Home   |   The Boat   |   First Mate   |   Admiral   |   Guestbook 

Date: 21 January 2015. Anchor Light for Dinghy.

© janice142
 

Algae generally rides behind Seaweed. Back when I was anchored in Saul Creek I chose a spot with just ten feet of water. Surrounding waters were 30-plus feet deep. Because I was in the crook of a river, hunters rounding the bend could have accidentally hit Algae, or even Seaweed in the dead of night. Thus I needed to make the dinghy visible.
 

I anchored at the arrow.

GPS coordinates at anchor down: N 29 47.427  W85 02.947

 

Side Note: This spot is excellent however if you proceed further up that fork (heading north versus on the Saul Creek Cutoff) I would not advise anchoring parallel and close to the river bank. The problem is that trees fall and sink. I saw a Chris Craft spend over an hour fighting to retrieve his anchor. (He was successful.)
 

Secondary Note: The tributary flows south so one anchor is sufficient. Your boat will not swing.


Nights were simply spectacular. Because of the plethora of stars I chose to stay longer than initially intended. It was too beautiful to leave.
 

However Saul Creek presented a problem that I have only recently solved on a more permanent basis. While there I used my portable Davis Anchor Light, hanging it from the davit. I kept the dinghy snugged up right under the light. That worked but it simply was not tidy.
 

A while back I wrote an article about Saul Creek called Silence Reigns (Saul Creek).
 

With winter upon Skipper and I some of those little chores that get put off for a rainy day come to the forefront. Algae needed an anchor light. Also, the same light could double as a running light were I actually out late.
 

Almost always I return home well before darkness falls. I feel safer being inboard at night rather than climbing up from the dinghy. Some day I will have a *tuna door in the transom to make it easier and safer for me to get inside.
 

*Tuna door: A tuna door is an opening in the transom originally designed so fishermen can easily drag aboard large fish. Mostly though they are used to make boarding the boat easier for humans and large dogs. I want one. This is on my Wish List.
 

 

Algae hangs behind my Seaweed and the dink needed a light. Buying a new one from a marine hardware store was not going to happen so I improvised. On hand I had some leftover speaker wire. [insert roar]
 

The sound you're hearing are thousands of sailors rolling over in their graves. Speaker wire is absolutely not ideal (nor recommended!) for boats. The use I am making of it, in a dinghy is "adequate" at best. At some point soon I will have some decent wire and replace it. In the meantime, I am temporarily making do with what is at hand.
 

DO NOT under any circumstances use speaker wire inside your home. It is not designed for that usage and the wire will overheat. That could possibly burn your boat to the waterline. It is NOT SAFE.

 


That said, I knew the wire would regardless of marine grade or not, become damaged in the sunlight. Therefore I went scrounging. Found in a junk pile behind an abandoned building was a piece of an old hose.
 

I fed the wire through the hose. This was a bit trying as the hose is approximately 10' long. Therefore I laid out the hose on an incline and jiggled it until the wire came out the other end.

 

Any wire left in sunlight will deteriorate. Always protect it.

 


In my ship's stores I still had one socket and a few low wattage LED bulbs. This particular one uses just .01 amp hours. Basically that means I can leave it on 24-hours a day for four days and use just one amp. I can leave it on and not be concerned about killing a battery.
 

 


From my stash of plumbing stuff, I had a hose fitting with a barbed to regular end. Also, a while back Sparrow had gifted me with some spare goodies from a life-raft that was out-of-date. Included was a light. Although the real light did not work (corroded too far to be repaired) the plastic cover would protect my LED and be watertight.

 
 


Although  not fancy by any means the light is functional. It is bright enough to clearly illuminate the dinghy at night. In the meantime I am keeping my eyes open for 10' of marine wire in 16 gauge. At this point there is no switch. I am not certain a switch will ever be added.
 

Winter projects aboard Seaweed tend toward the simple things using items I already have aboard. This one falls barely into the "good enough" category, at least until I can find the better wire. Stay warm y'all!
 

Do you have any plans for winter projects?
And, what are you making for your boat this season?
 

Regarding the Comments Section, found at the end of every article:

  • Before you type in each block be sure to hit the backspace key. Coding inserts a space in every box. Your email address will come back as malformed unless you remove that space. (You don't have to include your email address.)

  • The capcha is case sensitive.


COMMENTS:
 

© 2015, 2018, 2020, 2023

Categories: Anchorages, Boat Talk, Boats, Fishing, Gear, Locations, Pets, Security

5 Pounds of Shrimp (how to find discount diesel) ~ Previous Post ...   
 ...
Next Post ~ Fred and Ruby


First Mate's Gallery now open ~ Crew photos welcome via Email.

Archive

The Archive holds a running list with synopsis of published articles, and links to same.

A favorite aphorism:  Before you take on some big job, full of confidence because you did it before, just remember that you were younger when you did it before. Thomas Sowell.

Contributions to my Cruising Kitty via
 
are always appreciated.

Every gift helps.

The Cruising Kitty is what boaters refer to as spending money. There's never enough aboard Seaweed!


I am also an Amazon Affiliate.


My Buddy, and his girlfriend...

Copyright © Janice Marois  |  Home  |  Archive  |  Topics  |  Boat List  |  Site Map  |  Email Me  |