Stick It.

Back when we were last in Palm Coast I got fed up with the coil of LED strip lights that were sitting on the settee table. They were, after all, supposed to be providing the cockpit lighting for the new hardtop.  I figured the adhesive backing that came with the strip would likely not stay put in a marine environment so I tried to come up with various ways to mount the strip on the hardtop so it would stay put.  I looked for options to create some sort of holder, but didn't find anything that would work (the biggest obstacle was the turn radius around the 90 degree corner).  In the end, I gave up and decided to just give the adhesive a try and see what would happen.

The LED's set to blue light the cockpit well.

Well, a number of weeks later, my expectation came to pass and the adhesive failed and the strip fell down. It started with the free end curling up a bit, then a few other spots started coming undone.  I would periodically press them back in place, but the failing areas continued to slowly grow. So I ended up taking it down, coiled it back up and set it aside for later.

Fast forward to last week.  A couple slips down from us here in Baltimore a trawler pulls in and we start talking.  They are here to sell their boat.  One evening I notice they have LED strip lights on the boat so I ask how they affixed them.  As it turns out, he tried a couple different approaches (including using the supplied adhesive...that didn't work) and ended up gluing them up with LifeCaulk (a marine adhesive caulk) and holding it in place with tape until the caulking cured. It seems to work, but sounded like a a real pain in the butt.

But it got me thinking.  So, while my wife works on her plan for the ideal trip south, I figured I might as well see if I can find a better solution. After quite a bit of thought, I stumbled upon a possible solution.  The adhesive tape that came on the back of the strip was essentially double-sided scotch tape, but there are other double sided tapes that are stronger and some are weatherproof. In fact, a couple companies make an adhesive tape designed to attach molding onto cars.  If that stuff can put up with rain, snow, salted roads, car wash brushes, and all the other abuses, it should be able to hold an LED strip on the underside of the hardtop.

3M's molding tape.

I check a few auto parts stores and find the tape.  Unfortunately, the commonly stocked width of the tape is 1/2 inch and the LED strip is not quite that wide (I think it is metric and about a centimeter wide...so no English width will likely fit). The adhesive is applied to a thin foam to make the tape so it should better conform to uneven surfaces. Unfortunately, the foam is gray in color, so might be slightly noticeable, but still better than no cockpit lighting.  I peeled the original tape off of the LED strip and then adhered the new tape to it. I then took a razor knife and trimmed it down to be the same width as the LED strip. I was a little worried about this step, but it worked fine.  I then re-adhered the strip to the top (after cleaning the mounting surface, of course).

The tape seems far more promising. It appears to be adhering far better than the original tape did, I have high hopes this is a permanent solution.  So, if you are looking for a way to adhere one of these strips, you might want to give this stuff a try.

Trying to Keep the Boat Happy

We are getting ready to make our trek back north of Cape Hattaras for hurricane season. The plan is to start the trek this weekend.  Our first stop will be Hilton Head, SC. where we will spend a few days playing tourist.  From there we haven't decided where to go (if you have any suggestions, please feel free to comment, I figure we need a couple more stops).

As we prepare to go, I've been doing some work on the boat in hopes that it will make the boat happy and keep the gods of the seas, electricity, and diesel engines at bay.  These are finally items that aren't high priority, but nice to tick off of the list.

The first was re-rigging the davit system.  When I met another Leopard owner a while back he noted that the davit system on my boat wasn't rigged properly.  The result of this rigging problem was that loads weren't distributed evenly and the davit bar bent a bit when the previous owner used to store the dinghy with the motor attached on the davit. To re-rig it, I needed a new block with a becket and a longer line (the new rigging scheme requires the lines to criss-cross between the mount points on the arch and the davit bar.

A stop at Sailors Exchange and I was able to find 70 foot of the 1/2 inch line for $40.  I also picked up brand new line to replace the main halyard since their price is about half of West Marine's price for the same line and a bit cheaper than I have found elsewhere for New England Ropes stuff. I also found they had the really comfortable bosun's chair like the one I borrowed from a friend back in Brunswick and I couldn't pass it up.  Guess you can't take me into a sailing thrift shop.  Unfortunately they didn't have the block with becket or a stainless U bolt I was looking for, so we picked them up at Marine Supply & Oil Company.

New block and line and the davit is re-rigged.

The actual re-rigging of the davit was pretty easy.  I lowered the davit and removed the line.  I then moved the existing block at the arch to the position opposite of where it was.  The new block with the becket was added where the old block was removed. The new line was then tied around the becket, led down to the davit block, diagonally across to the other arch block, back down to the other davit block, diagonally across to the new block and through the remaining blocks to the winch.  This configuration does seem to allow the bar to self-level better and I believe it also gives me almost double the purchase...and that makes the dinghy easier to crank up on the davit.

The U bolt I mentioned was for a minor repair.  In the rudder system there is a line that acts as the steering stop.  On one side, the U bolt had rusted through and the line was no longer attached.  I've replaced the U bolt and reattached the line so the steering stop is once again working as designed.

I have been trying to figure out a good means of mounting the LED light strips I bought for the hardtop for a while now.  Not coming up with any really good ideas, I finally gave up and decided to see what would happen if I just stuck them up with the supplied adhesive.  The strip is supposed to be weatherproof and the controller is hidden in the wiring chase that is built into the hardtop, so hopefully it will be OK.  I guess only time will tell, but so far I like it and think it looks good enough.  And for under $30, if it doesn't work out, I guess I won't be out much.

That is a lot of light,

Remember this strip changes colors.  Here is red...

...and blue.

So, various systems on the boat got some attention.  Hopefully this will build up some good karma points for me with the boat.

Cheap Marker Lights

I've often wondered how effective the anchor light on a sailboat actually is.  A white light that can be seen for miles sounds like a good idea, but having that light 60 feet up in the air seems problematic to me.  From a distance you can look out across an anchorage and see the anchored boats.  But what about when you are in the anchorage trying to maneuver between boats on a dark night?  Or when someone in a dinghy is trying to make their way back to their boat after the bars have closed?  Do the lights sitting up 60 feet just blend into the stars or a nearby city skyline?

I decided a while back that it would be a good idea to add the equivalent of marker lights to our boat. Having not spent a lot of time at anchor, it was not a high priority (until recently). When at a BJ's Wholesale club back in Virginia last summer, I found and purchased a 4-pack of solar powered deck walkway lights. I figured if I could devise a way to mount these, they would work well.

Naturally, while sitting at anchor out at Elliott Key, a long way from a hardware store, I remembered my purchase and decided to see if I had any way to temporarily mount them and see how well they would work. After a little pondering, I remembered that one of the things the prior owner had left on the boat were these clips designed to make it easier to attach and adjust fenders.  I never found them particularly handy so they have been sitting in a settee locker since I discovered them.  I decided that I could use zip ties to attach the lights to the clips and see how well they would work.

It only took a few minutes to assemble.  I clipped them onto the pulpit and pushpit rails at the four corners of the boat.  We used them during most of our trip to Key Largo and so far I am pleased with how they work.  They are relatively low profile so they don't get in the way.  They cast light outward and a little downward to light up the hull. And since they are solar, they require no wiring and turn on and off automatically, so even if we forget to turn on the anchor light, we have lights warning others that we are there.

So far I am pleased with the result.  The units seem at least somewhat sealed from the elements so I hope they will last at least a while in the marine environment.  Looks like I will need to find a better way to mount them when I get a chance.

One Less Incandescent Light

A while ago I started converting most of the incandescent lights over to LED. When I bought the boat, there were a number of incandescent bulbs. All the navigation lights and a number of interior lights used incandescent bulbs, so as I found LED alternatives and when lights or fixtures started giving me problems, I would switch them out.

All of the salon lights were 10 watt festoon bulbs and have been converted to homemade or pre-purchased LED bulbs. The navigation lights were converted once I found the right bulbs at a reasonable price.  When the anchor light burned out, it was replaced with an LED.  When the deck light went on the fritz, I found a nice Par LED replacement bulb and replaced it.  The only incandescent lights left on the boat were the reading lamps in the berths (I hadn't found a bulb replacement for them), a couple of cockpit lights (the new top will be getting new lights to replace them), and the steaming light (not a high priority since it is only on when engines are running).

Well, on our trip south, the steaming light went out.  So, I guess it was time to convert that one to LED too. All of the navigation lights on the boat use the same BAY15d base bulb. Of course I couldn't find one in stock in Southport, so I ordered one from the local Napa store that also sells a lot of marine supplies.  I had been using the bright white bulbs in these fixtures, but since I had to order one, I went with the warm white this time.

Why warm white?  Well, it actually has to do with the red/green navigation light. The colored lenses on those lights were designed for use with an incandescent bulb.  When I went to the bright white bulbs, I noticed that the green looked a bit more blue than before (after all yellow + blue makes green). I had heard (after I bought the LED bulbs) that this might be the case.  So, by ordering the warm white bulb, it should help the bi-color light look the right color once again.

The bulb came in yesterday, so naturally it rained all day.  Today it was cooler, but sunny, so it was time to swap the bulbs around.  I removed the bulb from the bi-color navigation light and replaced it with the new one.  I then took the bright white bulb that was in the bi-color light up the mast with me to replace the steaming light.

I wasn't sure what I would find when I went up the mast to fix the steaming light.  With previous light issues on the mast, one was a burned out bulb and another was a bad connector.  So I gathered up a multi-tester, some crimp connectors, pliers, screwdrivers, and my trusty dielectric grease and headed up the mast. The steaming light is protected by a metal cage, and when I tried to remove it, I found the screws were pretty much frozen in place.  They wouldn't budge.  At all.  The screw that I needed to remove in order to remove the cover of the light was positioned right behind one of the bars, but I managed to get a screwdriver to it well enough to disengage it.  Then I carefully removed the cover and lens, maneuvering it through the openings in the cage.

Once I finally had access to the bulb, what did I find?  An intact incandescent bulb.  I removed it, inspected it, and put it back in place.  I asked my wife (since she wasn't hanging off the side of the mast) to go flip the switch.  Sure enough, the light came on.  Whew, it was just a little corrosion on the bulb that caused the outage.  After turning the power back off, I removed the old bulb.  I took out the LED bulb, applied a little dielectric grease on the contacts, and installed it in the fixture. We tested the new bulb and confirmed it worked.  I replaced the lens and cover and checked the function one more time before I headed back down.  All was well.

So, now all the lights on the big aluminum stick have working LED bulbs.  Hopefully the LEDs and the protective grease will make these lights a bit more trouble free for a while, and I won't have to climb the mast for any lighting issues any time soon.

More LED Goodness

Back when I did the florescent to LED conversion of the guest berth light, one of the features I added to that light was the ability to switch it to a secondary color (blue).  The concept behind having a second monochromatic color was to try and help preserve night adaptation of the eyes during night operations.  Normally red is used in these cases, but my experience in aviation has proved to me that red and I don't get along that well and that any monochromatic light can work fairly well in this regard.

The big problem I had with the concept of creating lighting for night operations on the boat was the fact that the existing lights in the salon area didn't lend themselves well to this idea.  The overhead fixtures are small round lights and getting multiple colors into them wasn't really practical without spending a lot of money on specialized fixtures.  But on our recent overnight trip, I realized I had another option that might work.  The boat has courtesy lights under the stairs and one under the salon door that may be able to light up the cabin enough for safety without the need for the overhead lights.  Honestly, I had almost forgotten about these lights because most of them never worked and I didn't find them particularly useful with the original incandescent bulbs.  But converting them to blue LEDs might just make them useful,,,and a nice accent light for other times.

I originally thought about getting replacement LED bulbs for the fixtures, but then I remembered I had all of that left-over LED strip lighting I could use. It wouldn't cost me a thing, other than some time and a few small bits of wire, to convert the lights using the strips.   So out came the screwdriver, the soldering iron, and the spool of LEDs.

It was a fairly simple process to convert the lights.  I removed the bulb, and then bent and cleaned the contacts so I could easily solder to them.  I then figured out the size of strip that would fit around the inside diameter of the fixture (a 6 led segment fit about 80% of the way around the fixture), cut it to length and soldered an inch long piece of wire to the positive and negative contacts on the strip. After removing the protective paper from the adhesive, I applied the strip and soldered the wires to the contacts in the fixture.  Using a permanent marker, I marked the terminal on the back of the fixture that was attached to the positive side of the strip so I would know how to reconnect the fixture (incandescent bulbs don't care which way the power flows, but LEDs do).  And then all I had to do was reinstall each fixture.

Now I have nice, working, blue accent lighting in the boat.  And the lights produce enough light to keep you from tripping around the boat in the dark and should help with night adaptation of the eye.

These light strips continue to be a nice, low cost way of converting lights to LED.

Fluorescent to LED Conversion Redux

Well, the bad weather has returned to Brunswick and most of the southeast I think. So I decided to convert one of my more standard fluorescent fixtures to LED as a nice indoor project. I took a few more pictures this time so I could write up some instructions for anyone interested in trying this. I also decided to do an upgrade, I made the fixture switchable between white and blue light. While the blue could be useful for preserving the eye's night adaptation, since I can't convert most of the cabin lights this way, I don't know how useful it will actually be. But a fun thing to play with on a cold, rainy day none-the-less.

In the process below, I chose to reuse the wire in the fixtures and solider the connections.  If you are not comfortable with soldering, there are clip on connectors that can be used with the strips and you could use crimp on connectors to connect the power leads.

But first a few notes about LED light strips

Before I get started on the conversion, I should talk a little bit about the LED strips.  The LED chips appear to come in two basic sizes, 3528 and 5050.  The numbers refer to the dimensions of the LED chip and the 5050 chips are supposed to be between 2 and 3 times brighter than the 3528 ones since there are actually 3 LEDs on the 5050 chip.  In order to compare various strips, you will need to know what type of chip is used as well as how many chips there are in a given length of strip.  A 10 inch strip containing 15 3528 LED chips will be about as bright as a 10 inch strip containing 6 5050 LED chips.  A 10 inch strip containing 15 5050 LEDs will be much brighter, and it will also consume more power than the 15 chip 3528 strip.

Also note that you can generally only cut the strip every 3rd LED otherwise some of the chips will fail to light.  So, if the chips are spread further apart on the strip, it limits the size of functional strips you can create.  In my project, I am using strips of 3528 chips that are spaced about every 11/16 of an inch. This allows me to cut a strip almost 10" long with 15 LEDs.  This is a useful size for fitting on the reflector of a fluorescent fixture.  I've found that three of these strips is approximately equivalent in light output to an 8 watt fluorescent bulb.

One last thing to note about LED's, there are usually two different flavors of white. Bright white, daylight white or cool white LED chips produce a very white light similar to commercial fluorescent bulbs and the color often feels cold or sterile to people.  Soft white or warm white chips produce a light a bit closer to the light produced by an incandescent bulb and tends to feel more warm and comfortable to many people.  These colors will vary slightly from manufacturer to manufacturer.  As I noted in my previous conversion, I chose a warm white LED strip and found it to be a little too yellow.  This time I will be using a combination of two warm white strips and one bright white strip per fluorescent bulb replaced.  I find this configuration to produce a light that feels brighter than the warm white alone and yet still feels warm and not sterile.

The lights I used in this project are the Lampux 12V Flexible LED Strip Lights, 300 Units 3528 LEDs, Non-waterproof, 16.4Ft 5M Spool from Lighting Ever. I have one spool of warm white, one spool of daylight white, and one spool of blue.  At $7.99 U.S. per spool you can get enough LED strips to replace 9 fluorescent tubes with extra lights left over for under $20 including shipping (prices from 1/2015, not including the blue option),

Converting a Fluorescent Fixture to LED

At the highest level, this project consists of disconnecting the fluorescent light ballast and connecting the LED strips directly to the switched power and ground wires of the original fixture. This process assumes you have a 12 volt system.

What You Will Need 

• 12 volt LED strip lights.
• A soldering iron and rosin core electronics solder (if soldering)
• 20 gauge wire (if soldering - can use wire scavenged from the fixture to keep costs down)
• LED strip light pigtail connectors (if NOT soldering), 1 per fixture, 2 per fixture for dual color option.
• Red crimp butt connectors (2 per fixture if NOT soldering, one per fixture for dual color option only)
• LED strip light interconnects (if NOT soldering), 2 per fixture for single tube, 5 for double tube, and one more for the dual color option.
• SPDT switch or on-off-on replacement switch (for dual color option only)
• Crimp on connectors for switch (if not soldering, for dual color option only)
• 12 volt LED single color strip lights (for dual color option only)
• A couple zip ties or electrical tape to bundle and keep wires attached to fixture.

The Process

First you will want to remove the fixture so you can work on it.  Turn off power to the fixture's circuit (not just the switch on the fixture).  Remove the fixture and disconnect from the ships power wires (if there are no connectors, you should consider adding insulated crimp on connectors to make future work easier).

Existing wiring of the fixture

Remove the lens and any cover that may exist over the ballast to expose the fixture wiring. Trace the path of the positive wire from the back of the fixture to the power switch and then from the power switch to the ballast.  Cut the wire at the ballast.  This is the positive switched power wire.  Trace the negative (ground) wire from the back of the fixture to the ballast and cut that wire at the ballast.  If that wire is completely disconnected, you can set it aside so you don't lose it.  Do not throw it away.

Cut the wire between the switch and ballast

If you want, you can remove the ballast and the bulb sockets (so long as they are not integrated into the fixture) as it may give you additional space to mount the LED strips and run wiring.

Cut wires with the ballast removed

Dual Color Only: If you want to do the dual color option, you should replace the switch with the on-off-on switch or locate a position and mount the SPDT switch.  Attach the switched power wire to the center terminal of the switch and attach two pieces of wire to the other two terminals on the switch. These two wires will be the switched power for the array of white and array of colored LEDs.  Crimp two wires to the negative wire as you will need one for each LED array.

Wiring for the dual color option

Now you will want to figure out how to position the LED strips in the fixture.  Cut a strip so it will fit on the fixtures reflector behind where the bulb once was.  Be careful to ONLY cut the strip at the marked locations.  If you are using connectors, attach a pigtail to one end of the first strip and an interconnect on the other.  If the strip came with a pre-attached connector, strip the wire so you can connect it.  Cut two more LED strips and determine how to position them.  I used two strips of the warm white and one strip of the daylight white per bulb, placing the bright white strip between the two warm white strips.

Remove the tape off of the adhesive backing and apply it to the reflector on the fixture, making sure you leave enough room for the connections.  If using connectors instead of solider, you may want to connect up the strips before sticking them down to the frame.

Connect the positive terminal or wire of the first strip to the switched power wire (or one of the two switched wires if doing the dual color option).  Connect the negative terminal or wire on the same side of the same strip to the negative fixture wire (or one of the two wires if doing the dual color option).  At the other end of the first strip, connect the positive to the positive of the next strip and the negative to the negative of the next strip. Pay particular attention to make sure you connect positive to positive and negative to negative. Continue this process to connect the third strip to the second.  If your fixture has two bulbs, cut three more LED strips, apply them to the fixture and continue connecting one strip to the next until all the strips are connected in a single circuit.

LED strips wired up for the dual color option

If you are making these connections to a metal fixture and using the solider option, you may want to use a little electrical tape to insulate the connecting wires from the fixture.

When making the wiring connections, you may find it helpful to use zip ties or electrical tape to secure the wires.  make sure that pulling on the wires from the back of the fixture does not pull directly on the connections.  If it does, attach the wire to other wires or some location on the fixture to provide stress relief for the wiring.

Dual Color Only: In order to find the space to mount two of the alternate color LED strips, I found it necessary to re-install the ballast cover. I placed one of the white strips on each side of the cover and put the colored strips on the top of the cover. Cut two strips of the alternate color LED strips and apply them to the fixture.  Connect the other switched power wire to the positive side of the first LED strip and connect the other ground wire to the negative side of the same end of the same strip.  Connect the second alternate color strip to the first just as you did with the white strips.

The best picture I could take of the two different "whites"

That's it.  You now have an LED fixture (perhaps one with dual colors).  Reconnect the fixture to power and re-install.  Turn the circuit power back on and test the light.  If you did the dual color option and used the on-off-on switch, one side should turn on the white and the other should turn on the alternate color.  If you used the second switch option, the power switch will turn the fixture on and the second switch will select either white or the alternate color.

Well, I hope this all makes sense.  It is not a very difficult project and has the potential for cutting your lighting power requirements in half.

Converting Fluorescent Lights To LED

Yep, still cold, still rainy. Hopefully that will change soon. Figuring that I needed some indoor projects to keep me busy, one of the projects I've been researching is the continuation of upgrading my lights to LED.

I have already converted most of my incandescent lights to LED as they are the biggest energy saving bang for the buck (in the 75~90% range).  Now I'm taking a look at the fluorescent lights.  In the case of fluorescent lights, the power savings isn't as dramatic, but even 30% (or more) is nothing to sneeze at when your power comes from a limited battery bank.

In the case of my incandescent light fixtures, I was able to find LED bulbs as a drop in replacement (or even build my own from a broken household LED bulb).  Fluorescent replacements aren't quite as easy. Unlike incandescent fixtures that are a simple and direct connection to power, fluorescent ones have a transformer (called a ballast) that controls the power supplied to the bulb and is incompatible with LEDs.

There are some special bulbs that plug into the existing socket and have a wire to bypass the ballast, but they are a bit pricey. Another option is to replace the fixture.  There are a few fixtures out there with a similar footprint, but they aren't cheap and I didn't really like the options that I found.

While wasting time watching it rain researching this issue, I came across another option. With the advent of LED lighting, someone came up with the idea of putting LED's on a flexible adhesive backed tape.  This is often used for accent and under-cabinet lighting, but a few people have figured out you can use it to replace bulbs.  So, a few days ago, I found some of these flexible LED strip lights at a good price and decided to give it a try.

I ordered a strip of the "warm white" lights and they arrived today. Since the weather is still dictating inside projects and the ballast in the light in my berth has been giving me problems (it only turns on when it feels like it), I decided to upgrade it with the LEDs.  I wanted to document the process of the upgrade, but this one fixture was a bit more complicated than all the others on the boat.  Instead of wires running from the switch to the ballast, this unit had the switch and connectors soldered directly to the ballast. So in order to reuse the switch, I had to remove it from the circuit board, attach new wires, and new connectors.  Not that complicated of a task, but not a process I wanted to document as I figure it would only confuse the otherwise straight-forward process (people comfortable with electrical connections and soldering should easily be able to figure out how to do this).

Once I had the switch free and the connectors attached, the remaining install is reasonably straight-forward. I cut three strips of the lights to approximately the length of the tube I was replacing (cutting only at the approved marks on the tape) and adhered them to the fixture. I then soldered the connections on the strips together with small jumper wires I scavenged from the fixture (there are connectors made that can be used in lieu of soldering, but I already had the wire and solider and didn't see the need to buy the connectors) and soldered the switched power wire and ground to the connected strips.  I think it took me an hour or two for everything.

The result isn't bad.  The "warm white" colored lights turned out to be a bit more yellow in color than I would like (the picture below makes them look more white than they actually are).  Three strips of the lights put out just a little less light than the fluorescent tube did based on my observation (or maybe it is just the color difference that is tricking my eye, I'm not really sure). My guess is either 4 strips, or using the larger 5050 LEDs instead of the 3528 ones would put out as much or more light...at the cost of more power use.  In the end, for about $2 worth of the LED strip and a little solider and wire I had on hand, I have a LED light that consumes around 3.75 watts instead of the 8 watt fluorescent. And best of all, I didn't have to put the old fixture into the landfill.

Next time I may try using the "daylight white" strips or a combination of those and the warm white ones.  I'll also document the process better in case you want to try updating some of your old fluorescent lights.

Who Needs a Gym Membership

Pretty much since I arrived in Brunswick, it has been cold and rainy...or at least that is how it has felt. Finally after Christmas, the weather improved so I've been busily working on the boat.  And just too tired at the end of the day to write, so sorry about that.

You know about the deck light.  It ended up taking three trips up the mast to fix, and then improve, the light.  Each time I used the block and tackle system to hoist myself up there and that can be a bit of work even with a 4:1 purchase.  After that I tried going up to the top of the mast to check on the anchor light, but found that the block and tackle system prevented me from reaching the top.

Since that time, I found someone interesting in helping with the anchor light.  Since Jim was the lighter weight of the two of us, had a bit longer reach, and he wanted to go, I had him go up the mast to check out the light. This time I rigged the bosuns chair without the block and tackle (so instead of a 4:1 advantage, it was reduced to 2:1) so hopefully he would reach the top. Bill volunteered to help man the safety line (we used the topping lift line for a safety line), so we both cranked Jim up to the top of the mast using the winches normally used for raising the main.

Jim took a picture of us cranking him up the mast.

When he got to the top he could reach the anchor light.  But he couldn't see it all that well.  After a bit of time trying to open the fixture, he decided he needed a bit more height.  The only other option we had was to switch from the Bosun's chair to the climbing harness I had originally purchased for going up the mast.  The climbing harness attaches a bit lower than the chair, so the theory was that would gain him a few more inches.  We lower him down, swap out the gear, and then crank him back up the mast...again.  The third time up the mast was the charm with the anchor light and he was able to get the fixture open.

I took a wild guess that maybe the bulb in the anchor light was the same as the other nav lights, so I sent Jim up with one of the LED lights I had installed in the rear nav light.  Fortunately it did fit.  In a rare bit of luck for me with the lights on this boat, that was the only problem and the light came on when I flipped the switch.  Jim cleaned the contacts, applied a little dielectric grease to the LED bulb, installed it, and put the fixture back together.  And finally, for the first time since I bought the boat, the anchor light works.  This is the first time that all the lights on the mast have worked at the same time.  But to keep me humble and in true boat fashion, I just discovered that the power to the lights in the port hull is acting up again.

As I also previously mentioned, I washed the boat the other day.  While it looked a lot better, there still seemed to be a brownish hue to the gel coat.  There were also some stains that didn't come off.  So, I decided to try a few different cleaners and waxes to see what works.

I got a recommendation from a local marina employee for a product called Presto.  This stuff is supposed to be a mold and mildew product, but the marina scuttlebutt is that the pro detailers often use it to clean hulls. So, I went and bought a gallon (the smallest size it comes in, and at $10 a pretty decent price).  I think you can use it full strength, but I diluted it 50%.  Apply the stuff, let it sit for 5~10 minutes, and wash off.  I tried it on the rear swim platform and it worked pretty well.  The brown hue was gone and most of the stains were at least lighter, even a rust stain.  I then tried the stuff full strength on the stains that didn't come up.  It lightened them further and removed some of them.  So, for the price it is a good second level cleaner (above basic soap and water), but not good for the stubborn stuff.

The next thing I tried is some stuff called On and Off that the previous owner left with the boat.  I applied it to the stubborn stains.  Again, this stuff you are supposed to let sit just a bit to let it work and then wash it off.  It did a good job getting rid of all the remaining stains on the boat, except for a couple spots where the gel coat is damaged (it appears like it is crazed, not sure how it happened or what can be done about it beyond new gel coat).  This stuff was pretty effortless and did a great job removing the stains.

The reason for re-cleaning the back of the boat was to test out some polishing compounds and waxes. I have some Meguiars polishing compound, 3M marine polising compound, Mothers synthetic wax, and 3M cleaner wax.  So far the 3M products seem to be worth the extra price, but I need to do a bit more testing to be sure.

And about the title of this post.  You really don't need a gym membership with a boat.  Just climb the mast 3 times a week, wash and wax the hull, and perform all the other maintenance and repairs and you'll get quite a workout.  If the weather is nice, you may get a tan too.

Deck Light Improvement

Just in case you aren't yet sick of hearing stories about my deck light, I have one more for you.  This time it is an improvement to the existing system.

After finally getting the deck light working, I just couldn't leave well enough alone.  The deck light is a pretty standard 12 volt, 30 watt, PAR 36 incandescent bulb.  What that means is that it takes approximately 2.5 amps of current to run the light when it is on.  While that is fine if you have an infinite supply of energy, on a sailboat under sail that is a lot of power being drained from the house battery bank.  And being an incandescent bulb, most of that energy goes to producing heat and not light.

Since I have been replacing the most used incandescent lights on the boat with LED bulbs, I decided to look around and see if I could find a reasonable cost replacement for this relatively power hungry bulb.  Consulting the oracle, I found a number of LED 12 volt PAR36 bulbs.  Unfortunately a lot of the bulbs I found were for indoor use only.  Since my deck light is held up by a simple, and not weather tight, plastic frame, I definitely need an outdoor bulb.  I found a few relatively expensive bulbs (in the $60 U.S. price range) and then came across a more reasonable option on Amazon.

The bulb I found consisted of the standard PAR 36 glass bulb housing.  Inside, instead of an incandescent filament, is a circuit board with a bunch of LED's mounted on it (and I assume some other circuitry that you can't see).  The result is an LED bulb with the same physical characteristics and weather protection as the bulb I am trying to replace.  And at $26, it is only twice the price of a replacement incandescent bulb.  So, I ordered one.

I ordered it through Amazon and the order was fulfilled via EverSale.  To my amazement, having ordered it just before Christmas, it arrived the day after Christmas...probably the fastest "standard" shipping I have ever had.

So, today I went up the mast to the deck light again.  I swapped out the incandescent bulb for this new LED one, making sure I applied some dielectric grease to the connectors when I installed the new one (I hold out hope that this one will last a while and I won't have to go back up there again anytime soon).  I test the light and it lights up and seems brighter than the original bulb, but during the daytime it is hard to tell.

Another issue I had with the original bulb is that, while it is technically a flood light, it acted more like a spot light. The light produced by the bulb created a well lit 4 foot diameter circle on the forward bridge deck and then quickly faded the further out you went from that circle.  Given that my catamaran is just over 21 foot wide, a better light spread would be nice.

Finally, after it got dark, I went out to see how well this new LED replacement works...

To say that I'm happy with the result is an understatement. The light is certainly brighter than the original bulb.  At 9 watts (.75 amps), it consumes less than a third of the power of the original.  And a nice side effect is that the light produced by the bulb is much more even across the entire deck of the boat (as you can see in the picture above). I'm sure that this will make working on the deck at night a much safer experience.

So far I have to give this bulb a thumbs up.

Finally a Nice Day

Since arriving in Brunswick Georgia, the weather hasn't been all that cooperative. Lots of colder days and rain and wind...great for finding leaks on your boat, but not so good for getting any work done outside. Today it finally dried out and warmed up, so no more excuses, time to get some work done that has been on my list for a while.

First task was to wash the boat. There is still dirt, pine needles, and a few other things left over from Deltaville that really needed to go. So, around 10am it was warm enough to start playing with water outside. In addition to my biodegradable wash soap, I added a little bleach in hopes it would help cut through the "Deltaville stains" and started washing.

This is one time I definitely don't like owning a catamaran. All that interior space equates to a lot of exterior surface to wash...and wash...and wash. I scrubbed every nook and cranny on the deck of the boat and didn't finish until around 2:30pm.  4.5 hours to wash the deck...and while it looks better, it still needs more work to get rid of some of the stains that seem to have soaked deep into the gel coat. Once I get that resolved, then I need to wax. Guess it takes 2 to 3 days to thoroughly clean and wax our new home.

Since there was a little more daylight left, and I wasn't completely exhausted yet (ok, I was pretty tired after all that scrubbing), and since I had a couple people available to help, I decided to go up the mast and see what I could figure out about the nonfunctional anchor light. I gather up the supplies (screwdriver, pliers, multi-tester, wire brush, Scotchbrite pad, best guess at the bulbs that might be used, etc.) and get the chair and rig setup to go up the mast. And, naturally, while I was doing this, some bird decided my boat looked too clean and left his mark on my clean hull. I remember when I used to like birds.

I again used the block and tackle system that I borrowed from my boat neighbor Bill (more on this setup in this post). Unfortunately, this proved to be a mistake. The added blocks in the setup cost an additional foot or so of lifting ability. The result is that I was about a foot short of being able to reach the anchor light that sits at the very top of the mast. It wasn't a complete loss though, I did manage to get a picture of my first trip up to (almost) the top of the mast.

It was too late in the day to remove the block and tackle system and try again, so I guess I'll be heading back up there tomorrow...if the weather cooperates.

If It Fails On A Boat, It Is Probably Corrosion

Well, as I mentioned in my last post, I'm running out of things to try in fixing my deck light. Short of replacing the entire wire, the connectors up at the fixture are the only other possible failure points. So, for my first try today, I decided to replace the connectors.

Of course, I already know that the wires up at the fixture are pretty short (I had previously repaired the positive lead), so I'll need to add a length of wire along with a new connector...or I'll never be able to get a bulb connected. I don't have any "boat approved" 14 gauge wire on the boat, fortunately there is a place nearby that is supposed to have a bunch at much better than West Marine prices named Genuine Dealz.

I plug the address into my phone's GPS and head over. My phone directs me to this nondescript warehouse that almost looks like it is abandoned, except for the two cars parked near an open door. No signs or any other indications I'm in the right place, but I park and poke my head in the open door. Inside there are a lot of spools of wire and other electrical parts. Definitely a low-budget, mostly internet based operation. There were a couple nice employees that confirmed I was in the right place. I told them I was looking for some 14 gauge wire and a few connectors. They hooked up their giant spools of wire and made me a 100 foot spool while I waited. Given their prices, I ended up buying a couple spools of the marine grade tinned wire and some additional heat shrink connectors to extend my parts stock.

I return to the boat with my supplies and construct some 5 inch extension wires with spade terminals on one end and butt splice connectors on the other end. Best to assemble what I can on the ground instead of trying to do it all while swinging from the mast.

After doing what I can on the ground, I once again get out the Bosun's chair and go up the mast. Instead of using my harness, I borrowed the Bosun's chair I had used before from a friend here at the dock (I have to admit, after trying a few different chairs and harnesses, Jesse has the most comfortable one I've found). Another friend, Bill, here at my dock has an interesting rig to allow you to pull yourself up the mast. He has rigged up a couple fiddle blocks, one with a jam cleat and becket and a lot of 1/2 inch line to create a 4:1 purchase system. With this, and a rope climbing ascender, someone can pull themselves up the mast while only having to lift 1/4 of their weight. This setup made it easy and comfortable to go up to the deck light as many times as I have over the past few days.

Bill's mast rig with an eye splice I did for him.

I make my way up the mast to the light, pop the light out of the holder, and carefully unscrew the lugs on the back of the bulb enough to remove the bulb. Then the surgery begins. I cut off the existing spade connectors and strip the wires so I can attach the butt connector that is already attached to the new spade assembly. I make sure that the stripped wire is clean and in good condition. I then crimp on the new wire assemblies. This all sounds quite simple...but imagine doing it mostly one-handed while sitting on a swing hovering 20 feet over the deck of the boat. After the crimp is solid, I use a BBQ lighter (they work a bit better in the wind than the average lighter) to carefully shrink the heat-shrink end of the butt connector for a weather-tight seal. Now I have longer, weather-resistant connections for the deck light. I reattach the bulb and snap it back in the holder. The moment of truth arrives...will this Hail Mary attempt work or will I need to pull a new wire.

I make my way back down the mast, wriggle out of the Bosun's chair and head over to the electrical panel. I flip the switch....and...the light comes on!  Yes! It appears that a connector was the issue after all.

Being an engineer, I now wanted to know why this was the failure. When I was up on the mast, I did some tests, including pulling on the connectors to make sure they were well crimped, so I wanted to know exactly what the failure was. The first thing I noticed is that the crimp on connector on the ground wire is not the right size.  The wire is 14 gauge and the crimp on connector is red for 18 to 22 gauge wire...but it seemed solidly connected.  The red connector is also not sealed so weather (or on a boat, salt water, could theoretically make it's way into the connection and wire. I stripped a little bit of insulation off of the wire and found that the ground doesn't appear to be tinned wire and there was some corrosion over an inch down the wire from the connector.

Top: Bad Ground spade, Bottom: Good power spade

Checking the resistance from the spade to the cut and stripped end of the wire on the ground connector I removed, I found resistance in the 18 mega-ohm range. That's a lot of resistance. In comparison, the positive connector I removed, that I had previously replaced and only replaced again because I wanted a longer length of wire, showed 0 ohms of resistance. Clearly the ground connector is the issue.  Pulling on the wire using pliers, I was able to pull the wire out of the connector.  I found the charred and corroded remains of the wire. I guess the insulation was what was holding the connection together as well as it was.

So, it seems that corrosion slowly turned the connector into a resistor and then the heat and corrosion eventually weakened the wire to the point it would not provide enough power to light the light (I think it was more carbon and corrosion than wire).

If you have stayed with me this far in this story, here are your tips (or my lessons learned) should you run into a similar issue with electrical on your boat. First, always use heat shrink connectors anywhere corrosion may be an issue (is there any place on a boat where corrosion isn't an issue?). The combination of the shrinking and the oozing of the "glue" that seeps out as the result of the shrinking should go far to protect connections from corrosion (you can see the difference in the two types of connectors in the picture above). Next, if it looks corroded on the end, it is probably corroded where you cannot see it and it is worth replacing even if it seems to be connected. And finally, always assume it will take 10x longer to perform a task on a boat than you think it should. I'm sure there's a joke in here about how long it takes for a boater to change a light bulb...and it being 3 days by the time you fix the things found along the way.

I Can't See The Light

The deck light is driving me crazy.  Went up the mast again to do some additional tests.  When the bulb is attached, I wasn't seeing any voltage measured across the bulb or when I tested the positive terminal and grounded the negative to the mast.

Once I removed the bulb from the circuit, I found house battery voltage (13.something with the charger running) when measuring between the positive wire and a ground point on the mast.  When testing continuity between the ground wire and the mast, I found an open circuit.  I verified that the bulb terminals showed continuity, so it should be OK.  It seemed like the ground wire was the culprit and the issue wasn't up on the mast after all.

I was finally able to track down where the ground wire terminated.  I had first thought it was grounded through the mast, but after a bunch of detective work, found 3 possible wires that could be the ground in the cabinet under the mast where the other connections are.  And the connection looked rather corroded.

Hoping the corrosion was the issue, I cleaned up all the connectors and terminals on the terminal block.  I put everything back together using dielectric grease to help combat corrosion.  I tried the light again...and nothing.

Not wanting to climb the mast again...and not knowing what I would do if I got up there...I tried thinking up possible scenarios that I could test from the connections in the cabinet.  I was able to determine one of the green ground wires was the one for working steaming light and assume the other two, which were crimped together in a connector, were for the anchor and deck lights.

Since both the anchor and deck lights are out, I decided to remove the crimped on connector so I could perform some additional tests.  There is, after all, a chance that with both lights out and the common point being that connector that it could be the issue.  After removing the connector I could individually test each circuit.  I checked for continuity between the positive wire for the deck light and the two unidentified green wires.  Both showed open circuits which seems to confirm the bad wire theory.  I also tried with the anchor light and it showed an open circuit regardless of which ground wire I tried (this was not unexpected since I hadn't gone all the way up to check on that light at the top of the mast yet...but I was looking for a miracle bit of evidence at this point).

So, it seems that power is getting up to the bulb, but isn't making it back down to ground.  The connections up on the mast look reasonable, so it seems that it may be a break in the ground wire somewhere in the mast.  I wouldn't guess that this wire would fail though...as it is routed inside a sheath and well secured at all points I could inspect.

I may try replacing the connector up on the mast as a last Hail Mary before I bite the bullet and try pulling new wires through for the light.  Why is nothing on this boat ever easy to fix? Maybe if I sleep on it I'll come up with some obvious problem I have missed.

Let There Be Light

One of the problems I've had with the lights in the main salon is that they are often intermittent.  You would turn on the switch and see which lights would come on.  In a circuit of 3, usually one or two would fail to light.  Sometimes tapping on it would make it light up and sometimes not.  When you are talking about 12 volt, 10 watt bulbs, losing even one turns a dimly lit salon into an almost unlit salon.

When I tried to remove one of the bulbs, the end fell off. Well, I guess that might explain why it wasn't working.  Swapped in a working bulb and that resolved the problem.  The next fixture was more of a puzzle.  The bulb looked OK and I tested it with an ohm meter and it said it was OK.  I checked the socket and it read 12v (ok, actually 13.6 since the battery charger was on).  Yet when I replaced the bulb, no light.  Remove the bulb and double check the continuity of the bulb and the voltage and it all seems OK.  Hmmm.

I decide to remove the fixture from the ceiling and what I find is rather interesting.  The bulb holder socket was pop-riveted to a spade lug and the wire is attached to that.  The rivet has loosened and the spade lug just spins around it.  That would explain why I could read voltage but there wasn't enough amperage to light the bulb.  My guess is that the heat of the bulb slowly causes the plastic to shrink or deform and that results in the loose connection.  Guess the designer didn't think that old incandescent bulbs generate heat.

I try using some pliers to tighten the rivet but it doesn't really help. I end up soldering the rivet to the spade to make a better connection. That does the trick.  I repeat this procedure with the 5 other lights that are causing the issue and now all the lights work when I turn them on.

While I had the soldering iron out, I decided to give another project a try.  The LED replacement bulbs that fit these fixtures can be ordered for about $15 (US) plus shipping or can be found for about $45 each at the local West Marine.  The problem is that I wanted to see if LED's would improve lighting a bit before I go buy a bunch of them or even replacement LED fixtures.  As it happens, I have the core of a decorative LED house bulb that failed due to a power supply issue.  The core had 4 strips of 4 LEDs and I had previously determined each strip operated at 12 volts.  So, I removed one of the strips from the core and soldiered it to one of the broken bulbs.

Viola, a home-made festoon LED bulb.  The bulbs seem to produce about 30% more light and now that I know how to fix the existing fixtures I think I will keep the existing fixtures and spring for the LED bulbs.