Clever clamps made of rubber hose
Attached to the “hose clamp” with just one fastener, the light can be rotated to vertical no matter where it’s placed.
Issue 101 : Mar/Apr 2015
I like my boat to be visible in a dark anchorage, but I prefer to use cockpit and deck lighting that doesn’t use precious stored energy. Solar-powered pathway lights, commonly found in hardware stores, are ideal for this purpose but are difficult to attach to pulpits and stanchions. After trying several attachment methods without success — the lights were either wobbly and insecure or difficult to remove for storage — I discovered that white, 1-inch (ID) Trident sanitation hose (available from most marine chandlers) makes an ideal clamp.
My favorite lights are Solar Metal Path Lights from Ace Hardware. They have a stainless-steel stem, stay lit all night, and can be attached to the hose with a rivet.
To make a clamp out of rubber hose (a hose clamp?), cut a 3⁄4-inch-wide longitudinal section from the side of a 3- to 4-inch length of the hose, then drill a hole for an aluminum pop rivet in the middle of the hose opposite the cutout. Drill another hole in the stem of the solar light where the clamp should be attached. (Place a wooden dowel inside the tube while drilling to prevent it from collapsing.)
Once the hose and solar-light stem are riveted together, the hose is tight against the tube but can be swiveled to orient the solar light to a vertical position regardless of the angle of the rail. If desired, the spike used for sticking the light in the ground can be stored inside the tube so the light can also be used ashore.
If the light has a plastic stem, fit a wooden dowel inside the stem and secure the hose through the stem and into the dowel with a screw and washer (this may interfere with storing the ground spike inside the tube).
This mounting system is easy to use. The rubberized hose does not slip on the stainless-steel rails and stanchions, and the lights can be easily moved to locations where they are most useful or removed for storage.
Trident sanitation hose is available for approximately $3 a foot. Ace Hardware has solar landscape lights of several types at prices between $3 and $6.
Jim Shell has been sailing and restoring good old boats since 1981 — a Venture 17, Catalina 22, Coronado 25, Cal 29, and his current Pearson 365 ketch, Phantom. He and his wife, Barbara, enjoy cruising the Texas Gulf Coast between Port Arthur and Corpus Christi.
Thank you to Sailrite Enterprises, Inc., for providing free access to back issues of Good Old Boat through intellectual property rights. Sailrite.com
