wrote in message
...
On Mar 27, 12:48 am, wrote:
... Or, if remembering to turn them on or off is a problem, you could
simply get in
the habit of turning on the NAV lights when you get underway as part of
the same
ritual when you get other things ready, and turn them off when you return
and
put things away. ...

Many commercial operators do this. On a sailboat going between power
and sail might be an issue. If using conventional lights then the
steaming light (masthead) could be turned on by the ignition. If
using a tri-color then you'd need some way of switching between it and
the under-power lights.

-- Tom.


I don't have tri-color lights.

I was thinking, inspiried by Salty among others, of an even more simple
approach....

Currently, as I probably mentioned, I have the regular nav lights - one
bowlight that does double duty via a red/green lens, a stern light, a
steaming light. I don't know how much amps they draw but I'm seriously
considering (have been for a while) converting these to LEDs. I'm also
considering adding a fly light for the windex at night. There's a spare wire
that's already there I believe, but I haven't confirmed this.

My current thought is to not bother about the nav/stern/fly system, since
it's never a rush getting those on. The only issue would be switching the
masthead light on when the engine goes on (which might be a rush situation).
So, if I limit my upgrade to just doing that, then I just need to figure out
a way to get that one light on at the appropriate moment. I could probably
rig something off the ignition key switch as previously discussed), but I
was thinking another way to do it would be to just have one on/off switch
for the masthead (currently on the panel) but relocate that switch near the
key, instead of at the panel.

Why would I need to run the masthead light from below without the engine
being on... I can't think of a reason.

I'm really trying hard to make this as simple as possible.

--
"j" ganz @@
www.sailnow.com