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Thread: Combination steaming/ deck light has gone dark

  1. #11
    Join Date
    Jan 2010
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    Okay, that's enough of that. Youse guys aren't taking this seriously. I looked up the bulbs on the internet, even where Tom P recommended, but I just didn't know which bulbs to buy. So I took the list to to West Marine and the local Ace hardware, but the bulbs are all hanging too far up for me to read the fine print and jumping up, batting them down and trying to catch them before they hit the floor didn't appeal to me.

    So yesterday I ascended Dura Mater's mast 4" at a time. You think you could go up faster? Well, come on by and I'll watch you go up faster. In the meantime, I went up, detached the housing, sprayed everything with Corrosion X, used a toothbrush on everything and brought the unit down. Two bulbs, neither of which looked like the bulbs recommended online. "Huh", she said to herself.

    Borrowed that special electronics grease from Chris, who is an engineer and always has whatever I need, put it in my pack.

    Drove to West Marine, bought bulbs that looked like the ones I took off, drove back to RYC harbor, ascended yet again. By this time the light was fading, so I took my headlamp up with me. Smeared Chris's grease on the ends of the newly cleaned light connections, smeared goop all along the edges of the housing and re-installed it by screwing it back on to the mast.

    Various SSS ers of E Dock ilk wandered by with good wishes. Dockmates David and Gene called "hello", and several other nice men walked by, a couple even incomprehensively called up: "Need help?" Huh", she said to herself.

    Bob J wandered over just as I finished screwing the gooped up combo housing onto the mast, and asked whether I'd like him to turn the light on for me. "Yes, thank you." So he did but the lights didn't work.

    I'd done it twice, and it was getting dark soon. As I descended the lights blinked. On. Off. Both at the same time. Off. On. What does this mean? I have no idea. But that ascending and descending a 36' mast twice in 4 inch increments made me tired and hungry for chocolate. So I consoled myself with dark chocolate and almonds and went home. Tomorrow's another day. Or the day after that.
    Last edited by Philpott; 11-22-2020 at 08:26 PM.

  2. #12
    Join Date
    Sep 2007
    Location
    Capitola,CA
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    3,338

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    Quote Originally Posted by Philpott View Post
    Okay, that's enough of that.....
    Bob J wandered over just as I finished screwing the gooped up combo housing onto the mast, and asked whether I'd like him to turn the light on for me. "Yes, thank you." So he did but the lights didn't work. I'd done it twice, and it was getting dark soon. As I descended the lights blinked. On. Off. Both at the same time. Off. On. What does this mean? I have no idea. But that ascending and descending a 36' mast twice in 4 inch increments made me tired and hungry for chocolate. So I consoled myself with dark chocolate and almonds and went home. Tomorrow's another day. Or the day after that.
    I don't recall having dark chocolate and almonds for consolation when in the 1977 Miami-Nassau Race on IMP it was getting dark and time to turn on the double, dimpled, festoon Aqua Signal nav lights as we short tacked with the large fleet along the semi-submerged reef bordering our starboard side all the way from North East Rock off Bimini to the Berry Islands.

    I think it was Billy Barton who first discovered the electrical issue: the lifeline wires were "hot." Somehow that morning, when rebedding stanchion base bolts, the bow pulpit running light wires had been accidentally hit by a screw.

    This was disturbing, as during the long, damp night we couldn't hike, nor touch the lifelines due to the receiving an electrical jolt....Even occasionally the wire jib sheets would become energized. We considered turning off the running lights, but there were so many boats in the vicinity that would have been dangerous.

    By oh-dark-thirty the problem had resolved itself as the battery died. And we broke out the emergency red/green clamp-on light. But daylight revealed the full extent of the problem: the lifeline wires were now rusted as was the foot of the #1 genoa where it had wiped against the lifelines on each tack.

    All in a long night..
    Last edited by sleddog; 11-22-2020 at 09:16 PM.

  3. #13
    Join Date
    Jan 2010
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    3,485

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    Now THAT is a disturbing story. Or ... an electrifying story. I don't know how you could have travelled so far and so widely without dark chocolate.

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