Bow Light

[teacher63]

I have a bow light mounted on the bow pulpit. Somehow it got destroyed and it is barely hanging on. Any idea where to get one? Also, is it my imagination or is the 23 going by the way of the dinosaur I was looking for the bow light and I find a list of Hunters but no 23. ALso, mine has a bunch of I guess you would call then small cracks in he gel coat in several places. Is this a problem and is there a way to fix them for a novice that I will not ruin the boat appearance? Last but not least I pulled it out of the water and the keel has got a great deal of rust. Anyway to sand it down and build it back up with something that would stop the rust or almost stop the rust. There used to be a spray can of a rust inhibitor zinc chromate but I have not seen it as it was some pretty wicked stuff and probably not good in the water, especially brackish.
Last crazy Dave after I talked to you about the rub rail being broken I have covered the boat forgot to take the camera. I will get there. The rub rail has also shrunk I guess and on the stern, the is a metal piece that the 2 sides joined i assume, one side is about 2 inches short.

 

[MrUnix]

Bow light was/is an AquaSignal #25100

Cracks and chips can easily be repaired with gelcoat, but there are other methods that may be easier for you, such as white MarineTex. I am currently in the process of fixing the chips and cracks on my H23 using gelcoat and it's a pretty straight forward process. Larger chips and gouges may require a bit more work involving fiberglass repair before finishing.

As for the keel.. a wire cup in an angle grinder will get you down to bare metal pretty quick. I once restored an iron centerboard that was rusted beyond recognition. Took it down to bare metal, built it back up epoxy and then used a good two part epoxy paint to seal it. There are various other compounds and finishes that work equally as well, and I'm sure others will chime in on what their favorites are

Cheers,
Brad

 

[C Jones]

Look in my profile. If you like the SeaDog LED USCG, 2 nm and Colreg 2 nm bow light you can get it on Ebay. I had the Bracket made at Garhauer. My h23 came with a 1 nm small bow light.

 

[isaksp00]

The stainless bracket that attaches the bow light on my 23 broke (well, it came broken when I bought it), and the prev owner had tried to epoxy the two pieces of stainless together - needless to say, useless. Rather than buying one or paying to have it rewelded, I made a wedge shaped piece of wood from some hardwood, and mounted it to the vertical puplit tube using a stainless hose clamp through a slot I cut through the wood, then screwed the lamp fitting to the wood (after a few coats of Cetol). I don't know if you are missing the bracket or just the lamp.

My keel was heavily rusted when I bought it, a lot of flaking paint. I bought a robust angle grinder, heavy wire brush and a few grinding wheels - it works fairly fast, but is awkward to get under there. I don't think a sander would work, maybe a belt sander (if you have one try it, but if you have to buy a tool get an angle grinder). I chose POR15, as it seemed easier than the two-part epoxies. It has worked fairly well over the one and a half seasons it's been on - there are some pinhole type rust spots, but on the whole it is sticking, with no real areas of peeling. It was fairly easy to apply, and I chose to buy their metal cleaner and metal prep solution - no idea if you really need it or not.
Peter

 

[teacher63]

Half the bracket is on the pulpit and the other part is still screwed to the lamp. I am sure finding someone weld stainless might be a chore in itself. I have some cedar I used for something else and have a bunch left so I know where the cedar is going. I bought this boat 2 years ago and it looked in excellent shape, but I wonder if the guy did not cover things up. It is just weird what things are happening.

I have wanted to buy an angle grinder, I have used my drumel tool to cut bolts. I went over where it is stored it is on the trailer for the winter which makes things easy to work on.

Thanks for the help. I appreciate it.