Messages

Thanks Ron.  But the bulbs in the existing fixture are 'potted' (sealed)  so I am stuck with them.  They retail at about $150 each. I have 12/2 marine tinned on hand so will use that.  Yes if I had it to do over I would have LED but we wont use them often so power draw not an issue.
   

Is the wiring correct?

thanks Ken
good point this guy put the fuse box / strip 10+ feet from the battery. it could have been mounted right in the engine box. and this was a professionally done installation.  maybe i should move it. i can't change the fixture / bulbs they are sealed. but i have an old spool of tinned 12/2 lying around which is big overkill but it's 'free'.
the guy used non marine 16/2 cable which is of course shot.  and the 12/2 will be good in case i switch some
day to a high amp cockpit daiquiri blender

This is a bit weird but an installation from a previous owner for some  transom lights
This board has such great expertise I wonder if you can give a view on the circuitry.

Lets not worry for now  why this is even a thing! Removing the lights will be more work than getting them operational again 

The P.O. wired direct from the battery to a fused terminal strip (he did not use the main panel for some unknown reason)   
with a toggle switch in the cockpit near the helm feeding the lights.

One issue
- If the cockpit switch was accidentally hit say while de-boarding in the daytime , the lights might not be noticed and could remain
on and drain the battery. They are not LED 

If I keep this set up I will swap out the toggle switch for an illuminated push button which would prevent accidental turning on, and the indicator light would show if it was energized by accident     

How does the diagram look?


Many thanks in advance

007–I think your "stay away from Catalina Direct" is pretty harsh. Yes, many items are higher priced, but not all and some provide a very convenient solution for boats. Also, their customer service is pretty good.

Their customer services is pretty horrible.  They start out answering the phone with a recording that says we're busy keep trying.  And for some bizarre reason will not respond to emails for their 'free' technical support   

  Thanks so much for the help and pictures. I ordered the 105 amp unit from Catalina direct today. It's back ordered 4 or 5 weeks. I thought if I can't afford the regulator yet I could run the charging battery through my dc to dc Victron Charger and  at least 3 stage charge my house bank and limit my draw from the house bank to 30 amps maybe keeping the alternator cool enough. Any words of wisdom.

Why bother?  Unless your house bank is horribly depleted, the internal regulator on your old 51A Motorola alternator will get you charging safely. 

How do I know?  Before I installed my 100A alternator and Balmar MC-612, I would cruise with my nominal 400 ah house bank (12V wet cells).  Of course when leaving the dock all charged up, no issue.  But after a night on the hook with the fridge on, the alternator would only be putting out 25A or so.  I knew this because I had an old AutoMac, which I used to improve the output, but could only get it up to 30 or 35A anyway.

Don't complicate things until you get all the rest of your gear installed.

Unless its Catalina propriety item, I stay away from CD. Thats probably a 100 pct markup on a standard alternator you can get anywhere with no delay.   

What engine do you have? If the M25 - have you done the alternator bracket upgrade?   
Rod was immensely helpful to so many folks and the best quality option, but in the best of times he did have a fairly long lead time for the alterrnator upgrade.  I hope at least he can come back as a  pay for pay consultant like he also did before 

Much of his website references are still available   https://marinehowto.com/external-alternator-regulation-conversion/

I bought  these Sierra gauges  which are a close match and work great
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000FQ1T5O/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

A better question... Why would you want a 12 yr old FEX on board when a new one is so cheap?

There are actually very specific rules for anchoring during a race.  If in a river or any place with current, anchoring can be used to hold one's place on the race course till enough wind returns enough to make VMG towards the next mark.

Its true but actually not that specific and used more often than people care to.
You can anchor wherever and whenever you want if the wind dies and you want to not lose position.
The only rule is you cannot use anchoring in a kedging manner to improve your position. 

Yes Matt does still have the magic deep socket. (If you have a grinder you can one yourself)   He was nice enough to lend it to me this year.  Its the way to go so you dont have to remove the manifold.

Here is a good source https://www.mcmaster.com/hose-clamps/material~stainless-steel/clamp-type~bolt/

You can never have enough hose clamps in differnt sizes. 

[That's a lot of anchorings!!]

Cat 007 : "If you have dragged anchor 'many a time in the middle of the night' you more likely need to invest in ground tackle or
review anchoring procedures." ??????

I don't drag anchor and don't know what your experience is, but here's mine.  I've sailed the Chesapeake and the east coast for over 30 years.  During that time I have averaged 100 overnights per year on my C34.  We usually anchor 6 nights and a marina the 7th (dump trash, pump out, refuel, restock, etc).  That's a lot of anchorings!!  I have NEVER put out a "lunch hook"  I sink that baby (Bruce 35) and always start with 50 ft of chain. 

I can see that you don't know what the Ford Solenoid Mod does so let me explain it to you. 
The way Catalina wired our C34s is to put the glow plugs on a separate switch (1986 & 1987) or incorporate it in a 3 way key switch (1988 and subsequent production). 

So the amps necessary to heat the glow plugs come from the battery compartment thru the Battery Selector switch to the key switch and then back to the glow plugs.  WHAT is that distance??  30 to 40 ft ??  (that's quite a run!!) This is only for the M25XP engine.

What the solenoid mod. does is simply open up a circuit from the starter solenoid, around the back of the engine to the aft glow plug!  A distance of about 3 ft.!!!!!!  If you want to include the distance from the battery compartment to the starter solenoid add another 7 ft. ?

I purposely haven't mentioned wire gage, but you can see why it only takes a few seconds for the necessary amps to travel that much shorter distance.

I've always thought that it was one of the smarter, easy to do, Mods on the M25/M25XP engine!   

Let me tell you that waking up in the middle of the night to the smell of diesel exhaust and the roar of engines is somewhere between scary and terrifying.  You feel helpless with the power boat spot lights flashing about and you immediately start your engine as the ONLY thing you can do beside fend off with your boat hook.  Hope that you NEVER have to be in that situation!!

A few thoughts

I can only add that your experience and time on boats sounds like about 2/3 of mine :)   
Maybe one time (which I can't  even recall)  I had to worry that 20 seconds of time difference to start an engine might have made
me pucker a little bit. And in 100,000 miles racing Ive never personally seen a racing boat hit a well seen boat at anchor.
That doesnt make you a bad person :)   To each his own. Risk tolerance is subjective

 

Have to agree with Ken. With a properly working and maintained starting system there is no reason to add another solenoid.
A few seconds difference between the results? Come on Man! On cold days my engine starts with max 15 seconds pre heat   
If you have dragged anchor 'many a time in the middle of the night' you more likely need to invest in ground tackle or
review anchoring procedures. No matter how many times you have said it.