Bow and Stern Navigation Light Replacement

Over the years the UV of the sunlight had taken a toll on the lenses. The outsides were heavily crazed. The rest of the fixture looked fine (from the outside) so I special ordered only replacement lenses. I was surprised to find that the entire fixture was only a few dollars more than the lens replacement.

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The Aqua Signal Classic 25 series is easy to replace. The stern light lens came right off after the bottom and top retaining screw head bolts were removed. It was a simple task to remove and insert the new lens. The bow fixture was a different matter. I’d replaced that bulb many years ago, so it had been apart. I was surprised how difficult it was to turn the upper bolt. Then the bolt turned, but didn’t back out. After removing the entire fixture I found the problem. That upper brass bolt had corroded itself to the captive brass nut and then broke in half. So it was back to the chandlery for a complete bow light assembly as I didn’t have an extra 2 ¼ inch #4 NF bolt onboard!!

Over the years, especially the bow fixture was exposed to salt water and those nuts and bolts had corroded. During installation of the new fixture and wire I coated all of the nuts and bolts with a waterproof grease (or lanacoat) to cut down corrosion.

My advice to someone taking on this task - is to take the fixture apart first, so you know if it’ll come apart in one piece. Even if you’ve had that fixture apart, but didn’t coat the threads with a preservative, don’t count on it coming apart properly. I also noted that although the bulb is a festoon type it’s slightly different. This fixture needs a special festoon bulb with end “dimples” - not end points like most festoon bulbs!

Ron Hill, Apache #788