So I took the original stern light off and thought about replacing it with a like item but upgrading to LED. You can see it here right on top of the transom in the center.
Then I started to think (crazy, I know!) This light shines smack dab into the motor! Especially when the motor is up, it's doing almost NO good. (Note: Ther IS a cup on the port corner for a pole light, but would prefer a hard mounted/wired light if possible.)
Stern light is supposed to cover the back 120 degrees of the boat.
How do you guys do it?
As always, any comments or advice is MUCH appreciated!
I think mine is OEM. The light is atop a 18" tube and plugs into its recepticle where your light is located. I just pulled mine apart to find out what kind of bulb it has and replace it with an LED.
Mark, the light you have on now is OEM, I have the same thing and was wondering about how to best go about replacing it one of the thoughts I had was a plug in pole mounted stern light... but i think i like mounting one on the rail better, just not sure of the type...im not finding anything out there I like maybe something like the guys have been using for deck light but reworked? http://www.oznium.com/
My concern with mounting it on the stern rail is how many times I would smash it with the mast. My stern rail came with a nice bend in the middle where previous owners must have dropped the mast.
Brother's "not a chrylser" Pen Kalet has a rail mounted stern light. It is mounted below the top stern rail on a metal plate that is welded to the stern rail. I'll see if I can post up some pics of it.
I got the $25 Aqua Signal stern light and put the $50 Festoon Star LED in it. I also put silver foil HVAC tape over the black on the inside behind the LED. It draws 1W and can be seen from the space station. I still need to find a bit and drill a hole through the stern rail to get the wire inside.
Led, ooooooh, big brother will sooo be paying for a set of those on his boat. Maybe he'll fall for the "you need two replacement sets". Sorry about the ooooos, fingers kept slipping on the drooooool on the keyboard.
Hey Bob T, I have the same fixture and put an LED festoon in it that I got from another place. Yer right, don't want to be looking directly at these babys!
Here's a wrinkle to my thinking...anybody see a problem with putting two fixtures back there--one on each side of the motor, say, 6-8 inches below where the rearstays tie into the top of the transom? I have access holes in the general area I'm talking about right now (see pic above.)
I'm thinking of a couple flush mounts. They would cover the required 135 degrees, but there would be two doing it.
My concern with the two lights is that you have now created a non-standard lighting situation that could cause more confusion to overtaking boaters than provide the advantage you are looking for. If I saw two fairly bright white lights this low to the water I would think it is a private individual adrift fishing.
The lights will be about two feet apart and on either side of the outboard cowling. The only time you'll see two lights is pretty much straight aft, so that will likely limit the dual light issue.
The requirement is to provide an unbroken light 135 degrees. Then again, the only nav light requirement for sailboats our size (<23 feet) is only a flashlight lit soon enough to avoid a collision. Kinda silly. But additionally, if you have the lights, they have to work.
I guess I just want to be sure I'm seen. I'll ask some of the Vessel Inspectors I know and maybe hit the Coast Guard guys up about it as well. Don't know how the PO got away with it, but OEM was worthless as far as safety goes.
Keep those thoughts comin' guys! Much appreciated!!!
mcrandall wrote:
The requirement is to provide an unbroken light 135 degrees. Then again, the only nav light requirement for sailboats our size (<23 feet) is only a flashlight lit soon enough to avoid a collision. Kinda silly. But additionally, if you have the lights, they have to work.
Keep in mind that is only when under sail. This is why the OEM light was fine. Put the motor down and the light can be seen, under sail you don't legally need it.
Will those lights meet the 2NM visual distance? I went the same route as retclt. It's simple and meets all the legal requirements.
Very good point Trev!! The devil's in the details, isn't it!
The fixtures are fine, it's the bulb you use that's the question being USCG approved for the 2NM requirement. That said, the LEDs I'm using are a far cry brighter than the incandescents called for in the "approved" fixtures. May not have the "USCG Seal of Approval", but they meet or beat the intent of that approval by a country mile!
For this application, I found a fixture on Ebay that is LED and claims it"s already certified:
I went with the LED on a removable pole that mounts in a socket in the OEM location. When the Sun head into the West I pull out the Stern light pole and plug it into the socket and I'm good to go.
Here's a shot of it just as the Sun was going down. For additional support I wrap a small bungee cord around the pole to my railing. Works great and it's out of the way stored below when not in use.
Here's a shot of the stern sans light but you can see the socket the pole plugs into, were the OEM light use to be.
