I bought the unit several weeks ago from Ahoy Captain. Its a fancy LED Lopolight. Because of its low profile, I couldn't install it directly onto the mast as the top of the mast would obscures the view from nearby traffic. I made some sketches of a riser mount and took them into TAP Plastics to get it fabricated. Unfortunately, they only work with plastic sheet and don't have material thick enough to provide sufficient height for the riser. Several sheets can be glued together, but UV-resistant type of plastic (polyethylene) doesn't not bond well. Basically, I ran out of options with them and took it to a local machine shop (who also enlarged one of the bushing on my sheaves that were made too small).
They have a CNC lathe and knocked out the piece in a aluminium couple of hours. Fine job. I wanted to get it hard anodized but couldn't get this done in time for the weekend, so I prepped it with aluminium primer, a coat of epoxy paint and a coat of gloss. Turned out nice.
The unit's pretty lightweight and is extremely secure -- the screws I drilled into the mast are blocked from unscrewing out by the light itself. Pretty pleased with it if I do say myself.
I also replaced the masthead fly this weekend. While I was working on the sheaves, I stood up and snapped the tail off the old one. Bah! New one was snap to install though, and the tricolor should let my see which way the wind is coming at night.
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