Installing a masthead anchor light

MattM83 · Aug 31, 2015

You will need to change the connector to a 3 pin connector, you may have to gang some stuff up, I'd wire the masthead light in with the running lights and add a switch for the masthead since running light are always on with the masthead. You will need to run a new wir up the mast and to the panel.

justsomeguy · Aug 31, 2015

Sounds like a nice electrical upgrade project.

You might want to get a new panel, maybe with a couple of extra circuits for the future, a new deck plug setup, and pull a new piece of wiring up the mast.

You can tie all your grounds together just before exiting the mast. I've got an anchor light, masthead and deck light, wired to a 4 pin plug.

CloudDiver · Aug 31, 2015

This is a typical problem with small boats that have only one hot and ground laid into the fiberglass. My C-22 has this issue, just a white and black wire in the deck.

If you really want the Anchor Light plus the Steaming Light you have to accept exposed wire running somewhere along the surface. I decided to go with a Perko 4 prong connector (common ground and three hots) so I can have my anchor light, plus a steaming light/foredeck combo light. I got some ANCOR 4 conductor 18GA wire (4 wires is a single flat jacket, looks like household Romex). Luckily the way my cabin is designed it wont be too ugly. The wire will come out of an existing hole in the cabin liner and up the back side of the compression post.

Doing a job like this requires a good deal of modification to your wiring plan. As it was pointed out above, you'll need a bigger panel with individual switches for each light, you don't want them all on at the same time. The cheapest option is to run the circuit of your existing fuse/breaker for NAV lights to a small aux panel that independently switches each light.

Another option is to forget the anchor light at the top of the mast and just use the existing two wires for the 225 steaming light. For boats our size an anchor light is only required if you are anchored/moored OUTSIDE of a designated anchorage. Some folks, for added safety even inside a designated anchorage, just hoist an battery powered LED anchor light attached to a PVC pipe up the Main halyard so it sticks up above the mast head... problem solved.

Lodi47 said:
Thanks, my biggest problem is running the wire from the deck plug to the control box. The existing wires go under the fiberglass and are not exposed.

Johnb · Aug 31, 2015

I have spent many many nights anchored out in the Sacramento and San Joaquin delta and have come to the conclusion that lights too high up, are just not that easy to see. They just disappear among stars and shore lights.

I have set up so that my anchor light bleeds down and reflects off the deck and coach roof and feel sure that we are much more likely to be seen by another boater who is scanning water level for hazards. And that is what will keep you safe, not just legal.

Ron20324 · Aug 31, 2015

My Benny OEM had three wires to the brkr panel in the salon from the panel in the ceiling next to the mast post. I rewired to just one wire from the breaker panel to that mast panel. A DPDT switch selected either anchor or running since you'd not be using both at the same time. The third went to the deck light. If you can tap into the ground at the 225 fixture, you only need to run one + to the anchor. I added a second switch to turn on the deck light. The can be reached via the forward hatch.

tjar · Aug 31, 2015

I saw an article a wile ago about using a diode with the existing two wires to control both the anchor light and the nav light. By reversing the positive/negative terminals of the wires, you could turn on one or the other of the lights.

If you are installing LED lights, they are diodes by definition. You just need to install a polarity reversing switch in your panel and then wire both lights to the same circuit, except connect the positive side of each light to alternate wires. If they aren't LEDs, you can install a diode in front of each light and accomplish the same thing.

MattM83 · Aug 31, 2015

this may be a little crazy and i dont know how "legal this is" but you could put alternating diodes for the mast head and anchor lights this way depending on the polarity one light or the other would come on. not sure if theres a switch that does this 2 3 way switches that switch at the same time would accomplish this.
itd require the switch, a diode at each light, a wire run up to the top ofthe mast but no new wiring inside the boat

edit: this is the switch that would do it
dpdt at the bottom of the page terminals wired as such

1- load red, 4, load black, 2 battery red, 5, battery black, 3 load black, 4 load red
http://www.colehersee.com/assets/diagrams/1305127698-RoxDiagram-F-450w.jpg

MattM83 · Aug 31, 2015

tjar said:
I saw an article a wile ago about using a diode with the existing two wires to control both the anchor light and the nav light. By reversing the positive/negative terminals of the wires, you could turn on one or the other of the lights. I will see if I can find where I saved the article and post it.

didnt realize anyone had ever thought ofthat, i thought it was just a crazy idea that i just came up with lol

Karyon · Aug 31, 2015

Do what the previous owner did with my boat. He installed a garden solar light on top of the mast, when it got dark it would turn on and when the sun comes it will shut off.

dscribner · Aug 31, 2015

My Lancer came with a two wire coonector with a broken switch installed at the base of the mast. There was an achor light, a steaming light and a deck light, all controlled by one switch and two wires. I am assuming the switch was a three-way switch. At any rate, I ripped it out. I now just have a mast light. But I installed a 4 pole connector should I ever decide to augment my lighting. Quite frankly, for the longest time, I stuffed a puck light into a Walmart bag and ran it up the mast. Brighter than most mastlights around, well, the boats that USED mastlights.

Joe · Aug 31, 2015

CloudDiver said:
Another option is to forget the anchor light at the top of the mast and just use the existing two wires for the 225 steaming light. For boats our size an anchor light is only required if you are anchored/moored OUTSIDE of a designated anchorage. Some folks, for added safety even inside a designated anchorage, just hoist an battery powered LED anchor light attached to a PVC pipe up the Main halyard so it sticks up above the mast head... problem solved.

Actually the anchor light doesn't have to be hoisted to the mast head... you can hang a lantern from the end of the boom as long as it can be seen 360. Or better yet, part way up the forestay or backstay hoisted by a halyard. (I think a spreader halyard may even be okay)

The only requirement is that it be 360 degrees and be seen for 2 miles. Here's Rule 30 from USCG Nav Center.

Rule 30 - Anchored Vessels and Vessels Aground Return to the top of the page

(a) A vessel at anchor shall exhibit where it can best be seen: Vessels at Anchor

(i) in the fore part, an all-round white light or one ball;
(ii) at or near the stern and at a lower level than the light prescribed in Rule 30(a)(i), an all-round white light.

(b) A vessel of less than 50 meters in length may exhibit an all-round white light where it can best be seen instead of the lights prescribed in Rule 30(a). Vessels at Anchor

(c) A vessel at anchor may, and a vessel of 100 meters and more in length shall, also use the available working or equivalent lights to illuminate her decks. Vessels at Anchor

(d) A vessel aground shall exhibit the lights prescribed in Rule 30(a) or (b) and in addition, if practicable, where they can best be seen; Vessel Aground

(i) two all-round red lights in a vertical line;
(ii) three balls in a vertical line.

(e) A vessel of less than 7 meters in length, when at anchor not in or near a narrow channel, fairway or where other vessels normally navigate, shall not be required to exhibit the shape prescribed in Rule 30(a) and (b).

(f) A vessel of less than 12 meters in length, when aground, shall not be required to exhibit the lights or shapes prescribed in Rule 30(d)(i) and (ii).

(g) A vessel of less than 20 meters in length, when at anchor in a special anchorage area designated by the Coast Guard, shall not be required to exhibit the anchor lights and shapes required by this Rule.

HOWEVER.... this comment from my source BoatUS article amends paragraph (g) [i.e.no light required in anchorage]... and I like it.

Displaying a proper anchor light when anchored at night isn’t merely a matter of law. It’s a matter of safety for you and others. Even if the boat is in a known or designated anchorage area, dinghies and other boats may be traveling in that area and will need to know the location of your boat. People have been severely injured and killed because a skipper decided that he’d not burn an anchor light.

Charlie Jones s/v Tehani · Sep 1, 2015

Never have understood this "anchor light at the mast heads" thing. In my opinion it's the WORST place for it. Sure- visible to ships, but I don 't anchor where ships move around. I anchor where early morning fishermen, or late night dinghy users run.

I want my anchor light to be easily visible to folks at water level, not up in the sky somewhere. Hang a very bright LED light from either the backstay, or headstay, depending on where I am. Never had any complaints from Coast Guard, or Marine patrols, and I've anchored from the tip of Texas, to Annapolis, and all through the keys and Bahamas.

Jackdaw · Sep 1, 2015

tjar said:
I saw an article a wile ago about using a diode with the existing two wires to control both the anchor light and the nav light. By reversing the positive/negative terminals of the wires, you could turn on one or the other of the lights.

Not just an idea, but an actual product.

http://www.nasamarine.com/proddetail.php?prod=SupernovaCombi