Saturday, February 11, 2017

Sleep Lightly

It gets really dark at night in the Cabin

When we are onboard overnight, we turn off practically everything except the Anchor light and Anchor Alarm if at Anchor, the Refrigerator (it's always on when we are aboard). So the Anchor Alarm (handheld GPS uses the least power of any option) is the only illumination in the Cabin overnight. That doesn't go down to well with Peggy, she has slipped on the Cabin Entrance Steps a couple of times, luckily nothing nasty, but it did highlight the need for some overnight lighting.

So last week installed 3 white LED lights placed to light up the lower steps of the Cabin Entrance, and the 'Hallway' (inside joke) as well as the Aft Cabin.

Cabin Step Lighting

This one is on the aft side of the Galley below some fitting that we have absolutely no idea of it's purpose! 

The lamp shines down on the lower step of the Cabin Entrance, it's white, and we have a bottle of Red Nail Varnish to tint the lens if it proves an issue with our night vision.










Aft Cabin Entrance Lighting

This one is just inside the Aft Cabin Entrance door on the inside and below the seat.

Again, we'll tint it red if it impacts night vision. We won't know till our next overnight trip.











 The 'Hallway' light

This one is mounted just below the Fold down Galley Counter extension opposite the Nav Table.














Here's that same lamp with the Counter Extension in the Raised Position (note the support brace is Starboard, the old, plywood piece was falling apart - just not strong enough.)

The Electrical wire runs from the Aft Cabin under the galley floor into the Galley counter base to the Cabin Entrance Lamp, then to this lamp. Then it goes down to the floor and under the Hallway into the Port Seat which holds the Holding tank. Then it passes up behind the seat inside the aftmost storage bin, up and aft into the Electrical Panel area.

The -ve is labeled and connected to the -ve Bus Bar behind the Electrical Control Panel, the +ve is connected to a toggle switch mounted on the inboard side of the Nav Shelf (It's a stand alone switch and easy to get reach from the Cabin Entrance Steps.) the Switch is supplied by a wire to the Cabin Lights Circuit Breaker on the Electrical Panel.


Cost

I purchased 100' of 18AWG twin tinned stranded copper wire, 6 Lamps (I have 3 left over) and 6 Switches (I have 5 that will be used for other lamps elsewhere on the boat) so the whole installation cost less than $25. 

And best of all - Peggy is happy!

See you on the Water.

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