Motoring with the sail down

[rjhewitt]

I'm a newbie with a Macgregor 26X and planning a trip south next month that will require extensive motoring and anchoring with the mast down. Obviously the all round mast light and radio will be unhooked. What are the best options for an anchor light and antenna? Should I get extension leads or buy new light and antenna or what. Any good suggestions appreciated.

Tks.

[mastreb]

Shakespeare pole:

http://www.westmarine.com/webapp/wcs/st ... sNum=50189

On a stanchion mount:

http://www.westmarine.com/webapp/wcs/st ... sNum=50189

Comes off and goes on easily wherever you want.

[bscott]

Except for long distances a handheld VHF radio would work.

Bob

[Tomfoolery]

I use a hand-held almost exclusively, but I do have a full output marine VHF connected to the whip at the top of the mast. With the mast down or off the boat altogether, I have an emergency antenna my FIL recently gave me that comes with a long-ish cord and plugs into the back of the fixed radio. It stores in the plastic tube it came in, and is self-contained. Shakespeare 5911 Classic Stowaway Emergency Antenna. That's just in case the hand-held either doesn't work, doesn't have the range (6W, I think), or goes overboard.



If you're planning on spending a lot of time without the mast, you might want to put a permanent antenna on the stern rail and run another cable to the radio so you'll have the higher gain of the longer antenna.

[Russ]

You could build a motoring mast like Duane did. Mount an antenna on it.

http://www.macgregorsailors.com/modt/index.php?view=830

[Catigale]

Without the mast, you become a power boat, of course, and follow lighting regs for power boats of 26 foot length - applicable to your area, of course.

[sunshinecoasting]

I dont know about the USA but here in Australia, mast up or not, if your motor is running you are a motor boat, even with sails up, motor running = motor boat and applicable laws prevail, give way to sail etc.

[Tomfoolery]

I dont know about the USA but here in Australia, mast up or not, if your motor is running you are a motor boat, even with sails up, motor running = motor boat and applicable laws prevail, give way to sail etc.

Same here, and with engine running (if after sunset), you have to use a masthead (steaming) light in addition to red and green sidelights and white stern light.

But with no mast, you have no masthead (steaming) light, so you have to add one, as you can see in the photo above with the mini-mast. In the case of my boat, I had a socket in the stern gunwale on the starboard side, sold for use with an all-round white nav light on a pole, normally seen on small power boats. When I replaced my electric panel, I put the original white stern light on one of the switches, so I can use the all-round white for the masthead and stern function, and the red/green side lights, same as most small power boats. The all-round white can also serve as an anchor light (2 nm intensity). And it doubles on sax, er, I mean it doubles as a flag staff with the shorter light that came with the boat, and using a different lens, also lights the cockpit. But I digress.

With the mast up, the 'regular' nave lights are used.

[bartmac]

Doesn't show it well but in the middle of our arch is a clear anchor light which pivots thru 180 deg....with the mast up we can pivot it up and down with the mast down...have fitted a multi led nice and bright and low draw.
Picture shows with the light pivoted up...the shaft is long enough to clear the frame both up & down
http://www.macgregorsailors.com/modt/fu ... 2f4921.jpg

[WASP18]

I used a three foot plastic fence post I bought as a remnant (scrap) from a local fence contractor. I purchased two all-around LED lights from West Marine. I then mounted one of the all-around battery operated LED lights on top of the post for 36o degree coverage (anchor light) and the other light on the front of the fence post for a steaming light. It's not streamlined, but it almost looks like a weapons targeting system.

[seahouse]

I used a three foot plastic fence post I bought as a remnant (scrap) from a local fence contractor. I purchased two all-around LED lights from West Marine. I then mounted one of the all-around battery operated LED lights on top of the post for 36o degree coverage (anchor light) and the other light on the front of the fence post for a steaming light. It's not streamlined, but it almost looks like a weapons targeting system.

Picture?

Oh never mind.

Maybe the drone circling around it overhead will have a picture of it.

[rjhewitt]

Thanks everyone for your advice. Do have three hand held radios so while we have the mast down think that will be the way to go. We will be river motoring (Chicago to Mobile) so think that should be O.K. As for the lights you have given me food for thought and will work on that over the next couple of weeks.

Thanks again.

[Tomfoolery]

As for the lights you have given me food for thought and will work on that over the next couple of weeks.

The cheapest way to make yourself legal, at least as far as I've come up with when figuring out how to make mine legal with the mast down, would be to buy another masthead light (usually just called the steaming light, but technically called the 'masthead light') and either mount it to the mast with a bungie cord or two and some mount to adapt it to the mast shape, or to a short 'mast' as already discussed and pictured above (sharp looking, that's for sure), and plug it into the deck connection used for the mast.

I only used this pole light (in trawler mode) because I already had a socket for it. If starting from scratch, I'd have used a standard 225 deg. masthead light and wired it to a cigarette lighter plug on a long cord, since I have many of those sockets (and spare plugs, for that matter). Until I got the Perko pole light, I was using a Davis Megalight on an adapter strapped to the mast with a bit of PVC pipe to limit its sweep to 225 degrees (not exactly 'USCG Approved'), but without the mast on the boat at all, I needed something different.





My last boat had one of these, dual-bulb units at the top of the mast. It was a legal masthead (225 deg., 2 mile) and anchor (all-round, 2 mile) light. If mounting a light to a short mast, this might be the most useful, as you get both steaming and anchor (by switching on the rear bulb in addition to the front). You could even put a diode on the rear bulb, and reverse polarity at the cabin switch to light both bulbs, keeping the wiring simple. I see most of the rental boats/barges on the Erie Canal use these.

[paul I]

If the mast is down and you attached a patch cord from the mast base to the deck connection, couldn't a top of the mast 360 degree anchor light also serve as a steaming light? I'm asking, not stating.

[RobertB]

If the mast is down and you attached a patch cord from the mast base to the deck connection, couldn't a top of the mast 360 degree anchor light also serve as a steaming light? I'm asking, not stating.

The top of the mast anchor light would illuminate rearward - the same as the light mounted on the stern. Not sure what using the anchor light would add.