TOPIC: looking for glo-rod lights, I need Help, Please.

I'm trying to get in touch with the guy who is making the glo-rod transom lights. They are a clear lucite rod with a machined top that is frosted. The bulb is in the base and the rod glows while the top lights up. I lost his info I got from him at the Muscatine Boat Show in Muscatine, Iowa. Please help, Thanks, Jim Rathburn. Spartanburg, South Carolina, 1-864-699-9408, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Try Del, I believe he has some. His email is This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
Tom

Will do , thanks.

Just sent Del an email, can't wait to see what I find out. I went back to order a couple in Muscatine and couldn't find him. I've even been emailing Kevfin trying to find out. Also been talking to Kevfin about maybe putting a double bubble windshield on my FireFlite he is having made????? Don't know how that would look?? Luckily my boat is complete except for 2 little bitty arrow ends on the sides for the rear bottom trim at ends. You don't notice unless you know they are suppose to be there. Kevfin said he could find me some but wouldn't be cheap, he suggested just leaving them off. One day I might run across some, till then no biggie. I just can't wait to get on the water. Hopefully down here we'll have a longer boating season. It's just been so unseasonably cold down here, kinda funny these people freaking out over what we call nothing. LOL. Thanks agian to anyone for help and/or comments. Jim.

If you can post a pic. where that part goes on the boat, I might be able to "dig" one up for you..

If you can post a pic. where that part goes on the boat, I might be able to "dig" one up for you..

I'm waiting to here back from Del on what boats these were on. He says they are very rare. I'll try to get a pic of the base. But from what I remember it pretty much looked like a standard stern light pole base, except for having a bulb and socket in the bottom of the base to light the translucent rod instead of the normal electrical connection that the light pole plugged into. I might just have to make me one out of a flag pole base and install a light and socket or led's in the bottom to light the pole. I'll see also if Del could send a pic for me to post. Thanks.

Thanks for the plug Tom.
Yes I have the glow ploes that were on Thunderhawks and Crestliners and a few other boat. A friend of mine Don Knauff makes them in his shop. They are as close to original as they can be. We are still looking for a way to come up with a replacement base for these glow poles but other than having them recast and then plated nothing has come up yet. That maybe a viable option but not to sure what the real interest is out there if some were made. I did a little checking into cost to make, polish, and chrome them a few years ago. But did not think there would be enough interest for the cost. Maybe now??
Del

Hey Del, Jim here. Just sent you an email. Do you have an idea off hand what diameter the poles are ? I found a guy repoping some flag pole bases that look real similiar to those bases except for having a light socket.

i could probably use another set of glow poles for my thunderhawk down the road .
brought my last ones from This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Thanks.

Any pics of your boat and lights ? This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. not a good email anymore, came back.

I think Dell is the best source, I've seen his and talked to him. Great guy!!

The diameter of the glow pole rod is about 3/4 of an inch. However the base end of the pole must be turned down a few thousand and a groove machined in too for the set screw.
A picture of a glow pole base. Without the set screw.

Mike Balfe is a good friend of mine. About six years ago Mike started building his dream lake home in northern Minnesota. It is taking alot of his time now. He still has to beautiful vintage boats. But it is hard to drag him away from his dream.
Picture is from a couple summers ago.

Del

WOW ! That is awsome! We had a big place on the Rock River a few years back. It was an old club house and camp grounds on 5 acres. The building was a little over 4000 sq.ft on 1 level. with a full huge walk up attic. We were about halfway thru the renovation went I first got sick. I had a great job, wife didn't have to work, etc. We weren't prepared for anything major I was only 30 at the time didn't think a thing about that stuff. well long story short, puufff everything bye-bye. But I'm still kickin to tell about it. Anyhow after long ordeals, surgery's, etc. and wife getting job we were making it. Than she got laid off from John Deere and it was uh-oh agian this last year. Well we got smart, sold everything except 1936 streetrod and fireflite, Bought a fixer-upper in Spartanburg, SC. and paid cash for a very nice suburban and still had money left to help get moved and settled in. We've been down here since just before Christmas, wife has a pretty decent job, and I'm working part-time till something better comes along or worse, we'll keep our fingers crossed. But man I wish everybody greatness and good health. You know we never slowed down to enjoy anything till we found out how short life can be!! Take care everybody ! and have fun and enjoy everything! Jim.

Hello Sir, I'm new on this sight and I have no idea what I'm doing. I seen "thunderhawk" and decided to reply to you because I can't find any information what so ever on a boat I'm going to buy next week. I would appreciate all the help I can get. The boat is a 1966 ThunderHawk 14 foot, model TH-1400 made by a company that was out of Rebecca, Georgia. It's a fiberglass tri-hull with windshield and steering wheel and red and white in color. It is not a Larson boat and I've searched the web for hours looking for this beautiful boat with no results. It has a 1966 Johnson 33HP Super Sea-Horse Electric which I believe is the original motor. My email is This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. Please help.
Sincerely,
Alan Callahan

fireflite wrote:

Hey Del, Jim here. Just sent you an email. Do you have an idea off hand what diameter the poles are ? I found a guy repoping some flag pole bases that look real similiar to those bases except for having a light socket.

I'm looking for a pair of bases, I have the glow poles but no bases. If you know where I can buy a couple would really apprieciate a contact.

Dan

It stikes me that a glow pole is nothing more than a plexiglass pole. I use a 3/4" rod as a phantom for extremity dosimetry evaluation. Looks exactly the same. You can buy a 2' piece of the stuff from a number of suppliers for about $6. Not sure where the light source is placed, but it's the same basic technology as optical fiber networks; light will travel down the plexi very nicely.

crosbyboat wrote:

phantom for extremity dosimetry evaluation

crosby, I was truly afraid to ask, so I broke it down and googled it.

I believe I read that that light source (bulb) was placed in or under the base. I'll bet it does look cool at night, but the DNR Rangers (I call 'em fish cops) here in GA are going to have an issue if it doesn't meet their stern light requirements.

It needs to have the top 2-3 inch cap to reflect the light. if it is like Dels it will be Ok with DNR,there is a light bulb mounted under the pole, and also it needs the groove in it to huld it from popping out,I think the 3/4 pole needs rurned down. Del has an engineering department to build to original and DNR specs,They are neat,,Bill

Although as Brain said it does not take a rocket scientist to make a glow pole the hard part is not in the pole but the top bulb. There are a number of ways to make this part but we have found out if it is not done so everything is polished the light does not shine thru bright enough. You can buy the kits to pour and make the tops but I asure you by the time you have purchase everything you need to make a good one you will have allmost as much in one as we charge. And there is some learning curve to producing them. I will get Don to add to this. This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. www.fiberglassics.com/media/kunena/attachments/legacy/images/Glow_pole_004.jpg [/img]

I certainly did not mean to imply that making a glow pole was easy, only that the pole material was straight forward. That said, I agree with Del that getting the light source, and light transmission from the light source through the pole is the hard part. It's all about the interface between the light source and the glow pole. That's the same issue in fiber optic networks and also in radiation detection technology where radiation striking a detector creates a light impulse which has to be detected by an analyzer. If someone has figured all this out so you get a nice bright pole, I'd buy it.

I realize that these posts are very old, but I do have an Atwood lucite Glo-pole stern light/with base that I am posting on e-bay next Sunday 9/28. Just FYI! Shari This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.