212 Confusion

[Harris Burpee]

My wife and I recently purchased a new 212 and really like the boat, but are confused by the whole mast (running/anchor) light issue. For some reason (Coast Guard Regs?) the mast comes wired for a light. Hunter does not provide the mast light, but my dealer told me that they did, and later felt obligated to give me one, even though Hunter didn't.  My dealer, Seacoast Marine, in Newburyport MA, did a beautiful job of mounting the light on the top of the mast, but now I'm faced with what to do at the other end. Since only 12 inches of wire protrude from the bottom of the mast, I have to find a way to connect this to the electrical distribution panel. Have any other 212 owners found a solution for this, beyond running a temporary power cord? Is it possible to drill a hole through the top of the cabin near the bottom of the mast,without asking for problems?Thanks in advance.

 

[Dave Condon]

mast light

Harris;you are correct there is no mast light as I looked on the one in our yard since your post. Call David Eck with JY and ask for his advice on the placement of the deck plug and advise the forum. I think I know the best place but lets hear from Dave Eck first.He builds the boats for Hunter. Phone is 860-739-3033. Please advise the forum as this is an important item.Gregg Emerson at Hunter. If you read this; there is no question a mast light is in order/.

 

[Tom]

What happened to your light

Have you figured out the mast light yet?

 

[Harris Burpee]

Yes I did

As Dave Condon recommended, I called David Eck at JY to talk about the best thing to do about wiring the light. He said to get a deck plug and put it anywhere as there are really no support strength/weakness issues with regard to the mast.I went to my local (45 minute drive) WestMarine store and found what I needed in the form of a 4 wire deck plug. I drilled a hole large enough to accomodate the wire just forward of the mast and a little off to the port side, so as not to interfere with the mast stepping rigging on the front of the mast. The deck plug came with a rubber gasket to which I added a little bit of silicone, and then screwed it to the deck. I used some plastic anchors similar to those already in place with the existing wiring to run the new wire inside from the entry point to the distribution panel and that's pretty much the whole deal.Then I got confused all over again about what lights should be on which switch. For some reason, my running lights (red and green on the bow) were connected to the anchor light switch and the rear white light was all by itself on the running light switch.After asking my wife about a hundred times, "Are you sure the green and red ones are on now?" when flipping the anchor light switch, I just started from scratch and wired everything over the right way (I hope!).Hope this helps.