MacGregorSailors.com

An anchor light is supposed to be visible for two miles. Will that LED do that for 360 degrees? The masthead light has to be visible for 225 degrees, and also for two miles. It's not just a matter of having a light, but with all of the crazies that are out at night, you really do want to be seen at anchor.

http://boatsafe.com/nauticalknowhow/060199tip5.htm

Ray

I have a 97 26X. I got my bow/navigation light off for the first time yesterday. It's a Taylor Signal housing with a straight blade screw in the back. After I got the screw out, I had to wiggle the housing pretty hard to get it off. Once I got it off, I noticed there's a rubber "gasket" at the bottom for waterproofing that had gotten sticky and stuck. The light's clear housing is the same as the stern's, an A/S 1 904-00384 with a bayonet bulb that's 9mm wide and 24mm high.

So I've had my bow nav light cover stolen THREE TIMES at my marina this year. No other issues. And they didn't steal the LED festoon bulb.

I was going to blame the other Mac owner in a slip, but then I noticed his bow light cover was missing.

I got my LED bulbs from www.ledlightbulb.net. took about a week to receive in the mail. just replaced the stern light and seems to work fine.

I got 10 bulbs for $67 including shipping. check it out. I can let you know which bulbs i ordered for which light. I unfortunately i found out about switching the bulbs AFTER spending $69 on a led bow light from WM, instead of replacing the bulb with a $4 bulb.

and yes you have to use different temperature bulbs for the coloured lens

Okay, now I'm worried. What does a "nav light cover" look like? My bulbs are covered by clear plastic. Am I missing something?

mastreb wrote:So I've had my bow nav light cover stolen THREE TIMES at my marina this year. No other issues. And they didn't steal the LED festoon bulb.

I was going to blame the other Mac owner in a slip, but then I noticed his bow light cover was missing.

The cover is the part of the light you take off to get to the bulb. On the mast and stern it is clear. On the bow, it is red (port) and green (starboard).

Whew!... thank you.

RobertB wrote:The cover is the part of the light you take off to get to the bulb. On the mast and stern it is clear. On the bow, it is red (port) and green (starboard).

mastreb wrote:So I've had my bow nav light cover stolen THREE TIMES at my marina this year. No other issues. And they didn't steal the LED festoon bulb.

I was going to blame the other Mac owner in a slip, but then I noticed his bow light cover was missing.

That's just weird. Probably vandals. Kids who think they are funny. The cover is easy to remove quickly and if it's hanging right there in front of the dock.

I'd put a spring loaded snake in there so they get a surprise next time.

so years ago- in S.africa- where i hail from... a guy used to go fishing all day, park his car off the hi way and scramble down the steep rocky embankment to the surf to fish.
every day he came back the baboons had clamboured all over his nice new mercedes, bent the antennae, crapped everywhere, messed with the mirrors. they love playing king of the castle, so being a smart guy, and knowing that babboons are terrified of snakes, the next time he went fishing, he placed a rubber snake on his car roof, so presumeably the first one climbed on the car, crapped itself and feinted- which they will do, but the rest of the mob spent the rest of the day throwing head sized rocks at the snake all day!!!!


they are super funny in the bush- to watch them turning over rocks, looking for bugs, and all hull breaks loose if one turns over a rock and finds the smallest of snakes!!!

sorry i digress- but just had to throw that story in there when i read about the spring loaded snake!!!

anybody change their cabin light bulbs for led's- are they also a straight swap- or does the entire fixture need to be changed?
forgive my ignorence

They use a common bulb, so a visit to Doctor LED should tighten you up. I just changed mine out for low wattage incandescent bulbs (4W), but I don't spend time at anchor, so LEDs would be a waste for me. I don't recall what base those bulbs have (BA15S maybe?). But there are direct replacements, so you don't need to change the fixture.

One caution is that the polarity may not be correct. With incandescent bulbs it doesn't matter, but with LEDs it does (usually), so you may have to swap leads at the fixture, or at the panel if they're both backwards, since that's probably easier. As long as nothing else is on that circuit that would care, like a fan.

http://www.doctorled.com/

Wayne nicol wrote:sorry i digress- but just had to throw that story in there when i read about the spring loaded snake!!!

That is a funny story!!

Tom has it. I believe that is the correct bulb type. As he stated, you may have to reverse the polarity of the fixture if it was wired backwards. When they build these boats they didn't care about polarity on an incandescent bulb.

I would suggest a warm white LED bulb. The pure white is too blue white and cold. I replaced all of mine and they sip power. All my cabin lights can be on and still use less power than a single incandescent bulb.
Mine came from amazon.com. Cheap and free shipping.

--Russ

Wayne nicol wrote:anybody change their cabin light bulbs for led's- are they also a straight swap- or does the entire fixture need to be changed?
forgive my ignorence

You can simply get LEDs with a bayonet adapter that has a reversible pin-typ plug, and reverse that if the polarity is wrong. LED cabin lights was the first mod I did. Easy and cheap.

I got mine here, they no longer sell the exact type but any 15mm bayonet on this page should work.

http://www.superbrightleds.com/cat/bayonet-bulbs/

thanks fellas