Mounting a transom light question

[davidmhull]

My sailboat did not come with a transom light and I have a question about mounting one. I bought a light and it looks like to sit flush I would need to drill a hole in the transom about 1.5" in diameter. Is this going to be a problem? Are there transom lights that are "flush" mounted and only require a small hole for two wires? I'm thinking it would be okay to drill a hole that big in the transom but it just makes me a little nervous. Thanks.

 

[CloudDiver]

Post a pic of the light, the bottom side (mounting surface). The original stern light on my C-22 mounted in a hole about 1 inch in diameter, possibly a little bigger. I'm filling that hole and going with a stern-rail mounted light. The question of how big the hole is and if its safe to drill into the transom depends on the surface you are drilling, how big the area is and how thick.

 

[davidmhull]

Here it is Cloud Diver. It's a 5 Oceans LED. It's going on the transom right THERE. Thanks

 

[Ken Cross]

If it doesn't interfere with anything inside the hull, that doesn't look like a problem to me. You have lots of flat structure there. Make sure before you drill that you can route wires there.

 

[Ron20324]

Will the rudder block some of the light? Not legal. There ARE surface mount lights that would need only screw and wire holes.

 

[davidmhull]

Thanks Ken. I think there is plenty of room back there to route wires. Ron, I checked with the Coast Guard because I knew I could not mount the transom light dead center. A lot of the light would be blocked by the rudder post. They told me the light does not need to be mounted dead center. Off to the side is fine and would be better in the case of a sailboat with a rudder post. Where I plan on mounting it will be well off to port and neither the rudder or post will block any of the light. My main concern was drilling what looks like about a 1.5" hole in the transom.

 

[Joe]

I looked at the unit online.... it requires a 1 1/2 inch hole...says it right in the description of the unit. Within the same search, I found a multitude of "flush mount" units. If it was me, I would return the 5 Oceans light in exchange for a flush mount model.

 

[CloudDiver]

Here it is Cloud Diver. It's a 5 Oceans LED. It's going on the transom right THERE. Thanks

Your transom should be plenty thick enough for the 1.5 inch hole, but the light you have is a horizontal mount. I thought you'd have a vertical mount that would go on the transom/cockpit combing. That's where the stock stern light is on an older C-22 like mine, starboard aft corner. Those horizontal flush mounts are usually found on powerboats.

If you decide to swap it out for a vertical mount (then the rudder won't be an issue), like others mentioned you can get a flush mount that only needs a small holes for wires and screws. Plus, if you don't find something that you like that has an LED bulb you can buy the standard bulb version and there are plenty of places to get the LED retrofit bulb.

 

[redhead78]

If you don,t want to drill a hole or run wires,and u don,t use often get a battery light and attach to stern rail or rear stay..Red

 

[davidmhull]

Thanks to everyone for the input. Let me mull this over and see what is best. Thanks again.

 

[Chris Patterson]

Well, one thing about it....it's an upgrade. Being absolutely required for night sailing, I don't see anyone ever deciding they do not like it and contemplate its removal..

 

[davidmhull]

Thanks Chris. Yeah I thought it was kind of strange that the boat did not come with a transom light unless in 1972 when she was built they were not required. The boat did have nav lights which I'm sure were factory installed from the age of them and how they were mounted. I'm going to use my nav lights and stern light for sailing and nav lights and anchor light for power at night. Before anyone starts any fires I checked with the Coast Guard and actually had a member look at my boat and they told me that is perfectly legal. I did not want to mount a "steaming" light on the mast for various reasons. All around white and nav lights =ok for power. Stern light and nav lights =ok for sailing. Thanks again.

 

[Capt jgw]

Is your transom dead flat, out of there some curve to it? If its curved, you you should shim out the outer side to bring out back to perpendicular to the centerline. That would be a lot easier to do with a surface mount light rather than the flush mount you have. The surface mount also would move the actual light further from the surface, which will allow you to mount it closer to center without blocking the 135degree field of view.

 

[davidmhull]

Yes my transom has a curve to it although not very pronounced. Clouddiver brought up a good point about the coaming. I may go high with it and put it up there. In my opinion any hole in the boat should be as high as possible and that might give the light the best visibility. The coaming is curved port to starboard to match the transom but it is more vertical then the transom.

 

[Chris Patterson]

Yeah man, don't over complicate it. There's nobody out there going to inspect the angle with a protractor for the exact angle. Just be neat about it, run the wires accordingly, done.

 

[Tom G P-21]

If you don't feel like drilling holes in the boat there are alternatives. Attwood makes a clamp on stern light. If you are going to be out at night alot then install the light you have but if you need it "just in case" you can use something like this.

http://www.wolfsmarine.com/Attwood-14160-7-Clamp-On-Battery-Operated-LED-Stern-Light-Gray-P4495.aspx

It's not shown but there is a c-clamp that comes with it.

 

[Charlie Jones s/v Tehani]

Just to add one more idea- here's a stern light set up I did for a customer a few years ago

 

[Dalliance]

Another idea: If your boat has a pushpit rail (Some Oday 22's do, some don't, and I don't think you said one way or the other.), then mounting the stern light on the rail would get it up above the rudder post. Aqua Signal makes a bracket that allows their Series 40 nav lights to be mounted that way.

 

[davidmhull]

Great input. Thanks guys.