Nav/Anchor Arch Light

Ezsteps

Well-Known Member
Nov 14, 2015
1,336
Lake St. Clair-- Michigan (MacRay Harbor)
Boat Info
1999 400 Sundancer, YL310 Zodiac, MX 335 Novurania
Engines
7.4 Mercuisers Horizons 380 hp ea., 9.9 hp Mercury, 30 Yamaha
Does anyone know of a good source to get an aftermarket light that mounts solid to the arch. Needs to have an offset for the open array. The factory one is wore out and I'm tired of tapping it straight every 3 minutes with my dock pole. My OCD won't hardly let me ignore it. As soon as I get it out of my mind someone walks by and says "Hey your light is loose and leaning" "Your lights crooked" "You need to straighten your light". Me: Grabbing my dock pole says "Thanks Alot, I appreciate it." TIA Joe
 
I have the same problem! Drives me crazy and my dock neighbors love to point it out. I was thinking about putting in a pin straight up and down to keep it centered. Might be easier than buying a new "arm". I also have the open array so need an offset. :)
 
What's worn out? I removed mine 6 years ago, so I don't remember it exactly, but I thought the pole just slide into a angled stainless bracket on the trailing edge of the arch. I thought the bracket had two set screws...
 
Is it fixable? Can you post a few pics of it?
 
What's worn out?
The angle bracket that is mounted to the arch had a groove on the inside of it. The pole has a rivet in it that lines up and slides into the groove. The problem at least with mine is that the rivet or the groove begins to wear out quickly and is no longer a tight fit.
 
hmm, sounds different than mine. Could you tap some holes for set screws in the bracket?

Mine lives on btw! Here it is holding a flag after my buddy fabricated his own mount for it.

y4murZI2_X1DQcnCiMauSvr3J_CLh3caYZUNcEPDyZQDcncV4PDX_UABAYacqaz1hDsIa8QwrZrTJARLApO5wWGIi0O50b8S36OBwXMD9cIPZ4h04x93I6X1MFTyAlA7DZEWj9CbEVUUI8PxFhsF4Y5IpkHnKLkO_KHt9DNBtAV_GashjhWFFEs8Xn-KlkIrL2s
 
Is that Scott's boat next to you? Do you know what's going to happen to it?
No it's Bob's (Stormy Monday). Not sure if it was here when you were. I think he got it in 16'. I haven't heard anything about Scott's. Don't know if it's still here or not. I took the dinghy out Sunday and went down past the garages but didn't notice it.
 
Does anyone know of a good source to get an aftermarket light that mounts solid to the arch. Needs to have an offset for the open array. The factory one is wore out and I'm tired of tapping it straight every 3 minutes with my dock pole. My OCD won't hardly let me ignore it. As soon as I get it out of my mind someone walks by and says "Hey your light is loose and leaning" "Your lights crooked" "You need to straighten your light". Me: Grabbing my dock pole says "Thanks Alot, I appreciate it." TIA Joe
Joe, I’m tired of looking at it to be honest. Maybe your boat is too fast for the light..
 
Joe, I’m tired of looking at it to be honest. Maybe your boat is too fast for the light..
Oh I was waiting for your response.:D:D:D I almost didn't start this thread because I knew you would have a comment.:D:D:D
 
Oh, it's leaning to the side... I was originally thinking it was leaning aft. With how tall the light is, there's a lot of leverage on that "weak point" holding it straight. OK, "if" you're up to trying a fix, then my thoughts run the same as the 'thrill seeker' mentioned above. Get it straight, then drill a couple pilot holes along whatever is left of the length of the horizontal section that you can use and put a couple screws into it. If you can, through bolting is another option - all the way through the tube. Watch out for the wires, of course.

Also... from the picture, it looks as though you could cut the pole down to be shorter? That would help, too (less leverage).

There's a good chance that the light was custom made which could make it difficult to find an exact replacement. And I don't think we can look to the newer Sea Ray boats - between the more compact radars and the wider arches/hardtops, they have more room. But it wouldn't be hard to find someone in the area that can bend tubing - that part would be easy enough. The question remains of making the base more secure.

Maybe look around the marina at some other brands (relatively newer models) and see if they have something that would work for you.

There are adjustable mounts (adjustable from vertical to horizontal). These are typically referred to as "fold down" bases - you would essentially just keep it in the folded down arrangment. But fitment of the pole into the socket is still the key to keep it from rotating. I've seen these with metal bases, but this is an example in plastic: https://www.perko.com/catalog/categ...ights-combination_all_round_masthead-folding/

https://www.perko.com/catalog/navig...24/vertical_mount_heavy_duty_pole_light_base/ If you can find this locally, see how securely the pole fits in (in regards to keeping the pole from rotating). This is meant for a vertical application, but it's a beefier unit.

In the end, it might be worthwhile to just revist what you have.. cut the pole down height-wise... and, if possible, cut a few inches off the part that inserts (if needed) to get to "fresh" metal. Although, I do think, in time, the same thing is going to happen. But if it can work for 15+ years, maybe it's worth a shot?
 
I had the same problem with my light. I rebuilt the aluminum pole with minimal success last year.

Since I was replacing the radar, I bucked up and added a Sea View radar mount with the Attwood LED all around light.

Once I removed the old pole mount, I found the core in the arch had rotted out, so not only did I have the pole rotating side to side, but it was bouncing up and down as we ran. Not really working at all.

Once I got this all fixed and installed, it’s solid as can be, works 100% of the time and looks great. I also redid the nav lights with LED lights with a tell tale on top, so I can see the lights are actually on from the helm.

It was worth it to know I have working nav lights, because if the are not working you are sure to get boarded at the most inopportune time. A great secondary benefit is all my nav/anchor lights are LED, so power draw at night is minimal.
 
Last edited:
I had the same problem with my light. I rebuilt the aluminum pole with minimal success last year.

Since I was replacing the radar, I bucked up and added a Sea View radar mount with the Attwood LED all around light.

Once I removed the old pole mount, I found the core in the arch had rotted out, so not only did I have the pole rotating side to side, but it was bouncing up and down as we ran. Not really working at all.

Once I got this all fixed and installed, it’s solid as can be, works 100% of the time and looks great. I also redid the nav lights with LED lights with a tell tale on top, so I can see the lights are actually on from the helm.

It was worth it to know I have working nav lights, because if the are not working you are sure to get boarded at the most inopportune time. A great secondary benefit is all my nav/anchor lights are LED, so power draw at night is minimal.
Wish I would have done the same thing last year when I replaced all my electronics. I did change all the lights out for the LED's a couple years ago. The lights on the SeaView site are kinda what I'm looking for but they all attach to the mounts. I was hoping to find one similar that would attach to the arch. My arch seems to be solid so I don't think I have a rotting problem. Thanks for the info.
 
Oh, it's leaning to the side... I was originally thinking it was leaning aft. With how tall the light is, there's a lot of leverage on that "weak point" holding it straight. OK, "if" you're up to trying a fix, then my thoughts run the same as the 'thrill seeker' mentioned above. Get it straight, then drill a couple pilot holes along whatever is left of the length of the horizontal section that you can use and put a couple screws into it. If you can, through bolting is another option - all the way through the tube. Watch out for the wires, of course.

Also... from the picture, it looks as though you could cut the pole down to be shorter? That would help, too (less leverage).

There's a good chance that the light was custom made which could make it difficult to find an exact replacement. And I don't think we can look to the newer Sea Ray boats - between the more compact radars and the wider arches/hardtops, they have more room. But it wouldn't be hard to find someone in the area that can bend tubing - that part would be easy enough. The question remains of making the base more secure.

Maybe look around the marina at some other brands (relatively newer models) and see if they have something that would work for you.

There are adjustable mounts (adjustable from vertical to horizontal). These are typically referred to as "fold down" bases - you would essentially just keep it in the folded down arrangment. But fitment of the pole into the socket is still the key to keep it from rotating. I've seen these with metal bases, but this is an example in plastic: https://www.perko.com/catalog/categ...ights-combination_all_round_masthead-folding/

https://www.perko.com/catalog/navig...24/vertical_mount_heavy_duty_pole_light_base/ If you can find this locally, see how securely the pole fits in (in regards to keeping the pole from rotating). This is meant for a vertical application, but it's a beefier unit.

In the end, it might be worthwhile to just revist what you have.. cut the pole down height-wise... and, if possible, cut a few inches off the part that inserts (if needed) to get to "fresh" metal. Although, I do think, in time, the same thing is going to happen. But if it can work for 15+ years, maybe it's worth a shot?

I should mention that the end of the pole that plugs into the mount on the arch has a female plug in it and the mount has a male plug in it. I'll have to check and see if there is enough room to drill a hole through the mount and the pole and still miss the female plug. Thanks for the ideas
 

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