally to sailboats and powerboats.
Design Layout
Keep in mind that in most cases, the lights display is really only two dimensions. Although, some displays have gone 3-D using the side of the boat plus the deck.
Using a drawing or photo of your boat showing the starboard side (check with the parade organizer to confirm), scale your drawing to the photo.
Divide the display into frames to make construction and assembly easier.
The Team
It is mostly grunt work, but having a team member with electrical skills is very helpful, especially in figuring out the electrical distribution to the display.
Suspending/Supporting the Display
Sailboats—Use your halyards, boom, and pole lifts to lift the display. If you need more lifting lines, put several blocks on one halyard. Save one halyard for the bosun’s chair!
Powerboats—Display panels can be put on deck and sides supported by two-by-twos or EMT pipe.
Size does not matter, but we found that five-by-eight-foot frames are about the maximum size.
Sailboats can secure frames to the mast by constructing H-shaped brackets out of metal pipe and covering them with carpet to prevent scratches on the mast. Use sail ties to hold the bracket to the mast.
Frames and Chicken Wire
PVC works fairly well in short lengths, but can be flexible and brittle when it is cold.
Wooden two-by-twos and two-by-fours are easy to work with and strong.
EMT pipe one half inch or larger is easy to work with and light.
Stretch 1.5-inch chicken wire over the frames and secure with plastic wire ties. Join frames with wire ties and hose clamps.
Lighting
Lay out your design with tape on the chicken wire and start putting on the lights.
Use paper covered wire ties (available at most grocery stores) to attach lights to the chicken wire.
Spacing is about one light per inch. A decorator’s trick is to step back from the display, turn on the lights, and squint to see if you have any thin spots.
Three strands of lights can be linked together (we have done four).
Outlet strips or extension cords with multiple outlet heads are very helpful.
Power Source
If you do not have access to a generator, reserve one as soon as possible at an equipment rental store. A 3000-watt (three KW) should suffice for most displays. Our angel had about 3000 lights and drew about 3500 watts; we used a five-KW unit.
Power Distribution
All those extension cords have to lead somewhere, and that is the distribution box. This can be made up well before the display. You cannot have too many outlets. A 30-amp cord connects the generator to the power box. A master switch is very helpful to turn on all the lights at one time.
If you plan on having some sort of animation, a synchronizer can be purchased at Radio Shack or online.
Once you get hooked on the fun of brightening the holidays for thousands of people, you will start planning for the next year by just improving the display or maybe creating another. Good luck in your construction!
About the Author: Pete Chambliss shared his memorable “Angel” display with Eastport YC and Baltimore Lights Parade lovers for 22 years before “retiring” from parades in 2009. If you have questions about building a lights display, e-mail [email protected].
