White All-Round Lamp Too High

Repair or modification of Boston Whaler boats, their engines, trailers, and gear
Bigbear
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White All-Round Lamp Too High

Postby Bigbear » Mon Sep 02, 2019 8:05 pm

The [white all-round navigation lamp] on my Montauk is probably not original and is too high to fit in my garage when the boat is on the trailer.

Can the lamp pole be shortened about six inches using a conduit cutter?

jimh
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Re: Cutting Tool Hardness

Postby jimh » Tue Sep 03, 2019 8:01 am

The white all-round lamp should be 1-meter higher than the sidelight lamps. If you plan to reduce the height of the lamp, verify it won't cause your navigation lighting to be out of compliance with federal regulations.

See the Navigation Rules:

§ 84.03 Vertical positioning and spacing of lights
...(d) A power-driven vessel of less than 12 meters in length may carry the uppermost light at a height of less than 2.5 meters above the gunwale. When, however, a masthead light is carried in addition to sidelights and
a sternlight or the all-round light prescribed in rule 23(c)(i) is carried in addition to sidelights, then such masthead light or all-round light shall be carried at least 1 meter higher than the sidelights.


The material for the pole that supports the white all-round lamp is often stainless steel tubing. Electrical conduit is usually soft steel.

To predict if the particular cutting tool you have that is designed to cut soft steel conduit can cut the material in the pole lamp you have will be difficult.

How much time underway after dark will the boat be operating? I generally am almost never underway after dark, so I just keep the white all-round pole lamp stowed. This may be the simplest solution for your problem of interference with the pole and the garage door.

svsonora
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Re: White All-Round Lamp Too High

Postby svsonora » Tue Sep 03, 2019 11:12 am

If you need to cut SS tubing, you can always go with a angle grinder. Be careful and watch the heat, as you will change its corrosion resistance properties if you get it too hot. Go slow with lots of breaks.

Tomtep
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Re: White All-Round Lamp Too High

Postby Tomtep » Tue Sep 03, 2019 1:14 pm

Why not just stow it when not using it.

TFrere
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Re: Can a cutter designed for soft steel electrical conduit cut stainless steel tubing

Postby TFrere » Tue Sep 03, 2019 2:51 pm

I spent 38 years in the pipeline industry. We cut stainless tubing daily with tubing cutters. You won’t have a problem with a tubing cutter from Lowe’s or Home Depot.
1985 15’ Sport with Yamaha F70

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Phil T
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Re: White All-Round Lamp Too High

Postby Phil T » Tue Sep 03, 2019 5:31 pm

I would replace whatever you have with a Perko removable stern light and find a used stern light bracket set.
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jimh
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Re: Can a cutter intended for soft steel electrical conduit cut stainless steel tubing

Postby jimh » Tue Sep 03, 2019 6:29 pm

I spent 3.8-minutes trying to drill into stainless steel tubing with a drill bit I bought at Home Depot. Then I realized that stainless steel was much harder and can’t be cut with cheap tools. To cut (drill into) stainless steel tubing a special hardened drill bit was necessary.

MarkCz
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Re: White All-Round Lamp Too High

Postby MarkCz » Thu Sep 05, 2019 10:06 pm

I have a 1987 Boston Whaler Montauk. My pole lamp is also high and will not fit into my garage with an 8-foot-high door. I do boat at night and bent the pole twice because I forgot to remove it before backing into the garage. It bent back ok but not perfect.

NLA01
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Re: White All-Round Lamp Too High

Postby NLA01 » Sat Sep 07, 2019 8:04 pm

Perko makes a hinged all-round pole navigation lamp which is hinged at the base. See

https://www.perko.com/catalog/navigation_lights_under_20_meters/388/fold_down_white_all-round_light/

jimh
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Re: White All-Round Lamp Too High

Postby jimh » Sun Sep 08, 2019 8:58 am

The lamp cited above from Perko is only 14-inches high. There would likely be no way to position the light source 1-meter higher than the sidelight lamp if the pole lamp base were mounted to the gunwale of a Montauk.

Modifying the navigation lighting to fit in the garage must be done in a manner that does not result in non-compliant lighting.

Oldslowandugly
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Re: White All-Round Lamp Too High

Postby Oldslowandugly » Sun Sep 08, 2019 11:57 am

I like a [tall pole mounted white all-round lamp] mostly to keep it above my eyes when night fishing.

I took a Perko plug-in lamp and replace the short pole with a longer 4-foot section of aluminum tubing. It was easy to run new wiring up the pole and secure to the lamp fixture and at the removable base. The Perko plug-in base I used is the one that angles the light rearward. It even has a rubber cover. I built a small box out of aluminum sheet, screwed the light base into that, and mounted it where the original Whaler wiring exited the hull near the stern. The plastic wiring cover was missing anyway. The pole I keep stored with rubber clamps under my stern bench seat. ImageImageImage

Bigbear
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Re: White All-Round Lamp Too High

Postby Bigbear » Sat Sep 14, 2019 5:41 pm

I measured the height of the pole lamp above the deck: 46-inches high. Seems like a little cutting is in order.

Oldslowandugly
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Re: White All-Round Lamp Too High

Postby Oldslowandugly » Sun Sep 15, 2019 11:49 am

It is easy to cut. Just use a tubing cutter. Try not to damage the wires. If it is the stock Whaler light that has a bolt-down base you can cut the tube and slide it off the wires. Some aftermarket lights are not so easy and the base end might be clamped, screwed, or set-screwed in place. At the light end the fixture is usually screwed, glued, or set-screwed in place. Decide which end is easiest to disassemble and remove the wires. Then just cut off what you need and re-assemble. Some light wires are soldered but most are screwed down. Worst case if the wires are not removable then you must cut them to remove the cut-off piece of tube and solder/seal them back together.

Crusty the Clam
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Location: Austin, Texas

Re: White All-Round Lamp Too High

Postby Crusty the Clam » Sun Sep 15, 2019 4:37 pm

If you don’t have a tube cutter, I cut my anchor light pole shorter using a metal blade hacksaw. Cheap pole so it was easy to cut. Put the pole in a vise and cut carefully till you just pierce through the tube a bit. Rotate tube. Cut a bit, repeat. Touch up the sharp edges with fine file, sandpaper, etc. I took a short piece of old gasoline hose, cut it lengthwise and slipped it over the wires, then crammed the piece of hose halfway into the pole. This protected the wires from wearing and being cut by the pole edge.