‘79Montauk wrote:The plastic light bulb socket cracked and now won’t hold a light bulb.
Many plastic components which have fractured can be repaired by using a modern glue to adhere them together at the fracture line.
A good source for small tubes of a modern clue that will give a strong bond with plastic molded parts is
Loctite
Super Glue
Ultra Gel Mini
Net Wt. 0.03 ounces
These are very small tubes. Each will be enough adhesive for several repairs. Buying in small tubes prevents the glue from hardening in an open tube that sits around for a year between uses.
I have used this product to make many repairs to plastic items which have fractured or broken cleanly along a line. Of course, if you have a plastic part that is in a dozen small pieces, restoration by using an adhesive may not work well,
You can often buy these at an ACE HARDWARE. This link may be useful:
https://www.acehardware.com/departments/paint-and-supplies/tape-glues-and-adhesives/glues-and-epoxy/1586122As far as finding an OEM replacement part, you will have to look for some brand identification on the lamp. If you can find the OEM maker, you can try contacting them directly. For a boat that is now 43-years-old, there is no guarantee that the firm who made the lamp you have on your boat is still making that same lamp and will offer you the chance to buy individual parts of the lamp.
You may be further ahead to just replace the pole lamp with one of the same diameter.
‘79Montauk wrote:I am unable to find a replacement two-contact electrical connector.
I don't think you looked very hard.
Regarding the two-pole electrical connectors used by Boston Whaler in c.1979, those connectors were not particularly water-resistant and the brass contacts often corroded. Those OEM connectors were made by COLE-HERSEE. The COLE-HERSEE part number was M-121.
Fig. 1. An illustration from an old COLE-HERSEE catalog
of the M-121 connector commonly found as the
pole lamp connector on Boston Whaler boats.While it does not appear very clearly in the illustration above, the COLE-HERSEE M-121 connector is a polarized connector, that is, the two mating connectors can only be joined together in one way. The polarization is accomplished by making the diameter of the pins and sockets slightly different. There is a general practice in electrical wiring that when a connector contains contacts of different size, the larger contact is usually used for the ground or neutral or common branch of the circuit. In the application of the COLE-HERSEE M-121 connector in a small boat navigation lighting circuit, this means the battery negative lead would be wired to the larger diameter socket, and the navigation lamp switch positive would be wired to the smaller diameter socket.
The wiring of the two conductors from the navigation lamp should also be considered with regard to polarity. The circuit from the incandescent lamp fixture base should be considered the negative, and the circuit from the small contact on the lamp fixture considered the positive. The lamp fixture base may be common to the lamp housing. The lamp housing will often be bonded to the metal hull. Maintaining the polarity will prevent problems with short circuits or galvanic corrosion. On a metal boat with a conductive hull, a mistake in wiring will generally result in a blown fuse. On a fiberglass boat with a non-conductive hull, a mistake in wiring will not blow the fuse, but it will cause galvanic corrosion and may cause damage to other metallic components of the boat.
COLE-HERSEE was taken over by LITTELFUSE. You can try to find that old connector from them. You might also find something similar in a catalog of marine parts from SEADOG.
Also note a similar connector made by Sierra, model C43604, and was selling a few years ago for $9.
in 2009 (13-years ago) I replaced the pole lamp connectors on my boat with something a bit better. I used Deutsch two-pole connectors and ordered Dust Caps and Blank Plugs for each connector so that I could weather seal the contacts when the lamp was not in use. Thirteen years later in 2022 the connectors and their silver plated contacts show no sign of any corrosion. If I can find the details I will append them in follow on post.
In brief, the advantage of the Deutsch connectors are:
--they are field installable and do not need to be spliced into existing circuits
--they are suitably protected against intrusion of splash and spray to be used in the typical environment seen with removable navigation lamp poles
--they are widely available
--they are low cost
--their assembly is simple and no specialized tools are needed, other than the crimping tool used to attach the electrical contacts to the conductors.