Spreader Rake?

mariner · Post by **mariner** » Tue May 11, 2010 10:37 am

Can anyone tell me do the original spreaders and brackets have a rake to them? if so is it supposed to be up, down or toward the bow or stern? I believe that my bases have a slight rake (maybe 5 degrees) down. (one of my bases broke last year and like a dumb poopy I removed the bases and then noticed that the "pin" that goes into the spreader tube looks like it is bent slightly, but I failed to notice when I was removing them if it was up or down or bow or stern, maybe they were just bent and were not supposed to be?) I'm wondering if anyone can tell me how the spreaders are supposed to be. thanks

Paul · Post by **Paul** » Tue May 11, 2010 8:40 pm

The owner's manual says to mount them pointing up. I've been studying this because I have to fabricate custom mounts for my foil shaped spreaders. Looks like they are pretty much straight across from each other. I plan on checking out the location of the step VS the location of the chain plates. My thinking is that this angle would be repeated at the spreaders.

Paul

mariner · Post by **mariner** » Wed May 12, 2010 3:10 am

Paul, you are correct! thank you! sometimes I forget I have the manual!

p.s. what are you planning to do with the existing screw holes ? or are you fabricating a base that will use the existing? my spreaders were rigged to have a deck light on each, I'm thinking about going to airfoil and removing the deck lights but do not want to make swiss cheese of the mast... the mounting bracket of the deck lights is for a flat surface. The PO just smashed them on the round spreaders.

Does anyone have a combo deck light and steaming light? how do you like it/ at what height do you have it mounted? does the deck light actually illuminate anything? most seem to be of a low wattage and none spec lumens...

my steaming light is almost at the top of the mast... not sure that is a good position for it...any thoughts

tgentry · Post by **tgentry** » Fri May 14, 2010 11:35 am

Mariner,
I looked at the combo steaming/deck lights but ruled them out due to expense. They are low wattage for the deck light, but then how much light do you really need?

The other problem I would anticipate is having the light hugging the mast it will cast a huge shadow, probably giving no light in the cockpit.

I'm about to install spreader lights, but can't decide if I want to stick with one as the previous owner had or add the second one. Two seems like a big battery drain. Maybe a dimmer?

Andiron120 · Post by **Andiron120** » Mon May 17, 2010 6:57 am

I have a combination steaming and deck light on my 22. It is mounted about 18 inches from the top of the mast and works fine. The deck light is low wattage but illuminates the fore deck just fine. It does not light the cockpit at all but that doesn't present any problems, the cabin lights and cockpit lighting I installed cover that. It also lights up the jib almost all the way to the top making sail handling, and spotting problems, in the dark much easier.