Taco Metals Portable Navigation Lights
Taco Metals Portable Navigation Lights: Engineered for Safety on the Water
When it comes to keeping boaters safe after dark, few names carry the weight of Taco Metals. Portable navigation lights are a legal requirement for vessels underway between sunset and sunrise, and Taco Metals has spent decades refining exactly what those lights should look like — low-profile, energy-efficient, and built to survive the harshest marine environments.
A leader for innovative boating and sport fishing products since 1959 , Taco Metals — through its TACO Marine brand — has made LED navigation lighting a natural extension of its expertise in marine hardware. TACO Marine® is a brand of TACO Metals, LLC , and the navigation light lineup reflects the same engineering rigor found across the company's entire marine catalog.
Patented Rub Rail-Mounted LED Navigation Lights
One of Taco Metals' most distinctive contributions to marine lighting is its line of rub rail-integrated navigation lights. These popular and patented rub rail-mounted LED navigation lights, certified USCG-required for 2 nautical miles, mount directly into your boat's rub rail — freeing up deck space and providing 112.5° of unobstructed LED navigation light views — and are offered in a variety of cover sizes and shapes to pair with most rub rails on boats up to 30 feet in length. These LED navigation lights also carry an IP68 rating for water resistance.
All rub rail-mounted sets come in pairs with one 3-watt port light in red and one 2-watt starboard light in green, with brightness that compares to 10-watt incandescent lights. This means boaters get full regulatory compliance without the power draw of traditional incandescent fixtures.
Surface Mount LED Navigation Lights
For boats where rub rail mounting isn't feasible, Taco Metals offers an equally refined alternative. With innovation and elegance in mind, TACO developed the Surface Mount LED Navigation Light Set — a pair of low-profile lights mounted in a heavy-gauge stainless steel cover designed to fit on flat surfaces and ideal for up to 40-foot boats. Similar to the rub rail nav lights, surface mount LED navigation lights come in a set of two, provide 112.5° unobstructed views, and meet ABYC/USCG requirements.
Grand Slam Masthead Anchor Lights
Taco Metals also addresses one of the most overlooked safety hazards in boating — climbing on the gunnel to adjust a masthead anchor light. To improve boating safety, TACO developed two options for raising and lowering the masthead anchor light: a manual crank Grand Slam 900 (GS-900) and the electric Grand Slam 950 (GS-950). The GS-900 is designed for boats up to 39 feet, is certified USCG-required for 3 nautical miles, and features a body made from machined/anodized aluminum with a polished Type-316L stainless steel crank handle.
What Sets Taco Metals Navigation Lights Apart
Taco's boat LED lights are waterproof for non-submersion, impact-resistant, and meet the United States Coast Guard's highest standards — and they are highly efficient, drawing less than 1 amp, while also coming with a 1-year warranty and detailed installation instructions. Whether you're rigging a new boat or upgrading aging incandescent fixtures, Taco Metals portable navigation lights deliver a seamless blend of safety, durability, and clean aesthetics trusted by boaters and boat builders alike.