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panda wrote: ↑Mon May 31, 2021 8:02 am Hey, thanks. Mine is 26M. I'll connect it to the masthead light and update its switch to the DPDT one.

That's how I did it. Same 2 wires/deck plate. Diodes do the rest. Easy peezy.

Leds are diodes by themselves?

panda wrote: ↑Tue Jun 01, 2021 2:51 am Leds are diodes by themselves?

Yes, but some have Wheatstone bridge circuitry (basically, a rectifier) that results in DC of the correct polarity through the actual LEDs regardless of the polarity of the incoming power. The LED replacement bulb in my anchor light has such circuitry.

As to the all-round white light, there is a 6 degree allowance for blocked arc in the COLREGs, which means you can hang one from the backstay using a halyard to pull it up above the furled main sail if you want. I have an anchor light on top of the mast, and another that serves as both anchor light and masthead/stern light combo when no mast is present. And it's a legal anchor light, of course. Same thing as small power boats with the single all-round white on a stick, but my stern light has its own on/off switch so I leave it off when motoring at night without the mast (red/green sidelights on, of course).

LED garden lights are neither bright enough, nor the right color, to serve as any kind of navigation light.

And note what Be Free pointed out - the "Masthead Light" is NOT at the top of the mast. It's on the front of the mast, and only has an arc of visibility of 225 degrees (same as the side lights, or combo single bi-color light on small boats), with the stern light taking over where the side lights and masthead light become blocked out. It's a non-trivial technicality, as it's the correct term used in the marine navigation light industry, and in the COLREGs.

Tomfoolery wrote: ↑Tue Jun 01, 2021 5:14 am

panda wrote: ↑Tue Jun 01, 2021 2:51 am Leds are diodes by themselves?

Yes, but some have Wheatstone bridge circuitry (basically, a rectifier) that results in DC of the correct polarity through the actual LEDs regardless of the polarity of the incoming power. The LED replacement bulb in my anchor light has such circuitry.

Yup, my mast top anchor light had such a thing and defeated my DPDT toggle switch. I had to install actual diodes to overcome it.

Russ wrote: ↑Tue Jun 01, 2021 5:29 am

Tomfoolery wrote: ↑Tue Jun 01, 2021 5:14 am

panda wrote: ↑Tue Jun 01, 2021 2:51 am Leds are diodes by themselves?

Yes, but some have Wheatstone bridge circuitry (basically, a rectifier) that results in DC of the correct polarity through the actual LEDs regardless of the polarity of the incoming power. The LED replacement bulb in my anchor light has such circuitry.

Yup, my mast top anchor light had such a thing and defeated my DPDT toggle switch. I had to install actual diodes to overcome it.

Same here. It's a shortened stick light, so I just buried the diode inside the stick stub.



When I bought a longer stick light for the stern (trawler mode, no mast), it came with two lenses. One had an opaque bottom, which I use on the long stick (doesn't blind the skipper), and I used the translucent lens on the short stick light the boat came with, which I shortened for service as a permanent anchor light. The clear bottom means it's visible from closer in, though it's high up, which isn't always so good. But if had the typical narrow vertical arc pattern of most anchor lights, it wouldn't be visible at all from shorter distances.



The tube was shortened after this pic was taken so the Windex could swing freely.

Looks good!

Good info here.... https://www.westmarine.com/WestAdvisor/ ... ight-Rules

Tomfoolery wrote: ↑Tue Jun 01, 2021 5:49 am Same here. It's a shortened stick light, so I just buried the diode inside the stick stub.

Oooooh, I like that custom mast cap. How did you make that? My fiberglass?? cap is getting pretty beat up.

Russ wrote: ↑Wed Jun 02, 2021 6:09 am

Tomfoolery wrote: ↑Tue Jun 01, 2021 5:49 am Same here. It's a shortened stick light, so I just buried the diode inside the stick stub.

Oooooh, I like that custom mast cap. How did you make that? My fiberglass?? cap is getting pretty beat up.

Starboard from West Marine, which is just high-density polyethylene boards. Same stuff plastic milk jugs are made from, only thicker and with black pigmentation. And UV stabilized, since it's intended to be used outdoors. I made three sections, stacked with SS wood screws that were too long but cut shorter. Still too long, but they don't touch anything, so it's all good.

The tube is an old spreader I believe, but I'm not positive about that. Old spreaders are amazingly useful, by the way - my mast crutch extension is a 1 ft length of spreader and a 2 ft length of galvanized pipe, but I digress. If you look closely (the other photo shows it better), you can see that the light unit is actually angled off the vertical slightly, which is how it was made, but since the mast is also raked back a few degrees, I simply aligned it to cancel the rake and make it sit level when on top of the mast.

The tube is drilled for a pin that traps it between the lowest part and the middle part. The cross pin sits in a little notch so the last two layers of Starboard can sit tight against each other.



The top part is just a donut with screw holes drilled and countersunk. Starboard machines easily, much more so than cutting boards which are mostly high-density polystyrene, which melts and blobs rather than shave cleanly.



The middle part is just shaped like a slapjack (a type of blackjack), or for those who are not career muggers or don't remember the title credit images in the old Batman TV series, tear drop shaped with a 'handle' at the rear for the windex, only rigid, not flexible.

The lower part was shaped to fit the mast interior profile, and there are a couple of screws that hold it on, drilled through the front and inside the slide groove. I'd have to go look at it so be sure, but I think that's all there are. But either way, with only a light and windex mounted, it doesn't take much to secure it.



Image was accurately drawn, by the way, including the thickening at the two sides where the hounds and spreader socket mounting bolts pass through.







A diode was added to the wiring since the bulb lights in either polarity (see the Wheatstone bridge comment in an earlier entry). Another was used in the masthead (steaming) light, but I kept the incandescent bulb since it's only used when motoring anyway. A DPDT toggle switch was used at the panel to reverse the polarity of the 2-wire OEM wiring ( ).

Played w/ hoisting various solar garden lights for years. Not legal and a pain in the butt. Didn't want to do any electrical wiring so I bought a solar powered buoy light that was advertised as 2 mile bright, Cost about $75. Made a small platform at the top. Works great just can't turn it off when at a marina.

I have some small cleats at the shrouds. There I can fix the small flags.

If I there hang an cable powerd anchor light (reasonable price including auto off on daylight). Then connecting in a 12V socket in the boat.

I think this is ok. Maybe you cannot see the light directly 180 degree opposite the mast.

But as long as every boat coming near you moves it will see the light in this setup most of the time.

Soon I will installing a LED anchor solar light at the masttop (own battery, remote control), maybe it will be more comfortable. We will see.

I just ran across this drawing of the original 26X mast, which I made for reasons long forgotten, but which may be useful to someone down the road.



This includes some section properties, in case anyone wants to do some cipherin' and figurin'.

Tomfoolery wrote: ↑Wed Jun 02, 2021 8:41 am

Dang Tom, that's a piece of art. That really looks nice. Same for your wiring.

I must remember that starboard for future projects.

Bobglas wrote: ↑Wed Jun 02, 2021 1:09 pm Works great just can't turn it off when at a marina.

At the marina is probably a positive thing. But sailing at night with a 360 light is not legal. Which is fine if you don't sail at night. Night sailing is one of our favorite times.

Russ wrote: ↑Thu Jun 03, 2021 6:03 amI must remember that starboard for future projects.

I've made lots of stuff with it. Works easier than wood. Might find it cheaper elsewhere.

https://www.westmarine.com/buy/taco-mar ... ecordNum=3

https://www.westmarine.com/buy/taco-mar ... ecordNum=1