F235 Nav lights help

[Steve C]

I have a F235 I purchased used a few years ago and have some questions about the nav light setup. If I understand the way nav lights should work, mine are not working correctly or my understanding is not correct. I believe this is the way they should work: deck level running lights (white on stern, green/red at bow) when under sail power only. Steaming light halfway up mast on along with running lights when under aux power w/without sails up. Tricolor light on top of mast on when out in rolling seas so ships can see you when your down in the troughs; but, then running lights at deck level would be off - steaming light may or may not be on - depending if your under aux power or not.Mine are working like this: I turn on nav light switch on at power panel. I have a toggle switch on power panel, on right side of other switches. The toggle has 2 settings, up says steaming, down says tricolor, middle position, no nav lights are on. So what happens is I always have a steaming light on when the deck level nav lights are on. If I switch to tricolor, the top of mast light is on only.How is your F235 nav lights setup? Is my boat wrong? Thanks in advance for any help,Steve

 

[David Walters]

rewiring right now

The way I'm doing it is not necessarily the best way, but for night running on a busy river, it gives me the best visibility.First, the f235 only came with the masthead tricolor and anchor light from the factory. Most deck level and steaming lights are probably a PO addon - like what I'm doing. Since you have this additional toggle (sounds like the system at http://www.beneteau-owners.com/235/NavLights/NavLights.PDF), I think yours is a quick and dirty.The regs as described by west marine advisor (http://www.westmarine.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/WestAdvisorDisplayView?storeId=10001&langId=-1&catalogId=10001&advisor=522b1.htm ) describe the steaming light on while motoring off while sailing scenario you state. It sounds like the PO was just going to have the deck level lights on for motoring and the masthead tricolor for sailing. I decided to install a second 12v panel with a battery test and 12v plug and a few additional circuits for future use, rather than just a toggle. Essentially, I've just wired one switch to turn on the running lights (bow bicolor, stern, steaming) and another to turn the steaming on and off. The other switch is for future additions (deck lights and/or cockpit lights I'm thinking). The tricolor at the mast is still controlled by the switch on the original panel as well as the anchor light.If I'm on the river at night motoring, all the running deck level lights and steaming are on. If I'm sailing, all the running lights minus the steaming light are on or I might use the tricolor mastlight, but I doubt it since most boaters here won't be looking up for nav lights. When motorsailing, all the lights as motoring will be on. I'm hoping this gives me the best visibility and keeps me out of the way of the next nut on a bar run.

 

[Steve C]

Thanks Dave

Thanks for your response. So it's an addon, that explains a lot.