Oh noes, not other nav lights thread....

[PicassoIII]

http://www.sailnet.com/forums/gear-m...nav-light.html

So that's the thread that brought me to SailNet.
Not that we have the scratch for fancy mast top LEDs but our deck flood was falling apart.
For the life of me i couldn't find one that wasn't combined with a steaming light ...... which Ripple doesn't have. Well actually she does but we'll get to that in a minute.
All the Commodore ever said is that we should at least have one of the mast lights lit when under power. At the time that wasn't a bad way to put it since it was a crap shoot as to if ANY worked on a given night.
Being the kind of guy who would pull over and immediately replace one in his car, that was fixed for sure next time we stepped. Not surprising, i don't think the commodore knows how to werk a butt connector let alone solder.
*shakes head*

Masthead VS Steaming light.

As i read the ColRegs and how our vintage Hunter is set up they are literally one and the same. The light at the top of the mast is not 'all around' but wide angle facing forward. And unless i've replaced it, any electrical on this hole in the water is factory.
Since the bulb was replaced and the lens cleaned the last time we were stepped, it works reliably.
On later, less frugally built boats and probably for ease of bulb replacement, they were put in fixtures at the 1st spreaders. Also if you think about it, even an 'all around' placed directly on the mast there, facing forward would end up having about the same illumination arc.
As for our deck flood, it had only lost it's 'cap' exposing the top of the socket. After searching in vain for a copper pipe cap ~1 3/4" dia i settled on a tightly fitting plastic bottle cap secured with some duct tape. Popped the lens to clean off and called it fixed. Hey, it worked for a season fully exposed.

I do wonder if anyone with an older boat also has this setup, or was it a Hunter thing. We also have the annoying bow red/green setup, where the wiring shares the anchor locker.
*rolls eyes*

[US27inKS]

Forespar actually makes a pretty nice deck light/steaming light combo.

What do you have for an anchor light? I have a masthead light that's actually 2 lights. A wide angle light faces forward, and a second light fills in the rear to make it an all around. Since I have a separate steaming light and a stern light, I have wired both masthead lights to come on as an anchor light.

[PicassoIII]

Originally Posted by US27inKS

What do you have for an anchor light?

I guess technically we don't. Our stern light is deck level and that's all we got. It's switched with the r/g forward and the two mast have their own switches.
No biggie the only place we've ever set at night is a protected anchorage off downtown called the Playpen. Under those rare circumstances we still burned at least a cabin light and the deck flood. I can plead ignorance previously if that's illegal, but i wonder if it is. Not that i should take other's action there as a proper guide.
On the list of needed general purchaces for the household is a 'camping' lantern of some sort anyway. Getting run over is all too common out here.

Originally Posted by US27inKS

Forespar actually makes a pretty nice deck light/steaming light combo.

Oh i know, Hella too. But that's a few more bucks than .... free. A guest bought the antimimetics and how much is a strip of duct tape.
Nice to have stuff is even further down priorities these days.

[sawingknots]

i mounted one of those micro photosynthesis anchor lights draws just small amperage and automatically gos off/on at dark,so if i leave my boat moored i'm covered for several days [coast guard approved] my steaming light in front of the mast at about the spreaders is connected directly to the running lights,if i anchor in a busy area frequented by lots of powerboaters i keep a cabin high light also,most powerboaters only look and expect to see a light at eye level and often mistake a mast top light as a star or far off shore light,i also keep a spare wand light i can attach to the back stay and hoist it with a haliyard so that it extends above the mast,just in case my anchor light fails,worked so far,tomorrow night who knows

[PicassoIII]

Originally Posted by sawingknots

i mounted one of those micro photosynthesis anchor lights

Nice .. how much? Do you get a tax credit for taking up CO2?
*ducks*
Eh, maybe next season. The odds of needing one now are approaching nil fast.

Originally Posted by sawingknots

my steaming light in front of the mast at about the spreaders is connected directly to the running lights

Um, don't we need to at least run R/G/stern just sailing at night?

[US27inKS]

Originally Posted by sawingknots

my steaming light in front of the mast at about the spreaders is connected directly to the running lights

If your steaming light comes on any time the other nav lights come on, are you not declaring yourself a power boat and giving up your place in the pecking order?

[SVPrairieRose]

Anybody else a little scared right now?

[PicassoIII]

Originally Posted by SVPrairieRose

Anybody else a little scared right now?

No, but then again, i don't have a completely unlit planing floating condo bearing down on me.
*smirk*
If i ran across a boat with it's sails up and steaming light lit i would still give it all the room it needs. They still have 'some' limits on maneuverability and i never assume it's correctly lit, or us for that matter (see lights in anchor locker, grrr).
Better safe than sorry.

[sawingknots]

only one white stern light is required and ofcoarse the r/g/ bow lights.i don't give a hoot about pecking order,when a 60 mile-an -hour sea ray is bearing down on me i want to be seen ,i'd rather be wrong and alive,btw 4 years ago a glacier bay completely ran over the stern of a 30 ft sailboat that was anchored in a known anchoring area,and also a no wake zone luckily the powerboat didn't hang on top other wise the the sailboat would have sunk[the stern was shattered down to the water line] instantly with the sleeping crew aboard,the power boat captain said he didn't see an anchor light

[PicassoIII]

Originally Posted by sawingknots

only one white stern light is required and ofcoarse the r/g/ bow lights.i don't give a hoot about pecking order,when a 60 mile-an -hour sea ray is bearing down on me i want to be seen..

Ya do what ya gotta do. That is one of my boating nightmares even at the helm. The key for the motor never leaves the panel when were not at the dock or anchored securely.
Someone in the thread i linked brought up a flashlight (always handy at night) to the sails. I guess shining it directly at them is another no-no.

Originally Posted by sawingknots

btw 4 years ago a glacier bay completely ran over the stern of a 30 ft sailboat that was anchored in a known anchoring area,and also a no wake zone

Way too common. We get a powerboat smackin something every other week in Chicago.
Hell, the SeaDog high speed tour boat ran over a swimmer once.
If one comes anywhere near earshot ya gotta yell "Where's my FOOT!"
One good thing is that there is so much light comming off the city that IF you're paying attention at night, you pretty much can see anything out there.
I'm still planning on getting that lantern tho, just in case.

Oddly enough, the boat had a 12v pin socket in the cockpit, aft on the starboard side, not that there's anything to plug into it we have on board.
Maybe there was a removable anchor light that's been lost.
*shrugs*