Bob, You've hit on one of my personal concerns and pet peeves . Any light at the top of a mast, while Inshore/Inland, is questionable at best. Lights getting "lost" in background light clutter is a real problem.. IF.. one is thinking about visibility and safety.
IMHO, a mast top light came about because folks didn't like the " Look " of a hanging light and the bother of having to set up a light in the shrouds each anchoring. the Stick was there and it seemed like a good idea. More a Cosmetic issue than a practical one. And now, such installations are made even more difficult to see because of the use of the Bluish light from so called "white" LEDs The use of LED's with a Kelvin of around 5000 will have the same color as ..Stars and those darned Mercury Vapor lamps in security and home yard lights.. Not MY idea of making one's self .. Visible in a waterway. I like the idea of hanging a lamp below the Spreaders of a C27/270. And I'm not worried about where because.... By International/Inland Rules (Annex I, 9 (b) )... An anchor light may be placed anywhere practical and it can be obscured by as much as 6 degrees.. So placing an anchor light where it would be most visible .(given the surroundings) is what I think a prudent sailor should do. BTW, There are LED'S available that are called "Warm White" with a Kelvin of around 3000. They would be the only LED'S that I'd use. You make an Excellent point, Ralph Ahseln "Oblio" Gresham OR ----- Original Message ----- From: Bob To: [email protected] Sent: Sunday, May 24, 2009 8:45 AM Subject: [IC27A] Re: Mast Light Mark, In my opinion, the tri-color light is best used far out to sea. Near shore, I have seen these lights get lost in the backgound lights on shore. Also in my opinion, these lights are almost useless at close quarters since other operators need to look up so high just to see them. Bob Stockley Sundance #2436 --- In [email protected], "sailmark4" <sail_master...@...> wrote: > > While I had my mast down I thought I would upgrade to the SS spreader sockets and do some wiring maintenance and etc. Turns out the wiring at the base was shot, too many old, botched repairs. So I'm re-wiring. Question: I only have one light on the mast, it's the original steaming light or what ever on the forward side about halfway up, what is the most common upgrade? All,around white light at the mast top? Tri-color? > > Mark > Solution 4289 >
