Electrical Wiring Update

[John Eastin]

Hello All,Have a 1972 Catalina (outboard). Recently noticed (during the dark of night) that my bow lights are not working. Upon inspecting the fuse panel/circuit breakers I found the following toggle switches: Running, Cabin, Bow Light, Anchor, Spreader and the master switch toggle. Have a couple of questions:Why did they design a separate bow light switch when there was already a "running light" switch? I'm planning to get rid of the tangled mess at the fuse block. Any suggestion as to what guage of wire to run for the bow and stern lights? (previous owner got pretty creative with this!)Am thinking I should tie the bilge pump and radio directly to the battery, fusing but bypassing the switched panel?Thanks in advance for any suggestions you may provide.

 

[Peter Hine]

Move the panel!

This past winter I moved the switch panel on my '74 27,OB rig from the portside bulhead underneath the sink, to a newly-built 2 panel (array with 6 switches per panel) on the stbd side betwen the shelf and the underside of the deck, underneath the windows. Gets the open wiring connections out of an area that has the potential of being wet with bilge water if you take on water due to collision, downflooding, shaft leakage or a simple leak in the sink plumbing. I used 14 gauge wire for all the runs. The "bowlight" is what we now call a spreader light or foredeck light-shining down to the deck from the spreaders. The switchs in my panels are as follows:1.Running lites2.Steaming lite3.Foredeck (spreader) lite4.Anchor lite5.Interior lites6.VHF7.Loran/GPS8.Compass lite9.Tiller autopilot10.Cigarette lighter plugs for spotlites, small inverters, etc.11.Radar (I am installing a JRC 1000 soon.)12. (Can't remember the last-but I use all 12!)The stereo (because it loses its memory of perset stations) and bilge pump are wired direct (with fuses).

 

[John Eastin]

Thanks Peter

Appreciate your advice. After thinking about the situation for awhile I decided to go back and check again. On the way I realized that I needed some new fuses. Of course my original panel used what was called a "Little Fuse" 15 amp. All that West Marine had was a slightly longer version and the sales clerk assured me that they were no longer making the shorter fuses and that I really needed a "new" circuit panel. I returned to the boat with 2 new surface lights and the box of fuses. Replaced the lights, replaced the fuse and all of a sudden everything worked! Must have been a loose ground somewhere. Needless to say I returned the unopened fuse panel. It gets better though, while I was below doing all the electrical wiring my brother-in-law was working on the outboard. I heard a crack and knew in an instant the tiller had been toasted. Sure enough it was no longer serviceable. Back to West Marine (knowing they would now tell me that they no longer made this tiller anymore and they would need to sell me a new boat...) To my amazement they had one in another store about 50 miles away and they had it sent to my local store the next morning. Of course it fits like a glove. I guess all's well that ends well. Again, thanks for your advice...it caused me to stop and think and saved me a bundle in the process.jses/v So'las