In article , tdw wrote:

It might be a tad hard to rewire. Depending on age of boat, but presuming
she is a few years old and plastic then the wiring may well be embedded in
the fibreglass which makes rewiring a bit hard. I reckon it's a connection
issue. Nav lights are so damn simple that about the only things that can
stop them completely are blown lamps (bulbs , light globes , call 'em what
you will) and bad connections. If you have dirty connections in the light
itself then while replacing them will solve your problem a good clean,
freshly stripped ends, maybe even a bit of solder on the tips will do just
as well for a lot less money. On the other hand if the bad connection is at
the board or in a junction box then nothing will be solved by new lights. In
the light itself the bad connection may even be a corroded terminal in the
lampholder itself.
Cheers
Andrew
"Harlan Lachman" wrote in message
...
In article , tdw wrote:

Quick question first - are we talking masthead lights , i.e port
,starboard
and all round in one unit up top ?

That might be a better solution. But no! I have deck lites for port and
starboard and about a third the way up the mast a white steaming light.

I have a white light hanging on the rail on the stern.

No anchor lite but a switch on the panel.

If so I'd reckon there are a couple of obvious areas to be looked at.
First
up you should check the size of the wiring up the mast. If it is
undersized
you will have severe voltage drop problems and this will contribute to
the
lack of reliability.

Secondly check all the terminals. It's quite possible
that connections are badly corroded and only occasionally making a
contact
of any sort. You should have a connection box somewhere near the mast
step.
If you rig up a test lamp and connect it to each connection in turn you
will
at least know whether the problem is at deck level or up top. If it is
the
connectors replace them with all brass units. Be careful cos amazingly
enough some brass connectors come with mild steel screws which of course
is
a recipe for disaster.
Regards
tdw

These are all good suggestions.

Maybe I should fix what I got but I was wondering if there was a
replacement strategy which was sure to work.

harlan

--
To respond, obviously drop the "nospan"?

Thank you Andrew. I like the solder idea.

Someone else thought I could replace just the bulbs with LEDs. Any
thoughts about this?

--
To respond, obviously drop the "nospan"?