1988 AC power issue

[Baytripper]

Hi all, I do not post very much, but I have got lots of great info here. Thanks !

I recently found a VERY strange AC power issue on my 1988 Catalina 30 that I have owned for the past 8 years. I have done many upgrades to the boat, but never touched the AC power, until recently, as everything worked when I plugged the boat into shore power. Although I cannot be 100% sure, but I believe the issue I am writing about looks original. I say this due to the condition of the wire, cable ties, and such. Sorry in advance for such a long post, but I want to insure I capture everything.

Several weeks ago my battery charger died. (Xantrex 20, replaced with ProMariner 20). After replacement, I was concerned about battery condition, so I turned off the charger Circuit Breaker (actually the outlet breaker, as the battery charger is plugged in) to let the batteries sit idle for 24 hours. I went to the boat the next day,and the batteries looked good, 12.6V. After working on the boat for a while, I went to wash up, and there was no Hot Water. Odd I thought. The Hot Water heater breaker was still on, and the boat plugged in. For some reason (but lucky I did) I unplugged the Battery charger, and turned on the outlet breaker. 20 mins later...Hot Water. ??? That did not make sense to me. I called in a friend at the marina for a second opinion. We noticed the crimp connections to the water heater were warm. After stripping back the wires, the wire looked green and old. He suggested to start with replacing the water heater wire. Today, I replaced the water heater wire. I disconnected what I thought was the outlet wires to isolate any issue and plugged the boat in. I checked the voltage.....nothing. I found that the wires that I thought were for the outlets (wired to the outlet CB) was actually shore power. That is why no hot water unless the Outlet CB was on, as the Outlet CB was actually acting at this point as the Main AC CB !

As I stated earlier, all this AC wiring looks original, which means there could be other 1988 Catalina 30 vintage boats out there wired wrong. Please take the 5 minutes to check that your Shore power wires are wired to the Main CB and not one of the secondary outlets.

Happy and Safe Sailing
Walter

 

[Stu Jackson]

Walter,

Good points.

I have always suggested to those with new-to-them boats that they spend the time doing two things:

Tracing the existing wiring (to start to confirm if its anywhere close to the manuals that camer with the boat and/or are available online)

Draw your own wiring diagrams

Doing those two things would pop up what you've discovered a long time ago.

Nice catch.

 

[captcoho]

Thanks for sharing your experience and giving us a heads-up.

 

[Bob4203]

I have the 88 as well and am currently posting a thread on the hot water heater wiring. For my AC system I have two breakers, one dedicated to the hot water heater (black triplex wire) with bridge connector to the AC breaker. The black wire was burned and was also green. The breaker kept popping each time I tried to get the water heater going. I cut up to three inches off to get clean wire, which I might re use. I think it's possible water from a leak at the stanchion might have made its way down the wire (one theory), another, that opening and closing the panel over the years might have kinked those 10 gauge wires coming off the AC bus bar, or the heater element might have gone bad and wasted the breaker. I find I get hot water through the engine heat exchanger, indicating the interior tank is still okay. I will replace the element, give it a good flushing and install a new breaker next. the replacement heaters are 4-5 inches longer making for a tricky replacement. The AC set up does not look that complicated, but electricity has never been my strong subject. I might not be solving your problem, but at least sharing a 1988 Mark ll panel problem. If the boat was not wired right to begin with, it's doubtful that after 27 years something would show up now. Keep us posted on this. Knowledge is a wonderful thing!

Bob
88 Mark lol