Anchor Lights

[Bad Obsession]

Why are anchor lights such pains in the butts?

I know several other people that are having issues with their anchor lights at the top of their mast. They work intermittently or they don't work at all.

On my last trip mine decided to act up on my last night out. I just put new deck connections and rewired the mast this spring. I am 99% sure that the issue is at the anchor light at the top of the mast. It is always something up at the top of the mast. This time I think that it is the contact point for the bulb because everything else is brand new and I checked it well before I stepped the mast this year.

I am left with two solutions:
1. Do it the right way and take off my boom, take off my jib, and unstep my mast. Put a new Davis LED anchor light on (that is what I currently have and I know that the plastic parts are cracked because I taped them together last year).

2. Leave the mast up and use a temporary anchor light for the rest of the season. Probably something that hangs off of the backstay.

I am thinking that #2 sounds like a good solution but the whole thing is irritating. It was and should be working correctly. I have no idea what caused the thing to start acting up. The funny part is that if I have it on and I tap the mast the light comes on briefly and then turns off.

How many people really use the anchor light at the top of their mast? I see a lot of people hanging lights off of different places on their boat.

 

[jssailem]

Sounds like one of those "Clap On clap Off" advertised lights....

 

[Ken Cross]

Portable anchor lights are certainly legal and handy. I always keep a light onboard that would suffice.
As to your question about your light on the mast, common problems include corrosion where the bulb meets the fixture. A slight advantage may be had there using LED bulbs because of the lower current. Also I've seen improper water proof splices fail up there. You are fortunate that you can unstep your mast. I would need a crane to do that or I'd need to climb up 50 feet.

Ken

 

[Rich Stidger]

Funny John, but just a tad cruel.

 

[Kermit]

They only fail at night. While at anchor.

 

[Rich Stidger]

Intermittent bulb operation if you tap on the mast sounds like a bad connection.....somewhere. It could be at the bulb, but a closer connection to the spot you are tapping would be my first choice. Have you checked the connections at the base of the mast?
I would check connections at the base, then go up the mast and check for corrosion, and if you still find no joy, I would use a portable light for this season. If you know that you have cracked plastic parts, can you simply go up the mast and replace the assembly up there?

 

[rgranger]

You know I remember from someplace (might have been on this forum) a study that said anchor lights off of the boom are safer than on the top of the mast. How many people are looking up anyway. I have one of those camping LED lanterns and I bungee it over the boom. Makes a nice cockpit light also. AND I don't worry about running down the house battery. 2-for-1 deal. I've been doing that for years and don't even bother with an all around on top of my mast anymore. The steaming light is still there but that is it.

I've sometimes wondered if navigation lights are worth the trouble. No wait, I'm not kidding. I got one of these in my "emergency" kit

and it got me wondering.... how often do I sail at night anyway? And it seems that I can remember at least two times I had to dig out my emergency nav. flashlight.... So why do I spend so much time and effort with each new-2-me boat making sure all of the lights work? I could spend less time and money just buying one of these "emergency" nav. lights for the rare occasion that I'm sailing after dark.

 

[Bad Obsession]

I know for sure that it is the bulb connection at the top of the mast. How do I know? Because I just rewired the darn thing and I did using my favorite method...overkill. There is only one place where the issue could be because of this.

I also know that my housing was cracked and I taped it together.

I checked the light good and it worked for 11 out of 12 nights of my trip. On the last night it started playing games. During the day I had a 28 mile spinnaker run and on one gybe I did get the spinnaker around the forestay. It probably did some mast pumping but it never contacted the anchor light. My guess is that the bulb worked itself a little loose.

Either way, I will replace the entire light since it is easy to do so. If I get the old one working I will use it as a spare. In the mean time I will buy the new light and make a temp set-up for it to hang off of the backstay and plug it into a 12v socket that I have in the cockpit. It is just frustrating.

I can understand why having the anchor light lower would be better. I have a shorter mast at 25 feet so that isn't super high.

 

[Capt jgw]

Murphy's Law. If you could get to it, it would always work. My Nav lights at deck level never fail, and my mast top anchor light never works.
Actually when my anchor light quit working a couple years ago I just said the heck with it and hung a light from the boom. It's down where it's in the normal line of sight and it lights the cockpit too.

 

[Joe]

I have an battery powered LED lantern that I hang off the end of the boom. Perfectly legal.

 

[agprice22]

You could leave a loose halyard to slap the mast for you all night!
On - off - on - off....

eek!

 

[Jackdaw]

In our area (midwest) of the country low-mounted anchor lights seem to attract a type of bug that is drawn to the light and dies. We've used a low mounted LED light as an anchor light and both times the deck was littered with millions of tiny dead bugs. Nasty.

 

[MitchM]

Davis used to make a small 360 degree 12v white light that one could attach to power via a standard 12v socket, then hoist up the back stay as an emergency anchor light. (we spliced a longer lead wire in, so this light can actually reside 25 ft up the backstay as an anchor light substitute.) (NB: the early Davis models were not CG approved, too few Lumens. the later ones were.) we carry one of these, and also an old fashioned fuel oil 'anchor lamp' from EBay that can be used in the cabin for a atmosphere, or rigged in the rigging as a legit anchor light...

 

[flynhi4u]

Davis used to make a small 360 degree 12v white light that one could attach to power via a standard 12v socket, then hoist up the back stay as an emergency anchor light. (we spliced a longer lead wire in, so this light can actually reside 25 ft up the backstay as an anchor light substitute.) (NB: the early Davis models were not CG approved, too few Lumens. the later ones were.) we carry one of these, and also an old fashioned fuel oil 'anchor lamp' from EBay that can be used in the cabin for a atmosphere, or rigged in the rigging as a legit anchor light...

That is a slick idea. AS far as loose connections go you could always solder the wires to the bulb. I have not done that on our mast light but I made my own test light that way about ten years ago and still use it quite often. I just put a piece of heat shrink around it after I soldered the ground to the outside of the bulb base. That would eliminate the bad connection at the top of the mast issue.

Sam

 

[normofthenorth]

For ANY intermittent or "noisy" electrical problem - especially at low-V, where they usually show up - I LOVE spray Contact Cleaner. I bet spraying that bulb would cure it for at least a season or two.
Radio Shack called it Realistic Color Tuner Cleaner, and Canadian Tire stores sell it in the auto section as Motomaster electronic contact cleaner. It's probably chemically boring (petroleum distillates & rubbing alcohol), but it fixes radios (AC as well as DC), flashlights, solar lights, auto lights, etc., etc.

 

[alexco38]

A LED light with 3 AAA batteries can last for days. Why border with a long cord and 12V plug?

 

[MattObjects]

I keep my boat on a mooring so using the anchor light at the top of my mast when away from the boat during the week would drain my house battery pretty quickly. I tried hanging a light from the boom but could not stand the bugs it drew to the cockpit. Our solution was to buy two $1.99 solar lights from Wal-Mart and lash one to each of the aft lower shrouds with a blake's hitch, then use a boat hook to push the lashed-on light up the shroud until it is 12' above deck or so, where any bugs it draws will not bother folks in the cockpit. The lights stay up there all the time and come on automatically at night. The internal batteries last several seasons before the lights need to be replaced.

 

[Gunni]

I feel your pain. After finding my anchor light was dead and not having a bulb for it I replaced the entire lamp fixture with a sealed LED anchor lamp. No bulb contacts to corrode, no bulb to replace. I expect it will work until the second coming or the next bolt of lightning. And yes, I use my anchor light often, and augment it with a bright solar lantern hanging at the stern.

 

[All U Get]

I've sometimes wondered if navigation lights are worth the trouble. No wait, I'm not kidding. I got one of these in my "emergency" kit

and it got me wondering.... how often do I sail at night anyway?

We use that light a lot with the dinghy, my wife holds it out front when its dark. I have a 360 white with suction cup mounted on the outboard for the stern. I'm always yelling "Red to Port" and she turns around and says it is. This goes on every night. Yours will work listing to Starboard.

All U Get

I used the Davis light hanging from the topping lift for two months. The masthead light is slated for summer fixing.

 

[Benny17441]

I would postpone the task until the next time that you may take the mast down. By boat size you are not required to have a mast light. You may use any kind of light and place it in any location you may feel is adequate.