[Rhodes22-list] steaming light fun .... mystery partially solved

[Mike Cheung]

Aha .... pulled the cable end of the connector apart at the base of the mast
and found that the two bulbs at the top of the mast share the same
connection.  They are wired separately, but are stuffed into the same pin on
the connector.  So, Muireann cannot show the forward masthead light
separately from the aft masthead light.  May need to rewire that in the
future.  The upshot is that it pretty much has be to a problem at the
masthead for the forward light, either the bulb or a crappy connection. 
Next step is to drop the mast and get to the masthead fixture for a look
see.

Still planning on a Chesapeake run this Friday through next Wednesday.  The
weather for the early part is not encouraging, but looks better from Monday
on.  

Sketchy plans still: 

Friday, launch in or near the Magothy, overnight nearby; probably on the
hook
Saturday, Annapolis for the afternoon, dinner and overnight; probably on a
mooring if we can get one
Sunday through Tuesday .... cruise the Chesapeake roughly between Rock Hall
(to the North) and the Choptank (to the South); we'd like to hit Rock Hall,
St Michaels, and maybe Kent Narrows enroute between them, but the wind and
weather will have a lot of say in when we end up where.
Wednesday, back to our launch point, haul out, and head back to Ohio. 

Will firm things up a bit if I can after looking over the cruising guides
piled on my work table and maybe connect with some of you Chesapeake Rhodies
(Mary Lou and the Crab Alley Rhodie esp.) if things work out.

For the Chesapeake Rhodies ... a question or two .... It sure looks like in
most places in the cruising range we're planning to use that we should be
able to cross the Chesapeake in about an hour or two.  Is that pretty much
your experience?  It also looks like St Michaels to Rock Hall (or vice
versa) should be easily done in a day of sailing.  Is that reasonable?

We'll probably dry provision Muireann and plan to take dinners ashore most
nights.  It's our first long cruise and I don't want it to be too much like
camping for my Admiral.  I'm thinking that of the five nights we won't spend
more than two on the hook, but since I'm not making marina reservations,
that could be an underestimate.  

Muireann is sporting her new sails so she'll be a red hulled R22 with black
Sunbrella on the sails.  She's got her hull number (113) on her genoa.  

Mike Cheung
s/v Muireann

 

Mike Cheung wrote:
> 
> I'm troubleshooting a recalcitrant steaming/anchor light and am slightly
> perplexed.  The forward masthead/anchor light, which is also the steaming
> or running light, has not been lighting so far this season.  I finally
> carried a multimeter up to Muireann and checked things out more
> quantitatively.  As you know there are four pins on the mast wiring
> harness for lights.  The one at 10 o'clock appears to be the ground.  The
> next one clockwise at 2 o'clock or so appears to be the aft anchor light
> and is working when the anchor light switch is on.  One would expect that
> another pin would also be energized then for the front anchor light /
> steaming light, but it is not.  Okay, maybe that's the problem because the
> front light is not lit when running light is selected either.  But, a
> check of continuity shows continuity only between the ground pin and the
> aft anchor light pin.  This implies that both the foward anchor light /
> steaming light bulb is out (hence not continuity) and that there is a
> problem getting power to whatever pin it is connected to on the four pin
> harness.  Since the probability of this is the product of the individual
> failure probabilities, I'm suspicious.  Anything I"m missing here?
> 

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