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Just a note... in the interest of saving a few dollars, I ended up buying a Perko aftermark stern light instead of an OEM or reproduction... I ended up getting the 36" All-Round Pole Light (1209-DP4-CHR) from Sailboatowners.com, which is pretty darn close in style to the original - has what appears to be an aluminum shaft, but the chrome plated brass light fixture. Cost about $60.
It comes with a deck mount, which isn't ideal - I already had the stanchion mount hardware... the only problem was the upper stanchion couldn't go up the pole as there was a little ridge just above where the lower stanchion sits. So I used the Dremel and cut off the pole just above the ridge, losing only about an inch and change in the overall length. Now I can position the stanchions as appropriate.
It's a simple two-wire fixture so I made a plug out of mahogany for the now-open bottom of the pole and mounted a little socket connector in it.
All in all, looks great and saved quite a bit of dough for 20 minutes work. Your mileage may vary!
Be sure you remove and replace you stern light regularly.
Using the aluminum pole in the old Whaler mounts will cause the hardware to corrode into an immovable solid unit pretty quickly, as many have found out.
Well I knew there'd be a downside (though, to be fair, I didn't expect an aluminum pole when I ordered it)... I'll keep an eye on it - knowing this, I'll probably replace it in a year or two once my Whaler-dollars-per-month stat lowers a bit.
I assume the damage you're referring to comes from friction/vibration of the aluminum pole against the stainless hardware, so any point/possibility in trying to head that off by wrapping the pole with something thin underneath (pipe sealant tape?), or otherwise sealing it to prevent the vibration? Or am I just wasting my time?
