Masthead Complete
25 July 2012 | Port Townsend, WA
Jon
Here is a picture showing the mast just before re-stepping in July 2010. New goodies at the top include: Dwyer masthead fitting (headbox); Optolamp Amazonia LED tricolor/anchor/strobe light; Garmin GWS 10 wind sensor (directed forward); VHF antenna, and Windex (positioned aft). Also there but not visible are new halyard sheaves, custom made of course, for my ancient one-off pole (mast, that is). The masthead light is made in Brazil and is not very common, but it was much cheaper than other LED alternatives and seems really well made. I hope the boatyard's rigger filled the base with caulk as is specified in the instructions which I doubt he read, since he was so quick to call it faulty because he was unable or unaware of the switching requirements. If they did not caulk it, the base, containing the wiring connections will fill up with water and eventually cause the unit to fail. So far, after two years it is still working, so maybe they did their job after all. Granted, I should have checked it myself before stepping the mast.