Cabin Light Switches

[Ray & Sandy Erps]

Thought I'd try the collective mind here before spending my dime to call Catalina.  My boat is an 89.  The switches in the lamps in the v-berth are flakey.  I unsoldered one and popped it out of the lamp to bring it to the local NAPA to see if they could look it up in an automotive book, but that didn't pan out.  Figured someone else has already replaced theirs so thought I'd benefit from their experience.

[Roc]

Ray,
One of my bulbs needed replacing so I searched the Internet.  I also called Catalina to see if they would sell just the bulbs.  They just sell the whole unit, bulb and all for $16.  The bulbs themselves weren't that much less than that with shipping and all, so I just bought the whole unit from Catalina.

[Stu Jackson]

Roc

Can you describe the lights?

I'm looking for replacements for our '86 V berth fixtures.  They're round, like a tube, about 6 to 8 inches long and 4 inches in diameter, an off-white colored "tube," with a turn switch at the top, wired into a small teak mounting circle that is screwed onto the teak finish at the top of the hull curve, with the wiring connections behind it.  

One of the first things I did was to change the bulbs out to halogen lamps with the base-converter by Ancor.  More light, less amps.  We only use them for a short time for reading before falling asleep.

I'm almost getting to the point of taking the working ones from the aft cabin and moving them forward!  

They're basically good fixtures, and certainly they are the "oldies."

I believe the newer boats have round halogen lights, but the ones I'm looking for are the real McCoy.

Are we talking about the same ones?

I may actually have to go to an RV store!  

If anyone knows of a source for the old style (retro, kids!) I'd love to hear about it.  Would make a great gift from Santa!  

Thanks,

[Ron Hill]

Ray : If an automotive store can't help (also JC Whitney ) try an RV shop for a new switch.  
For new fixtures I'd first look at the new Catalina's and if you like what you see ask the factory what their price is.  The marine stores are $$ for something that I seldom use.
I've still got the originals like yours/Stu's and haven't had a problem.  Did change out the bulbs though with LED's.