DC breaker/switch panel questions

Don S/V ILLusion · Jun 25, 2024

Conventional wisdom is to run the bilge pump direct to the battery bank with a dedicated on/off/ manual breaker switch. The rest is largely personal preference considering spreading loads.

dmax · Jun 25, 2024

You should not run your deck level navigation lights (bow and stern) with a masthead tri-color - you can run either but not both at once so you'll need another switch or two, otherwise looks good. Blue Seas is an excellent brand.

capta · Jun 25, 2024

I've taken a liking to the idea of the red & green nav lights on the spreaders when under power. I think the tricolor is an unsafe system. Seeing a disembodied light scribing silly circles in the night sky does not make it easy to determine how far away that boat is, or how big. Deck or even better, pulpit mounted running lights, shine on the water and a bit on the headsail, which makes it easier to determine distance and the stern light gives an idea of length.

kappykaplan · Jun 25, 2024

capta said:
I've taken a liking to the idea of the red & green nav lights on the spreaders when under power. I think the tricolor is an unsafe system.

Not supposed to use the tricolor when under power.

dlochner · Jun 25, 2024

capta said:
I've taken a liking to the idea of the red & green nav lights on the spreaders when under power. I think the tricolor is an unsafe system. Seeing a disembodied light scribing silly circles in the night sky does not make it easy to determine how far away that boat is, or how big. Deck or even better, pulpit mounted running lights, shine on the water and a bit on the headsail, which makes it easier to determine distance and the stern light gives an idea of length.

The tricolor is really designed for offshore sailing where being seen by fast moving ships is important. The tricolor will appear on the horizon long before deck lights will appear. Nav lights at the spreader level are not at the level most boaters will be looking, it is the same issue with masthead anchor lights, who is looking for lights 20-50' above the water. If there is any seaway, deck mounted lights will disappear and reappear, where as a tricolor will always be visible. The seaway will also disrupt any reflection from the water.

Ward H · Jun 26, 2024

I'd separate your breakers into your use of the boat as we normally use them as on/off switches.
Cabin - All cabin lights, fans, DC outlets, AM FM Radio. (Cabin Lights, Fans, etc have device mounted switches.)
Instruments - Chart Plotter, Depth Sounder, Auto Pilot
Night Sailing - Running lights
Night Motoring - Steaming Light
Anchoring - Anchor Light

As already said the bilge should be direct wired to the battery with a fuse at the battery. You can still install a momentary on / constant on toggle switch on the panel in place of a breaker to control the bilge pump.
For your VHF, best practice is to do the same. Wire direct to the battery, with correct fusing. I did this and put another toggle switch in the breaker panel to turn the VHF on or off.

So I'd probably go with a 8 breaker panel from Blue Sea Systems. That will give you one spare.

I did this on my boat and took it a little further. My panel has two columns of DC breakers. One column has the all the breakers used when away from the dock. The other has all of the breakers used when at the dock.

capta · Jun 26, 2024

dlochner said:
The tricolor is really designed for offshore sailing where being seen by fast moving ships is important. The tricolor will appear on the horizon long before deck lights will appear. Nav lights at the spreader level are not at the level most boaters will be looking, it is the same issue with masthead anchor lights, who is looking for lights 20-50' above the water. If there is any seaway, deck mounted lights will disappear and reappear, where as a tricolor will always be visible. The seaway will also disrupt any reflection from the water.

I can tell you from personal experience that the tricolor masthead light is extremely dangerous. One night going south through the Anegada Passage, on my way to the Orinoco River, I saw a red or green light (I don't remember which) ahead of the freighter I was operating.
It appeared to be quite a way off in the distance (I didn't think tricolor as they were fairly new) and I put down my binoculars and walked over to the radar to check it out. Before I'd even gotten to the radar, I saw the nav light slide past the port side bridge wing, at my eye level. I don't know if he'd been sailing dark before he saw me, and even though I was wide awake and keeping a good watch (I'd sailed that area for years before I took over the freighter and knew that there would be sailboats around), I didn't see the light early enough to have avoided the boat. I was roughly 50' off the water, so the tricolor, being around that high, appeared to be a deck level light some distance off.
Don't kid yourself, from 50' off the water, or more, that disembodied light is not as easy to see as you might imagine. It was much easier to see the bow or pulpit mounted leeward nav light shining off the water and spray, even as I was approaching the other side.