Anchor light

My boat doesn't have an anchor light so last season I never took her out for more than a day trip. I have the mast down now and can't figure out a way to run a wire through the mast down to my circuit panel. Would it be poor form if I got a 50ft wire and ran it down the back stay then make access through the transom and to the panel? The closest hole I have in my mast is down through my main sheet hole. But that is 30ft of an abyss that I don't know I can tackle.

Juice

Up High or Down Low ?

You could also just use an anchor light that hangs from the boom or the fore stay.
I have an old "Guest" light from decades ago that serves nowadays as a backup. I looked around the 'net and those even have a replacement LED bulb available.
(Their 6 volt lantern battery configuration is normally good for one season of a few nights at anchor.)

For a current (pun alert) portable anchor light, the Davis product is a great choice.
http://www.downwindmarine.com/Davis-3300-Mega-Light-LED-Anchor-Utility-Light-p-91000801.html

Note that while our current boat does have a (LED) masthead light, it has some disadvantages compared to a light lower down -- other boaters are less likely to collide with your boat when they see a strong light, when looking straight ahead, motoring their boat nearby in the dark.

The portable hanging anchor light under our boom worked great for the decade we had our prior 26 foot boat.

Regards,
Loren

Ha! I actually was considering that before I made my post but thought it would be too trashy. Easy is always better. Thanks for the link.

Perfect Multi-use anchor light

Our E32-3 does have an anchor light but I've always though that sailboat anchor lights are placed just too high. My reasoning is that if there is someone approaching my anchored boat at close quarters on a moonless night then they probably won't be looking up, towards the top of my mast. No, they'll be looking down at the water. So I use a portable Utility Anchor LED light with a dusk to dawn sensor built in to it. I can use it in the cockpit during the evening, while having dinner and/or drinks before hitting the sack and then hoist it up about 3 feet above the boom with the main halyard and tie a one to it to attach to the end of the boom which positions it just forward of the cockpit. It puts out a fair amount of light, more then the mast anchor light, and someone can certainly see it when approaching the boat. It even lights up the deck a bit which helps if I need to check the anchor line or adjust a wind scoop. It ends up being about as high as the anchor lights on any power boat near me. Cost about $35. If you have a 12 volt outlet near the cockpit it plugs right in and draws very little power.

https://www.sailorssolutions.com/?page=ProductDetails&Item=LEDPC01

Loren Beach said:

You could also just use an anchor light that hangs from the boom or the fore stay.
I have an old "Guest" light from decades ago that serves nowadays as a backup. I looked around the 'net and those even have a replacement LED bulb available.
(Their 6 volt lantern battery configuration is normally good for one season of a few nights at anchor.)

For a current (pun alert) portable anchor light, the Davis product is a great choice.
http://www.downwindmarine.com/Davis-3300-Mega-Light-LED-Anchor-Utility-Light-p-91000801.html

Note that while our current boat does have a (LED) masthead light, it has some disadvantages compared to a light lower down -- other boaters are less likely to collide with your boat when they see a strong light, when looking straight ahead, motoring their boat nearby in the dark.

The portable hanging anchor light under our boom worked great for the decade we had our prior 26 foot boat.

Regards,
Loren

Click to expand...

We too had a masthead anchor light, but never used it. Instead we used this exact same Davis light for over 300 nights at anchor in the North Channel of Lake Huron on our E38. I didn't think the under the boom location was that visible, so I hung ours on the foredeck, strung between the forestay and the genoa sheets. You can just make it out in this photo. For power I added a 12V outlet inside the anchor locker.

I'll throw out another vote for a Guest lamp. They routinely show up at my local used chandlery for not much (thinking around $20). I hoist it on the foredeck with about a 4-5 foot pennant so it's at a nice visible level - you can clip it to a stanchion base so it doesn't beat on the headstay. I've always felt the masthead was too high to be in the line of sight for someone passing you in the night who may be focused on the water more than what's up in the air. I can deal with keeping a couple dry-cell batteries on hand to power it. I also have an original electrical system, no - LEDs or big house bank - use oil lamps still - so I like to conserve my main batteries, and having the anchor light self contained seems one less variable. Heck, it's even got a photo-sensor switch so it turns off when the sun comes up - practically a newfangled gadget in my world

Well the Davis light does run on the ship's power, but the power draw was about 0.078 amp, and it too has a photo cell to turn off the power during the day. So the overall power consumption is less than one amp-hour a day. In any case, having the light down low makes much more sense in most anchorages.

Oh... That picture of Rag Doll makes me look soo forward to launch day!
We do not anchor often. Normally we are on a mooring. We use a Eveready 2WAY Yellow Spoltlight hung from the forestay at about 8 feet off the deck. Walmart Product. Works great and cheap. Also a nice spotlight. Last year inspector wanted to withold my CG inspection as he could not see our masthead light in the daylight (was working fine). Hung the 2 Way light on the forestay and all was good,
Best Regards
Pat
1981 E28+ Chips Universal 5411