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Mast Lighting Modifications

  
The masthead light is an Aqua-signal Series 20 all-round/anchor assembly (Aqua-signal P/N 20040-7).  It has a molded 4" pedestal.  Strictly speaking, this may not be considered a true anchor light, but I think I'm legal at this boat length.  Additionally, the light shines brightly and I feel that I am visible to others.  $17.00 on sale at West Marine

It is mounted on a "custom made" right angle .063 2024-T3 aluminum bracket - no sheet-metal break in the shop yet; I used my bench vise and a plastic-faced dead-blow mallet. :-)

I used insulated spade connectors just incase I decide to change out to a more traditional anchor light at a later date.  They also allow we to easily remove the entire light assembly for maintenance.

The light bracket is attached to the Windex model 10's stand-off bracket.  This is my second Windex.  It's really worth checking that thing's security before making the drive to the boat-launch!

All hardware, including the Adel strain-relief clamps, are aircraft cadmium-plated steel.  I prefer this to stainless for this sort of an application.  This is a holdover from my aircraft maintenance days.  Stainless is far more noble than aluminum so the aluminum loses big-time as the anode in the dissimilar-metals corrosion game.  When the assembly is as easy to get at as this is, I would far prefer to replace the cheap bolts than to encourage corrosion in the mast or the Windex standoff.
The combination steaming/deck light is an Aqua-signal series 25 assembly (Aqua-signal P/N 25404-7).  This one I picked up at a boating surplus store for $15.00.  One ear was broken through its mounting hole, but this was easily profiled as good as new with a body file.  It also needed new bulbs.

I rewired the ground lead to allow for easier parallel ground connection on my wiring harness with the anchor light.
I wanted to keep my switches in the cabin, out of the weather, and all on one place, so I rewired the thru-deck harness from 2 to 4 conductors.  I replaced the deteriorated and failing stock 2-conductor fitting with a West Marine 4-conductor assembly; about $14.00.
Here is the other half of that $14.00 4-conductor fitting.  The insulation boots are standard aircraft hardware designed for engine compartment connections.

The 4-conductor pigtail is only about 2 1/2 feet long.  It is left over 14 AWG tinned marine-grade stock from my autopilot installation.  The rest of the new portion of the harness is 16 AWG of the same spec (I retained the stock two-conductor harness for the steaming light).

The harness was built up on the floor of the garage and tied up with waxed rib-lacing; another hold-over from airplane mechanicing.  I tossed out the open-cell foam-rubber plugs that were taped to the stock harness and instead drove lengths of closed-cell plumbing insulation into the mast cavity - et voila; no internal mast slapping.
I reworked the switch panel to accommodate my new lighting scheme. 

The cabin toggle was replaced with an <off - on A - on A&B> pull-switch.  This is wired to the cabin lights (A) and the deck light (B).  $14.00 at West Marine

The mast light toggle was replaced with an <off - on A - on B> pull-switch.  This is wired to the steaming light (A) and anchor light (B); they can't (and shouldn't) be on at the same time.  $13.00 for this switch at West Marine

Why not use center-off 3-position toggles?  I thought these looked cooler and I like the way they feel.
Try as I might, I couldn't route the new section of harness through between the coach top and the cabin liner. :-(  So I had to drill a hole.  It is slightly "up-hill" from the opening for the deck fitting and it's sealed with 3M 5200.  No leaks yet.
Although I couldn't route the new harness outside of the cabin liner, I did manage to send it behind the shelf trim.  You can see just a peak of it at the upper corner of the v-berth bulkhead.

I wish that I could say the same of the speaker wire and the VHF coax, but the speaker needs to be repositionable and the VHF cable came that way and is for another day. :-)

Comments or questions?  Email me