Nav Lights

[Simon Sexton]

Hey Everyone,
Good afternoon! Last time I checked up on Valiant, I discovered an issue when I went up the mast in the boatswain's chair: The masthead and anchor lights don't work. They're fairly new, as I replaced them just last year. The bow and stern lights are just fine. I believe there may be a problem with the internal wiring in the mast. Any ideas?

 

[rgranger]

Check the terminal leads and any crimp points first. Twice I replaced a bunch of wire only to later find the problem was corrosion at a terminal. Twice bit... once shy.

 

[Simon Sexton]

Check the terminal leads

The wires in the mast plug into the wires that come out of the cabin-top; they're run out the bottom of the mast where it meets the female end of the plug on the cabin. I checked and tested the connection there, and it tested positive for power coming from the deck plug. The plug for the wires that run to the lights in the mast is new, and covered from weather.

 

[rgranger]

The wires in the mast plug into the wires that come out of the cabin-top; they're run out the bottom of the mast where it meets the female end of the plug on the cabin. I checked and tested the connection there, and it tested positive for power coming from the deck plug. The plug for the wires that run to the lights in the mast is new, and covered from weather.

Okay but check the three pins in the plug coming out of your deck. I had an anchor light that was not working. Luckily, this was after the first two times I made this mistake and before I pulled the wire, I took sandpaper and rubbed off all of the green patina on the plug pins and ran some in the holes of the receptacle. Viola! My light now works. It might not be your problem but it only takes 30 seconds and may be all you need. If not, you only lost 30 seconds.