Shedding Light with Deck Prisms
Another way to brighten up cabins and lockers
I was only very vaguely familiar with the concept of a “deck prism”—a glass prism used as a natural light source to illuminate dark areas belowdecks. Apparently they were quite common on ships of old, serving double duty—offering some light below, but also visually alerting crew above decks to a fire below.
I just recently discovered SCAMP builder Stephen Parker is installing a deck prism on his little ship. We all know how dark the deepest interior lockers of even our little boats can get. Obviously such a modification requires a hole in the deck and some additional custom work, and a case could be made that a battery-powered light might serve the same purpose, but I love the added character and salty simplicity of the deck prism.
You can read more about deck prisms in several places on web. Here and here for example. Below are some photos of Stephen’s project so far.
There don’t seem to be a lot of off-the-shelf deck prisms for sale—most are vintage or used—but here are a couple things I found.
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Toplicht, a German Company, carries Davey deck prisms. https://www.toplicht.de/ (use the search bar).
I have one kicking around that was sold as a "paperweight" at the Mid-Atlantic Maritime Museum in St. Michaels Md. They are out there, I bet most any marine museum has one or two for sale.