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I am finally putting the boat back together (1979 22ft Revenge) in between rain drops. I am running new wire for the navigation lights. I picked up a set of starboard and port LED lights made by Hella Marine. I originally was just going to swap the entire fixture but realized the the entire Hella LED assembly fits inside the original Wilcox-Crittenden fixture (minus the lens). The Hella fixture does not need the Wilcox lens. Has anyone done this conversion? Does the heat from the LED require me to band sawi some vents into the Wilcox fixture? Would love some feedback before I tear into an old fixture. Thanks.
gchuba

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LEDs generate far less heat than incandescent light bulbs. You should be able to keep things watertight without any vent holes drilled into the fixture.

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Thanks for information. I would hate to have to modify factory original hardware that is tough to come by. Aside from removing the bulb, colored lens, and bulb socket, it looks like the rest of the fixture would be intact.
gchuba

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Hey gchuba, did you complete this modification?

I had one of the lenses pop out of my Wilcox bow lights and have been having a difficult time locating a replacement assembly. I would be interested in making a similar modification to my 1985 Revenge.

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Flippa,
Yes and no. The lights are installed but the boat has still not seen the water because of other work. The batteries have been out for months and I have not tested them yet. I will by the weekend, you got my gander up. The mounting of the lights went far more smoothly than I thought. The Helix LED assembly fit nicely inside the factory original assembly. There are no lenses involved with the lights. It is a colored "beacon". The only modification was some minor grinding in the "trumpet" shaped base piece. It had to accept a "peg" from the bottom of new fixture. The screw that came for mounting the fixture misses a "bite" into the base piece but the height of the original aluminum cover appears to be factory made for holding the assembly in place (dumb luck). It leaves the fixture so well intact that you can use these and still go back to Whaler original. All I did was drive the socket assembly, without much effort, out of the base for access.

I will get part numbers by the weekend (having trouble finding the exact light on internet, I purchased from a local marine supplier) and if you can accept cell phone pictures I can send you some photos. Feel free to contact me on my email (in my profile)if you do not want to place your number here.

Garris

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Any recomendations on where to find the old lights? My nav lights were replaced with low quality off the shelf Perko lights at some point.

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I found out that old lights are no longer manufactured, are quite difficult to find and expensive if/when you do. My internet searching found that the light assemblies come up for sale occasionally on Ebay or here in the classifieds.

I had the red plastic lens pop off of my port light, and they are the early style like yours. I didn't realize that they were different from the newer style ones that Specialty Marine carries, which I found out last weekend just hours before launching Friday night to go camping for the weekend.

I took the cover off and mounted/duct-taped a red LED light I had bought for the bike trailer that I drag my kid's around in. It was a good enough repair to work for the weekend, and I was impressed with how much brighter the LED light is over the original one. I am thrilled that there is an LED unit that will fit within the Wilcox-Crittenden cover so it still looks correct.

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flippa,
Bad news. The Hella Marine lights that I purchased are no longer being made. I contacted Hella directly. I also contacted the shop where I purchased mine and they do not have any more on their shelves. I got one of the last of their inventory. If you do a web search it is "Hella Marine Naviled 8600 series horizontal mount". I have done some searching for back ups for mine with no success. I have 12 additional part numbers from Hella. The first set of 6 numbers are all preceded with 998600 then add 151 or 131 or 111 or 141 or 121 or 101. The second set of numbers are preceded by 622 then add 32 or 33 or 34 or 35 or 98 or 99. The innards are all that I use. The part # difference is for the cover designation which does not matter for our use.

If you decide to track them down and are successful, let me know. Now that I am using them I would like to have spares. I did save the original Whaler pieces so fortunately I can rebiuld if my "new" system needs replacing.

Good luck.

Garris

John, I find that you get what you pay for with hardware. Be prepared to pay for nice light fixtures but it is worth is.

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VA WHALER

You can buy stainless steel replacement light assemblies @ http://www.marinepartdepot.com/ststbowlifhtml for around $80.

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Scoslv20, thanks for that information. I'll check out that site. Anything close to original would be a big improvement over what I have now.

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That looks like the same style of light that Specialty Marine sells. It is different from the early style Wilcox Crittenden nav lights; it won't fit without modification to the deck. The hole on the deck that recieves the base of the light is smller in diameter, so you would need to enlarge the hole in the deck for these to fit.

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Flippa, I found a fellow familiar with the Hella Marine light I (we) are after. Will keep you posted.

Garris

Go figure, you adapt something over to contemporary and it ends up being obsolete. I have had easier times for parts for 1940's tractors.

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Thanks Garris, I am having my shop attempt to locate a set through their channels. They are hopeful that they may be able to find an old set of the horizontal mount by asking around their suppliers. If not I will find something similar that fits.

Larry