I just finished extricating all the old AC wiring in the engine room. What a mess of shorted and burnt wires, old breakers and household wiring boxes. I removed one wire with 4 butt splice connectors it the space of 4 inches! What were they thinking? I have a nice new Blue Seas AC (Paneltronics) 6 breaker + mains house panel going in over the galley in the corner, port side. Easy location above and to left of galley sink for all the wiring to be safe and secure. Panel open to living area. All the DC wiring including solar charge regulator is above the navigation station on Starboard. I kept the Gulfstar DC breaker panel original and did not drill any holes in it. The panel is mounted in a swing down “V” shaped cabinet allowing for easy access to the house wiring. Solar charge controller, solar disconnect, solar ammeter are mounted below on the bulkhead. All the wiring is high and dry. I like that. It was a good design but over the years there have been a few wires added without proper safety considerations. I’ll fix those later.
A new Raymarine ST70 multi-function display unit will mount just to the right of controller. This instrument displays all SeaTalk data on Raymarine bus and can function as remote for auto pilot at navigation station. The ST70 Autopilot instrument and a ST60+ Tri Data display will mount in the cockpit where the old Datamarine instruments are now, within easy reach and visibility of helm. I have an additional ST60+ Tridata repeater I might mount in the aft cabin just to keep an eye on things and set anchor alarms, etc. I do not have a wind speed or direction instrument yet. When I get one, it will connect to the system easily. I have a NMEA 0183/2000 interface to a computer as well and can run the freeware, Sea Clear charting program. Instrument, transducers and autopilot are not installed yet. I did really well in buying the auto pilot and instruments, including a Type 2 linear actuator for the steering quadrant. Total price, was about 1/3 of new list price. Most of the parts are new, never used the rest, very little used, look and perform like new. I am very happy! 🙂
I pulled out a lot of freeze damaged water lines and fittings today as well while in the engine room. Put back together well enough to make a test and see what comes out of the water tank. More later…