Catalina 30 Terminal block?

Sep 27, 2006
39
Pearson 36-2 Alameda
I have an ‘82 Catalina 30. I need to replace a section of AC wire. One end goes to the midship port AC outlet and I’m trying to find the other end. The schematic shows a terminal block. Does anyone know where that’s located?
 

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Joe

.
Jun 1, 2004
7,999
Catalina 27 Mission Bay, San Diego
Do you have an AC breaker panel? It's most likely adjacent to the panel or an integrated part of the panel. In any event, find your shore power connector and start working your way towards the panel. Gotta be there someplace.
 
Jul 6, 2013
221
Catalina 30TR, Atomic 4 2480 Milwaukee
On my ‘82, it’s as Joe said. There’s no terminal block, the wires go directly to the A/C switch on the control panel.
 

Ward H

.
Nov 7, 2011
3,645
Catalina 30 Mk II Barnegat, NJ
Might be good to note that the posted diagram is a schematic of the electrical, not an actual diagram showing how the boat is actually wired.
As @Kingjim91 stated for his boat, there may not be a junction block, the wiring probably goes directly to the AC breaker.

Also note that the outlets are daisy chained, meaning the AC wiring runs from the breaker into an outlet, then out to the next outlet, then into the last outlet. Probably to the galley outlet, then to the amidships port outlet, then to the head.
So, the amidships port outlet probably has two wires coming out of that outlets electrical box, one from the galley and one to the head outlet.

Be sure to unplug the shore power before working on the wiring and never trust what changes a previous owner may have done.
 
Sep 27, 2006
39
Pearson 36-2 Alameda
Thanks All. I haven’t looked in the breaker panel. It would seem strange to have all wires go to the breaker panel. Usually outlets are wired in parallel, with incoming wires and outgoing that go to the next outlet, except for the last in line. Also the outlet before only has one pair of wires coming in. I’m sure the schematic depicts a terminal block just like it shows a diagram of an outlet. Of course I’ve been tracing cables but I lose where they go, hence why I’m posting.
 
Feb 26, 2004
22,760
Catalina 34 224 Maple Bay, BC, Canada
I haven’t looked in the breaker panel.
Then you should. :)
That is a "standard" Catalina wiring diagram, similar to mine. There is a terminal strip glued to the hull inside my breaker panel. It is used to collect the AC wires before the AC breaker, and to distribute DC wires from the switches on the panel.
 
Sep 14, 2014
1,251
Catalina 22 Pensacola, Florida
Yep generally all boats use marine electric code and will have positives interrupted by switchest and all negatives to a negative terminal block and then to battery or shore power connector.
 
Sep 27, 2006
39
Pearson 36-2 Alameda
Thx. I realize that. I’m working on AC, which doesn’t have a positive and negative.
 
Feb 2, 2014
29
Catalina 30 mkII Pasadena, MD
I have an 87 and the AC distribution is in the power distribution panel. Looking at the front of the power distribution panel the left side of the panel is label MASTER AC CONTROL, the top circuit breaker is 30 amps for shore power, below that is the reverse polarity indicator (as shown in your picture). Inside the power distribution panel, glued to the interior of the haul, there are 3 power strips (the old fashion black strips) where the three AC wires connect (one strip for white wires, one for black wires and one for green wires).
 
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Likes: captcoho
Sep 27, 2006
39
Pearson 36-2 Alameda
Thanks Mike. Yeah, that's what I'm looking for. I haven't gotten back to working on that. This is the first time I've worked on a boat where all the AC connections go to a terminal block, instead just wiring all the outlets in parallel or 'daisy chained' as someone else stated. I know that's typical on DC circuits. Have a good week!
 
Feb 26, 2004
22,760
Catalina 34 224 Maple Bay, BC, Canada
This is the first time I've worked on a boat where all the AC connections go to a terminal block, instead just wiring all the outlets in parallel or 'daisy chained' as someone else stated. I know that's typical on DC circuits.
Joe, the AC comes into the boat via the shorepower connection, first goes to the term strips and only then to the AC breaker, and then goes on to the daisy chained loads. The DC is the reverse. As I explained in my last post and as the diagram shows. AC shouldn't go to the daisy chained loads until AFTER the AC breaker, don't understand how it worked safely on your previous boats...:)
 
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Likes: captcoho
Sep 27, 2006
39
Pearson 36-2 Alameda
Stu, I realize that. AC shore power always goes to the breaker first, before it's distributed. Usually AC is distributed in parallel from the breaker to the AC outlets. The Cat 30 only seems to have a couple of outlets wired in parallel. The others seem to be wired to the AC distribution terminal block. Don't understand how you don't get this...:)
 
Feb 26, 2004
22,760
Catalina 34 224 Maple Bay, BC, Canada
The Cat 30 only seems to have a couple of outlets wired in parallel. The others seem to be wired to the AC distribution terminal block.
where all the AC connections go to a terminal block, instead just wiring all the outlets
These two differing statements should answer...
Don't understand how you don't get this...
...^^^ this one.

Or, I'm just dense, it is Monday, after all...:)

 
Jul 6, 2013
221
Catalina 30TR, Atomic 4 2480 Milwaukee
The schematic shows a terminal block. Does anyone know where that’s located?
I’m curious where your schematic came from.
I also have an ‘82. The owner’s manual has these two diagrams. The first one is just a sketch of the hardware layout (It only shows 1 outlet on each circuit.)
The second is the circuit diagram.
Both of these match the actual wiring on my boat, except the outlets are on 2 circuits, 1 on port, the other on starboard. I added GFCI on each circuit.

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