Aqua Signal change to LED

[Doug Oliver]

I am about to crank my wife up the mast in the bosun's chair to change the anchor light to an LED. I have the Aqua Signal series 40 tri-color, anchor and strobe combination unit. Can anyone tell me (so I can tell her) if any tools are required to access the anchor light bulb or how the unit opens? Thanks.

[Russell]

I beleive this unit is just a twist off/snap on type of setup. But depending on the mounting bracket, you may need to remove it from the bracket to get to the bulbs. A couple sizes of phillips head screw drivers and a can of PB blaster should be all that is nessisary, but throw in a pair of vice grips and a flat head (if prying is needed) for good measure. Pre tie lanyards to all tools! You dont want them dropping on your head when she is up there. Its a good idea as well to have another halyard free with a cloth bucket just in case she needs something else, if no halyard is free send her up with a spare piece of line long enough to drop down to you so she can pull things up.

[Doug Oliver]

Thanks Russell. That's all good advice. We'll give it a try this weekend.

[Klem]

Doug,

The only thing that I would add is that I usually send the person up with a bucket on a long piece of line so that they can put whatever needs to be worked on in the bucket and lower it down and the person on deck can do the work (changing the bulb in this case). Obviously, not everything can be removed easily and some things take long enough that you don't want the person waiting in the chair up there.

Out of curiosity, what are you putting in for a new bulb? We have the same light and I have on my non-critical to do list to switch to LED for the anchor light.