A New Telescoping Pole for an All-round Lamp

Repair or modification of Boston Whaler boats, their engines, trailers, and gear
Oldslowandugly
Posts: 718
Joined: Fri Jan 15, 2016 11:19 pm
Location: Queens NY

A New Telescoping Pole for an All-round Lamp

Postby Oldslowandugly » Wed Dec 04, 2019 11:10 pm

I took the advice of Katpil about the location of an all-round white navigation lamp [to be mounted at the center console and modified an existing white-all round pole lamp to have a telescoping support pole].

I fabricated an adjustable support pole for the lamp. I placed my 1985 original equipment PERKO lamp housing that used a 3/4-inch stainless steel pole on a short piece of 3/4-inch OD PERKO aluminum pole. I slipped that inside a 3-foot section of 7/8-inch OD aluminum pole, and I drilled a set screw to secure it. The pole has a screw clamp for length adjustments.

lamp1a.jpg
Fig. 1. The old lamp on a new pole
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At the other end I slipped another3-foot section of 3/4-inch OD aluminum pole inside the 7/8-inch OD pole. At the very end of that I secured the original PERKO double-contact pole-end from a PERKO removable all-round lamp.

Inside, I connected both ends with a coiled wire like used on telephone handsets. That way when the pole gets adjusted up or down the wire coils and uncoils inside the tubing without pinching.

The fully closed length is 40-inches, and the pole lamp will stow away under my stern bench seat. Fully extended length is 68-inches. It can be set at any length in between.

I replaced the stock incandescent bulbs with two Sylvania ZEVO ultra-bright LED # 194 bulbs.

lamp2a.jpg
Fig. 2. The new LED bulbs
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My console is about 34-inches tall so the total height (above the deck) I can set the light is 102-inches (eight and a half feet). I stand 5-feet 5-inches, so the lamp can be up to 3-feet above my head while fishing. The design of this lamp housing reduces downward glare a lot. Now I should be able to have totally legal all-round navigation light without ruining my night vision.

I will need to wait until Spring to mount the PERKO base for the removable pole on the console.

jimh
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Location: Michigan, Lower Peninsula
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Re: A New Telescoping Pole for an All-round Lamp

Postby jimh » Thu Dec 05, 2019 8:49 am

Tubing made with 0.058-inch wall (a standard size for tubing) will nicely fit inside similar tubing with 0.125-inch larger diameter. Your 7/8-inch OD tube probably had 0.058-wall thickness, so it was a good fit for the 3/4-inch OD tube to fit inside it.

Oldslowandugly
Posts: 718
Joined: Fri Jan 15, 2016 11:19 pm
Location: Queens NY

Re: A New Telescoping Pole for an All-round Lamp

Postby Oldslowandugly » Thu Dec 05, 2019 11:09 am

IMG_1148.JPG
Fig. 3. Pole collapsed
IMG_1148.JPG (53.91 KiB) Viewed 2110 times


4a.jpg
Fig. 4. Pole extended
4a.jpg (8.98 KiB) Viewed 2093 times


The adjustable wing nut is actually a set screw from a Bimini top pole.

jimh
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Joined: Fri Oct 09, 2015 12:25 pm
Location: Michigan, Lower Peninsula
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Re: A New Telescoping Pole for an All-round Lamp

Postby jimh » Thu Dec 05, 2019 5:22 pm

The usual telephone hand set coiled cord has four conductors and uses tinsel wire. The tinsel wire is very difficult to make connection to.

Did you actually use a telephone handset coiled cord?

If not, perhaps you can describe in more detail the coiled wiring used inside the telescoping mast.

Oldslowandugly
Posts: 718
Joined: Fri Jan 15, 2016 11:19 pm
Location: Queens NY

Re: A New Telescoping Pole for an All-round Lamp

Postby Oldslowandugly » Thu Dec 05, 2019 6:12 pm

Jim you are correct. Telephone wire was not the thing to use. I had an old hand-held quartz lantern that I never used for anything. It had a long coiled wire power cord from the lantern to the power plug. It was about the same coil size as a telephone cord and fit inside the tubing nicely. I simply cut off what I needed and soldered it between the lamp and plug. The cord consisted of two conductors and were about 20 gauge stranded copper wire similar to the PERKO lamp wires so no concern about load.