Nav light and anchor roller

[RickJ]

Question for owners who have a bow anchor roller fitted...

Where do you mount your bi-colour nav. light?

Mine was (operative word) mounted on a wooden block that raised it up from the original deck level so it was not obscured by the roller fitting.

However, while raising the anchor yesterday the rode slipped sideways off the roller (the boat was pulling to the side because of wind and current) and swiftly took the light with it.

So before I go out and replace it directly, I'm thinking of a better place to locate it. Somewhere on the pulpit rail would seem a better idea, provided I can make or obtain a decent mounting, and allowing for routing the wire etc.

I'd like to stick with an AquaSignal 20 light, as they seem to be the only ones that use a 5W rather than 10W bulb, but they're only made with a base mount so some kind of bracket would be needed.

Just wondering what others do - or do you all just manage to be more careful with your anchors

Rick

[Uncle Jim]

The previous owner of my 02X mounted it hanging from the bow railing just under the mast bracket.

Jim

[kmclemore]

The previous owner of my 02X mounted it hanging from the bow railing just under the mast bracket.

Jim

That's where mine is, too. You can sort-of see it in this pic...

[RickJ]

That looks like a good place.

Did you get an off-the-shelf bracket, or did you have to make something up?

What about the wire? I guess it's possible to feed it through the pulpit rail if you try hard enough, or do you just cable-tie it to the outside?

Thanks for the ideas.
Rick

[kmclemore]

That looks like a good place.

Did you get an off-the-shelf bracket, or did you have to make something up?

What about the wire? I guess it's possible to feed it through the pulpit rail if you try hard enough, or do you just cable-tie it to the outside?

Thanks for the ideas.
Rick

Made up a bracket - simple piece of stainless plate, welded to the rail. And yes, the wire runs through the rail.

[marsanden]

i esperienced the same troubble with my nav light.
and i found the solution on the "mac mod page" in this site.
by the way, why that section ( Mac mods page) still doesnt work ?

[Duane Dunn, Allegro]

I decided the light has no place on the bow with all that heavy hardware swinging around. This is particularly true in my case as I have an anchor on the roller and on the pulpit.



I relocated my lights to two separate side lights back on the cabin. They are well protected here, have great visibility, and are out of the target zone. The wiring was actually pretty easy run to inside the X's liner.

[RickJ]

And yes, the wire runs through the rail.

Kevin - how did you go about getting the wire through the deck into the rail? Does it come out of the side of the rail at deck level, or through the base of one of the mountings so it's completely hidden?

If the latter, does that involve removing the whole pulpit to do it?

I'm trying to weigh up this approach v. Duane's solution of separate side-mounted lights. I'll probably go for line of least resistance.

[bastonjock]

rick i have a combined anchor roller/bi coloured light,came with the boat in its original condition,maybee mac uk supply them

[kmclemore]

And yes, the wire runs through the rail.

Kevin - how did you go about getting the wire through the deck into the rail? Does it come out of the side of the rail at deck level, or through the base of one of the mountings so it's completely hidden?

If the latter, does that involve removing the whole pulpit to do it?

I'm trying to weigh up this approach v. Duane's solution of separate side-mounted lights. I'll probably go for line of least resistance.

It goes through the rail (inside) and into the deck, and yes, it did require removing the rail and sealing the hole where the wire goes through, but the whole pulpit didn't have to come out... there's enough flex that removing only two bases was enough. It was the most tidy way of doing it, I figure.

The problem I'd have with separate sidelights is that they don't truly represent the bow of the boat, being set so far back. Also, having the light right up front gives me some (limited) nighttime vision.

[RickJ]

The problem I'd have with separate sidelights is that they don't truly represent the bow of the boat, being set so far back.

I don't quite follow your point here. The normal place for port/std lights on a power boat is either side some way back from the bow, same even for big ships. The lights aren't taken as indicating the boat's forward-most point. Or am I missing something

I had a concern that they could be masked by the foresail, but after looking at the boat the sides at window height are well below even a genoa.

Also, having the light right up front gives me some (limited) nighttime vision.

You're saying it throws enough light forward to see by to a small extent? That's quite surprising, I'd have thought the light was too feeble, but I've never tried it. I guess that could be handy coming up to an anchorage in the dark.

I've installed one of those combined steaming-light/deck-light units which throws a fair bit of light on the foredeck and all around, so that would probably serve that kind of purpose quite well.

I've found some Hella LED port/stbd side lights which aren't too expensive, less then twice the AquaSignal 20 price. I'm toying with the idea of getting those. The less battery drain the better!

Cheers, Rick

[Duane Dunn, Allegro]

You are correct. It's really only small boats that typically combine both into a bow mounted light. It's cheaper that way. Almost all power boats of any size have separate port and starboard lights mounted back on the cabin, not on the pointy end.

This is the classic ship look. Many boats maintain the look by mounting the lights in a two sided reflector enclosure often made of teak.