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Spreader LIghts Ericson 30+

rogerfern

Member II
I have an Ericson 30+, wanting to replace spreader lights, purchased boat two years ago, lights have never worked, does anyone know what kind of lightbulbs these are? do they screw in like regular light bulbs? any info will be appreciated.

Thank you
Roger
 

Frank Langer

1984 Ericson 30+, Nanaimo, BC
I have a 1984 E30+, and am not sure what you mean by "spreader lights" on your boat. On mine, I have a deck light which shines down on the foredeck--it is mounted on the mast at the lowest set of spreaders. I also have a steaming light that shines up/out for when motoring at night, it's a bit higher on the mast. None are on the actual spreaders on our 1984 E30+.
Neither is hard to replace, and bulbs are readily available. However, are you sure that it's the bulbs that need to be replaced, or could the connections be bad? On our boat, the connections for all the mast lights are inside the mast, about a foot above the mast step. It requires raising the mast a couple of feet in a sling, re-doing the connections and then lowering the mast.
Frank
 
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tenders

Innocent Bystander
The spreader lights on my 32 are Perko units and use a 35-watt bulb that looks exotic but, it turns out, is actually a tractor bulb (GE 4406, Sylvania 55091). I've been tempted to replace them with LEDs but on Amazon the bulbs are only $9 each (of course West Marine charges $30), and I don't find myself using the lights enough to really care about the power consumption.

They aren't complicated but they have a stiff wire ring that presses the bulb into the stainless base - it needs to be manhandled out with a screwdriver, and I would be loathe to have to figure out how it works for the first time while hanging from a chair.

Your setup might be completely different, I know, but I will say that 80% of the time my spreader lights haven't worked has been due to poor or corroded connections, NOT the bulb itself. Once I started putting water pump grease on every connection back to the switch panel, those issues stopped.
 

mfield

Member III
LED deck lamp

is actually a tractor bulb (GE 4406, Sylvania 55091). I've been tempted to replace them with LEDs

A boat neighbor left me a spare GE 4406 a couple of months ago. When one of my deck lights went out I decided to use it as an excuse to buy gear to climb the mast and replace it. A $7 replacement bulb therefore turned into a $400 ascent using a climbing harness, Petzl ascender, Petzl Grigri and pully. It was a bit of a challenge figuring out the retaining ring while dangling from the mast but all went well and no tools or parts tried to escape into the waiting water below.

Of course this experiment was a prelude to replacing both lamps with LED equivalents and I searched in vain for a GE4406 equivalent. Eventually I discovered the magic google keyword is PAR36 and a number of such sealed units are available. Apparently they are now widely used as landscaping lights. I could buy a 36W equivalent lamp for $27 but a 50W equivalent is available for $15.

Would anyone see a problem replacing the lamp with a brighter version? Both LED equivalents draw far less current than the original (9W rather than 35W)
 
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tenders

Innocent Bystander
The wattage limit on the incandescent bulbs was almost surely a constraint of the amperage that could be supported with the wiring run up the mast. As long as you don’t mind dazzlingly bright lights, there’s no harm in upgrading. But very bright lights will completely mess up your night vision, and might be distracting to neighbors if you use them much at the dock.

I’m not upgrading mine for the reasons mentioned, but I would be interested to see the LEDs you find at those prices. There are a lot of cheap LEDs out there that aren’t water resistant and aren’t well-sealed. They’ll be toast in a few weeks in a marine environment.
 

Christian Williams

E381 - Los Angeles
Senior Moderator
Blogs Author
Roger,

As you can see, first climb the mast with the spreader lights circuit breaker on--and jiggle, remove/replace. They may well light up.

Only with the bulb in hand can you reliably confirm the replacement.

As was said, it also focuses the mind on a means for getting up there. We do have to be able to do that ourselves, just in case.
 

tenders

Innocent Bystander
Here is a link to a PAR36 lamp. It looks like the same construction as the GE4406. I was worried about the night vision aspect of a brighter light, maybe a red LED version would help. Any comments on using a flood (60 degree spread) vs. spot (30 degree)?
https://www.superbrightleds.com/mor...tt-equivalent-bi-pin-led-flood-bulb-lan/3647/

The colored bulbs at that link have far, far less brightness (lumens) than the white ones.

Perhaps it depends on what you intend to do underneath the lights, but I like to have as much of the deck illuminated as possible to deal with sails, hardware, etc. So I strongly prefer flood bulbs on the spreader lights. The spots illuminate too small an area, and the area under the spreaders is not often where I want the light in the first place.
 

ChrisS

Member III
Why do you want these lights for? For use at anchor? I'm not sure what the beam coverage are on the fixtures I linked, but they light up the deck and cabin top plenty, plus the water abeam. They are a bright white light that casts a wide beam! Really nice when needed. However, I only use them on the hook, or at unlit docking areas once tied up.

If I were going to use something underway, might consider red, but on a boat of this size I'd probably just grab a headlamp if I needed to see something on deck.
 

mfield

Member III
Why do you want these lights for?

Coming back to the boat at night (no neighbors stay overnight), checking around the deck before bed at anchor, taking a reef a night.

I am considering changing one of the deck lights to a laser cannon to deal with the seagulls that sit on the sail-cover.
 

mfield

Member III
spreader lights

After three climbs up the mast the attached picture shows the result.

A small screwdriver applied at the end of the C-ring was the best tool to remove the retain ring. The PAR36 light I got has an extra brass clip and a lock washer that just got in the way when attaching the lights, I recommend discarding them.

I'm glad I amortized the cost of the climbing gear over more than one trip. The next task will be to attach a TAC-TICK the top.
 

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