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When inspecting my prospective DE38 it seems to me that the running lights are rather small. How do owners find them? Do most of you leave the standard lights alone, replace them with larger units in the same position, or put in others arrangements. Just curio
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I simply found LED bulbs that would go in the existing fixtures. On my last two boats this has been fairly successful. They have lasted longer than I thought they would given that the existing fixtures are not sealed. Ideally a decent quality sealed LED fixture should last about as long as the boat. 
In real life I have heard of these units dying also but it seems more of a defective unit than environmental contamination and corrosion.
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Good idea...the LED bulbs. Sweet and simple.
Thanks for your help, Scott
Happy Holidays
Bob
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I think I have paid between 7 dollars to 20 dollars depending on where I bought the LED bulbs. West marine being in the 20 dollar range. Superbrightleds.com did really good service to me for lower dollar amounts if you can cross reference your old bulbs to their LED ones. We used their bulbs for all inside fixtures and out of 9 fixtures have only had issues with 1 of the bulbs we purchased in the last 7 years. If I remember right they replaced that bulb free of charge.
I haven't had an exterior bulb go out yet but to be honest we really haven't subjected them to much but lots of rain and some spray in the old fixtures. I considered the bulb replacement to be a quick cheap upgrade without the expectation of them lasting forever due to humidity and possible water incursion into the fixtures on the circuitry. I eventually on our smaller boat found a deal on the forward lights and aft light in a sealed fixture and expect it to last for hopefully decades.
Even as cheap as the LED bulbs have gotten and that they last longer than standard bulbs, they are still a lot more expensive. I don't count them as cost defective at all. However I would pay the premium for them over and over for two reasons. First they use 1/10th the power. A battery that would last for a night with all the interior and exterior lights running will now last for a week. That is huge. Next is that they are brighter even at 1/10th the power draw. We noticed a huge improvement in light inside at night. I have also had friends sailing beside us in their boat tell us they could see our lights on the mast head for our smaller boat more than a couple miles away. To me every bulb I have replaced with a LED looks brighter and crisper.
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Cool! Good info! Many thanks.
The present owner has replaced the interior lights with LEDs but I don't think he did the running or mast lights.
My concern with the standard DE38 running lights is just that they seem to be pretty small, but if they do the job that's great.
Not the top of the To Do list.
All the best
Bob
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I'd like to replace the forward running lights with a real LED fixture. Any idea where to get one that mounts on the front of the bow pulpit? I would have thought that was easy but it turns out I haven't found one yet and I only have the old one that was jury rigged.
It would have to be something that actually clamped onto the stainless tubing as that's where my wire comes through.
Rick
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I think you could make this work. It looks to be the same style housing that is on my DE38. Either weld a flat stainless tab on your railing and bolt to it or see if you can find a couple U-bolts that will fit in the existing holes. Alternatively, screw it to a metal, fiberglass or teak plate that you then U-bolt to the railing.
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http://www.westmarine.com/buy/.....77_001_536
west marine has this mount kit for pulpit mount that looks like it would work with that housing.. pricey though.
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