I love having a few minutes to myself!......Two updates today!
In a previous post I showed the two electrical panels that I purchased. Now comes the time to unveil them to you as promised.
The two panels were purchased through Boater Bits in Canada via E-Bay. I've been very happy with Boater Bits and I would recommend them without hesitation. I'm a lot late with these updates, but being late gave me a chance to "test" everything over the summer. I'm happy to report that everything works well.
The reason for having two panels is simply two fold; it looks cool! Need 'em. No. Want 'em. Yes. And the other reason is that I wanted a duel battery check, and another 12 volt outlet, which the main panel offered. It bolted up in the same footprint as the original panel from Catalina, which was great. But it only has three switches, and I needed six. Thus the smaller panel, with three more switches. The large panel controls my cabin lights, running lights, and compass light. The three switches on the smaller panel control my anchor light, steaming light, and deck light. I rewired the mast to allow me to control each light separately, which I will update with a photo and info on my mast rewiring and my duel deck connectors as soon as the shrink wrap comes off this spring!
The location of the smaller panel was by choice, not that I had any room near the main panel, 'cause I didn't, I still would have chosen this spot regardless, just for the convenience and aesthetics of it's location. I cleaned up most of the old wiring by ripping it out and starting with all new wiring. I've added two terminal blocks, one on the back side of the main panel, and the other to the inside of the garbage can cubby, (backside of the port bulkhead) for the smaller panel. That really helped in clearing up the rat's nest of wiring. I still have a wee bit more wiring to replace such as the wire to the running lights and to the cabin lights, but hell, I love little projects!
I'll throw in a teaser photo of my duel battery switch, which I'll show, and talk, more of in a later post. 'till then, thanks for looking, Jay
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