[Rhodes22-list] steaming light

[Jesse Shumaker]

I replaced my masthead light last winter and changed it from a steaming
light to an all around anchor light in the process.  My new masthead light
has separate hot wires so the front and back can be powered independently
but I don't have the wiring and switches in place to do that.  I considered
doing the work to make that possible.  I unscrewed the switch panel in the
cockpit, but it is hard to get a good look back there since all the wires
are fairly tight and I could not pull out the switch panel far.  Would it
be necessary to remove the galley to get back there and access all the
wires?

Since I now have an all around anchor light but no steaming light, I had
been thinking about a workaround until I want to do some wiring work and
add another switch for the rear portion of my masthead light.

At Home Depot, I saw a battery powered LED strip by Milwaukee tools that is
water, dust, and impact resistant.  On the low setting (100 lumens), it
will last 16 hours on 2 AA batteries.  One of these lights cost $20.
https://www.homedepot.com/p/Milwaukee-300-Lumens-LED-Magnetic-Flood-Light-2108/306261360


I picked up 3 of these lights: one to face forward, one to face starboard,
and one to face port.  I used a velcro strip to run through the hooks on
the back of the lights and over the boom.  It's easy to put them on around
the mast temporarily and then wrap them up in a bundle for storage in the
cabin when not in use.

Preferable options would be to wire up separate switches to the front and
back lights on my masthead light, or wire up a separate steaming light 2/3
of the way up the mast as you typically see.  If you don't want to mess
with the wiring, the setup described in this post is a simple battery
powered work around for a steaming light to go along with the running
lights.

I know some people will use the masthead light just facing forward as a
steaming light and then use a lantern for an anchor light.  My reasoning
was that I would prefer to have the anchor light running off the boat
battery since that is on for awhile (though it is LED and low draw), but
the steaming lights would not be used for long periods so it was a better
fit for smaller batteries.

While I was at this, I put some reflective tape on the mast just above the
boom.  It really lights up when a flashlight is shown on it and can make it
more distinctive and easy to spot in anchorage.

I attached a few photos for reference.

I'm curious if others have both a steaming and all around anchor light
wired up on their boats.
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: ReflectiveTapeOnMastRS.JPG
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 52109 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://rhodes22.org/pipermail/rhodes22-list/attachments/20200620/8774ea74/attachment.jpe>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: Steaming02RS.JPG
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 111878 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://rhodes22.org/pipermail/rhodes22-list/attachments/20200620/8774ea74/attachment-0001.jpe>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: Steaming03RS.JPG
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 148796 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://rhodes22.org/pipermail/rhodes22-list/attachments/20200620/8774ea74/attachment-0002.jpe>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: Steaming04RS.JPG
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 113305 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://rhodes22.org/pipermail/rhodes22-list/attachments/20200620/8774ea74/attachment-0003.jpe>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: Steaming01lightsTurnedOffRS.JPG
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 47052 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://rhodes22.org/pipermail/rhodes22-list/attachments/20200620/8774ea74/attachment-0004.jpe>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: Steaming05RS.JPG
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 126885 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://rhodes22.org/pipermail/rhodes22-list/attachments/20200620/8774ea74/attachment-0005.jpe>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: Steaming06RS.JPG
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 45872 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://rhodes22.org/pipermail/rhodes22-list/attachments/20200620/8774ea74/attachment-0006.jpe>