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