NASA masthead tricolour

oldbilbo

oldbilbo

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Seems to be around £55.

Uncertain about fitting issues. Should I splash out on one - or save the mullah, anchor-up early, and convert into used beer tokens?;)
 
oldbilbo said:
Seems to be around £55.

Uncertain about fitting issues. Should I splash out on one - or save the mullah, anchor-up early, and convert into used beer tokens?;)
Click to expand...

If you dont sail at night you dont need one.

The main reason to fit a tricolour was to conserve battery power. Now that the side lights and stern light can be converted to LEDs this reason is no longer valid.

There are arguments for and arguments against having a single light at the masthead.

I already had one with an ordinary bulb ... I converted it to LED but if I did not already have it i would not bother with fitting one, just go down the LED sidelight/sternlight route
 
I've got one that's been subjected to my kitchen-table-drilling-and-fixing treatment, and has an anchor light piggy-backed to it. I think they do a combined one but I couldn't be bothered to incorporate a rotary switch in my set-up to accommodate their reverse polarity switching methodology.

I think they're good value, but my last set didn't last very long. When I dissected the dead one I discovered that this was because I'm not very good at gluing...
 

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The main reason for fitting a masthead tricolour is improved visibility as small port, starboard, stern lights are very low down on a small yacht and may be obscured by relatively small seas. I only have an all round white at the masthead as Cobblers is less than 7m.
 
Mine spent some days underwater being dragged along the bottom. It stopped working. I dismantled it, tested it and found two dead LEDs. NASA sent me new LEDs and a clear dome very reasonably and I soldered them in and sprayed the circuit with a light coat of silicon grease and its back working now. I think my repair costs were well under £10.

Tim
 
On a dark night I find that I can't see around very well because of reflections off the water etc from my deck level lights, and the tricolour allows me to see round. Is this a common problem, or a problem with my lights?
 
The NASA tricolour had a history of unreliability initially, the design and/or components has now been revised, successfully I understand. The light itself is quite effective when lit with good visibility, it's quite light and streamlined too. I can't say I like the stalk style mounting and bracket which didn't suit my mast head arrangements at all, it might be easier with other masts.
 
ibbo said:
On a dark night I find that I can't see around very well because of reflections off the water etc from my deck level lights, and the tricolour allows me to see round. Is this a common problem, or a problem with my lights?
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I once delivered a 65 foot boat with bow green and red lights.

Steep waves.

The reflection from the waves was a pain in the a.... (pita).

The moon and starlight was all I needed to see the waves and sails.

Could be just me too.
 
ghostlymoron said:
The main reason for fitting a masthead tricolour is improved visibility as small port, starboard, stern lights are very low down on a small yacht and may be obscured by relatively small seas.
Click to expand...

+1

awol said:
My . . . .tricolour illuminates the windex nicely while the bicolour reflects off the pulpit, waves, spray, seagulls and anything else it can find except pot markers!
Click to expand...

+1 (or is that 2?)
 
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