Replacing the Mast Steaming Light and Deck Light

Replacing the Mast Steaming Light & Deck Light

After a 10 hour trip arriving at midnight, I noticed that the steaming light was really dim, and from previous trips up the mast, I knew it was a bodged job - The Deck light part of the combo lamp must have failed and someone choose to replace the deck light lamp with a new fitting - ie. now there is a Steaming light and a pair of wires going to a separate deck light (Halogen Lamp). So, time to replace both as it's impossible to fix either lamp.

Step 1 was to remove the old lamps

If you zoom in on this pic, you'll see the amount of silicone sealant that had been used to try and waterproof the fitting.

The wires from the deck light (lower) and the combo fitting (upper) are nicely joined and heat shrink tubed, but again, a huge glob of silicone was used to try and water proof the connection.

The lens of the steaming light is cracked from years of UV exposure - these lamps don't last forever!

The two wires coming out of the bottom of the combo unit are actually soldered inside the fitting and then gooped with more silicone. Click on the pic and zoom in.

Yes, that's my Sailrite machine in the background.

Special Thanks to Steffi Shiffer & Peder Sahlin for coming down to the boat dock to act as Safety while I went up the mast.

I spent about an hour up the mast sat in my bosuns sling (not really a chair) and that's not comfortable, the straps grab right where a guy doesn't want to be grabbed. 

During that hour I was able to drill out the rivets that held both fittings in place and scrape away about 90% of the silicone (another tube) off of the mast. 

There are a total of 12 holes in the mast from these fittings and previous fittings, they will need to be filled and the remainder of the silicone scrapped off and cleaned up - I'm going to get a new Bosun's Chair that doesn't try to cut of important blood supply.

This is the new combo fitting.

It has 9 LEDs in the steaming lamp and 12 in the deck lamp.

The mounting only has 2 screw holes and they look to be the same dimension and location as the removed fitting.

I'll mount the fitting with Stainless Screws using anti corrosion protectant between the surfaces.

I'll also use a SS washer to spread the load over the tab of the plastic wings of the fitting.

A trick I figured out a long time ago, is to grind down the sharp point of the screws so that they cannot catch the running rigging lines inside the mast - I'll use my cordless Dremel to cut off the screws and then grind down the edges of the cut so that they are nice and smooth.

West Marine has a July 4th sale on their Bosun's chairs - so we'll visit there before the weekend. 

Then it's back up the mast to tidy up the mounting area, cleaning off the silicone and filling the holes (JB Weld) I'll also apply a bead of silicone in an inverted U above the grommet where the electrical wires come out of the mast. I'll also apply a bead of silicone inside the edges of the new fitting wings just to encourage water to stay away from behind the fitting. Plan is to not be able to see any silicone when the new fitting is installed.

More later - meanwhile, we'll see you on the water.