Considering adding dock lights to your Sea-Doo Switch? Dive into this comprehensive guide where we walk you through a DIY installation process. Not only do these lights enhance the aesthetics of your boat, but they also ensure safety during low-light boating. By following our step-by-step guide, you can save on labor costs and make your boat shine bright. From gathering essential tools, preparing the helm, to the actual installation, we’ve got you covered.
Specifications
The boat used for this installation is a 2023, 21′, 230 HP Sea-Doo Switch Cruise
Materials Needed
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- Sea-Doo dock lights SKU 295101083 – https://bit.ly/3PapfhF
- T30 Torx bit – https://amzn.to/3Puyzxh
- Drill – https://bit.ly/44HPORe
- Impact driver – https://bit.ly/4501VJD
- Metric socket set and driver – https://bit.ly/3qXnv3v
- Metric wrench set – https://bit.ly/3Exlq1c
- Small level – https://bit.ly/3r5abtO
- Torque wrench – https://bit.ly/3Z9WBlk
Additional Tools
- Regular screwdriver
- Tape measure
- Pencil
- 1/4″ drill bit
- 3/4″ drill bit
- Dielectric grease
Steps
In addition to the instructions below, this video provides step-by-step instructions and greater detail.
Preparation
BRP, the parent company of Sea-Doo, has a website that contains installation instructions. The quality of the instructions vary, but they are generally helpful. You can find the specific instructions for these dock lights by entering in the SKU number of 295101083 in their website. A link to the specific instructions is here.
Start by clearing the deck. Remove any seats, deck mats, and tiles on the starboard side between the helm and the bow. This will give you ample space to work and access the areas necessary for installation. Once you are finished removing the seats and other accessories, your boat should look like this, with nothing on the deck between the helm and bow.
Next, remove the caps on the corners of each deck tile to reveal the screw. You can use a regular screwdriver as I have shown in the video. All you need to do is simply place the blade of the screwdriver into the slot and pop the cap up. It should not take much effort to do this. Once you have removed all of the caps, place them in something so you don’t misplace them. You will need to reinstall all of these later.
Do this for the first row of deck tiles on the starboard side of the boat, between the helm and bow. Note – if you have installed deck mats on the tiles, pop the tiles up first to give access to the tiles and screws.
Now that all of the caps have been removed, unscrew the screws holding the deck tiles down. This requires a 10mm socket, or as you see in the video, I used an impact driver to make things go faster. As with the caps, you will want to place these screws somewhere safe so you don’t lose any.
Repeat this until all of the deck tiles have been removed between the helm and bow as I have shown below. This will expose the area where wiring will be run for the lights.
Setting up the Helm
Head to the helm and remove its cover to access the wiring. You’ll then need to remove the blank plastic switch cover where the dock light switch will be installed. This is where the main action happens, as you’ll be connecting the dock light wiring to the helm’s existing wiring system.
To get started on step 2, go to the helm of the Switch and remove the cover in order to access the wiring. To remove this cover, simply pull straight back, toward the bow of the boat as you see in the video.
Once you have pulled the cover back, lift it upward to completely remove it, then set the cover aside.
Next, unscrew the top cap of the bar that goes around the helm. This is done by using a T30 torx bit. Once you get the screw out, just lift up the cap and set it down. I put it in the cupholder, which worked well to make sure everything stayed put.
With the screw out, remove the plastic piece under the bar as shown in the video and set the plastic piece aside. You can now lift up on the helm top enough to get your hand in there. Next, remove the blank plastic switch cover where we will install the switch for the dock lights. You can remove the blank cover by pushing on it from inside the helm.
Running the Wiring
The wiring harness for the dock lights comes labeled for the left and right sides. Begin by running the wire along the existing wiring channels, using the clips to keep them in place. Make sure you have the left and right connectors laid out near where the lights will be installed.
The wiring harness has a number of connectors attached to it. There is a connector that the switch plugs into, a connector for each light itself, and then a connector to supply the lights with power.
The switch is the largest connector. This is the part that will need to be run up through the bottom of the helm and then through the hole where we removed the plastic blank.
This is under the helm, with the camera facing the stern of the boat. The red arrow is pointing to a hole that allows wiring to go up into the helm. You want to take the portion of the dock light wiring harness that connects to the switch and feed that up through this hole.
Now that you have the connector through the hole and into the helm, pull it so you have a few feet of wiring slack. You will need this slack to get the connector up to the top of the helm. Feed the switch through the blank switch cover hole and leave a little slack. This part is a bit tough, you really need to reach way up under the helm to get this through the hole.
One note – the switch goes in this direction, with low beams on the bottom and high beams on the top. The switch is a three-way switch, with the center being in the off position.
Now that the switch wiring is through the helm, you can replace the plastic piece that goes under the bar and the screw that holds the bar to the helm.
Next, get your dielectric grease ready. I got this from my local home depot and have a link to some below, but any dielectric grease should work. We use this on our electrical connections to prevent corrosion of the metal connectors. You will want to spread the grease on this part of the connector and over any part that has metal, which will receive a pronged metal piece from the switch.
With your dock lights should be an accessory wiring harness, with SKU 278003684. This wiring harness is a pigtail and will be used to split power from another accessory to feed the dock lights. Remove the wiring harness from the packaging.
In the helm are a number of wires and connectors. Find the connector as shown in the image below that is the second from the left. Remove the existing connection and then replace that connection with the male end of the new pigtail harness.
Next, plug one female connector of the wiring harness to the male connector mounted to the helm that you just unplugged a connector from. Finally, take the last remaining female connector and connect it to the switch you just installed.
Now that the switch is wired, it is time to run the wiring to the lights. You will notice on the wiring harness that they are labeled left and right. This is as you are looking forward, so the right wiring goes to the starboard side light, left goes to the port side light.
Begin running the wire along other wires. You will see clips that other wires are using and you can place this dock light wire into those clips. Wire ties are also provided and one of the last steps will be to use those wire ties to make sure everything is cleanly installed and secure. The arrows show the dock light wiring being run in the boat.
Next, remove the deck tiles as shown here so you can run wiring through to the port side of the boat. Run the wiring so you have the left and right connectors laid out near where the lights will be installed.
Installing the Lights
This is the moment of truth!
Now, If you are using the BRP instructions, there is a PDF template you can download at the very bottom of the instructions. If you have not visited the instructions yet, they are here. Once you click on the PDF, you can download it to your computer, then print it out. This template can then be taped to the boat in order to drill the holes in the proper location.
When I installed these lights, BRP had no instructions on their website. That is why I am not using the template. The way I am showing on the video worked great, but if I had the template available, I definitely would have used it.
The connector on the back of the light has two fins on it. The fins are how you tell the top versus the bottom of the light. You will want to install these lights with the fins pointing up. Next, take off the rubber gasket to use as a template – again this is only if you are not using the downloadable template from BRP’s website.
The gasket will act as the template for the installation (again, if not using the BPR template). Remember to have the fins on the plastic housing on the top of the gasket. You will want to center the gasket horizontally and vertically in this location.
The area where the lights get installed is about 9 inches wide. I made a small pencil mark at 4 ½ inches to mark the center. I then marked the center of the rubber gasket with my pencil. The gasket is 6 and 5/16 of an inch and center was 3 and 5/32 of an inch.
Now line up the gasket with the line in the boat, again making sure you are centered vertically and horizontally. I even used a small level to make sure my lines were exactly level. Use a pencil to mark the holes where you will need to drill like this. Remove the gasket from the boat leaving just the pencil marks for the next step.
Now it is the most nerve racking part of the entire project. It’s time to drill some holes into your Sea Doo Switch. You will need a drill and a ¼” drill bit. Place the drill bit in the center of the two circles you drew and put some light pressure on the drill so the bit does not move once you start drilling. I went slow and it was very easy to drill through the material.
Once you have drilled both holes, it should look like this. The next part is drilling out the center piece. If you use the template from BRP, it will have you drill several smaller holes and then a larger hole in the center. Since I did not have the template, I drilled a ½” hole directly in the center of the area outlined in pencil and then used the drill and bit to expand the hole by moving the bit around as the bit was spinning. It actually did a nice job, but certainly not the most effective way of doing it.
With all the holes drilled, replace the gasket on the light and push the light through the holes you just made. This is a view of the light installed from inside the boat. You can see that all the holes lined up just right.
Wrapping Up
Now for the final step, it is time to wrap up everything. Make sure the wiring is secure and zip tied throughout the boat, including cleaned up in the helm. Replace the helm cover and all of the deck tiles, deck mats, and seating.
Next, apply the washers and nuts to the bolts attached to the lights. This also requires a 10mm wrench or socket. Remember that these have torque settings which are listed in the instructions. I put the bolts on lightly and then used a torque wrench at the correct torque, which is 4.5 newton meters.
Now repeat these steps on the other side of the boat to install the second light. Once that is done, clean up the wiring and start using the wire ties to secure the dock light wiring harness to other wires in the boat. I left the wire ties just a little loose so things were not too snug.
Remember to use dielectric grease on the wiring connections from the wiring harness to the back of the lights.
And there you have it! Your Sea-Doo Switch is now equipped with dock lights, ready to shine bright during your evening boating adventures. If you found this guide helpful and are looking for more Sea-Doo Switch tutorials, don’t forget to subscribe, like, share, and leave your comments.