Monday 13 March 2017

Job #4 - Cabin lights - completed..

So over the winter I bought four of these :



For less than a tenner (twelve dollars in old money ) from a very helpful eBay'er in China - seriously - all four cost less than £7 delivered - from China - how on earth do they do it???! Either way I figured that for some cheap lighting these were second to none - they were bright and very easy to string together..

Sunday I fitted them - I'm using them as downlighters under the shelves that run down the sides of the cabin...

First pair rought fitted - once they were proved good I taped the the electric joins with amalgamating tape, and then secured the wires more neatly with some cable clips..



I used spade terminals for connections because I can't help thinking that at the price I paid I need a solution where I can easily disconnect to replace - but time will tell...


Spot soldered additional connection cables to the far end of the one on the right above, and then fed the wires through to the fore cabin where I daisy chained a third above the door...


Fourth one (a single) went in under the shelf on the starboard side - the shelf is shorter on that side to take account of the galley...

All wired in to the switch panel and joins all taped for damp proofing...  the positives are separate for port and starboard side, but I used one of these to be able to attach both sides to the single switch on the panel

Female Spade Terminal with Piggy Back Male...  apparently...  
All wires tidied with cable clips - jobs a good'un...

By way of a temporary fix I then put some butyl tape round the base of some of the screws holding down the handrails on the cabin roof - these are dripping, so clearly the old sealant is failing - if it works - and I think it should do - I'll do the rest (now added to the list but I suspect it's going to have to wait)..  simple fix - undo the screws from inside - lift the rail - thin rolled out tube of butyl tape  wrapped round the screw base, same on the inside, screw down and watch it squish out and seal as it does...

First cockpit hatch is done (epoxy'wise) - second hatch underway - at the end i'm going to mix a small batch up with microballons to make a thick paste which I can then use to fill any voids left on the edges..  I almost sound like I know what I'm on about.. Thinking of using car paint sprays to paint.... quick and should be tough...

The forecast this coming weekend is atrocious, just when I was planning to do the antifoul, and I go in the water a week after that..  forecast looks good Wednesday so I've put in for a day off - I'll do the antifoul and exterior paint/varnish all in the one day - wish me luck.. 

2 comments:

  1. The strip lighting will provide good back lighting without it glaring right in your face - nice.
    It is an advantage to have a fiberglass cabin top when your handrails leak - on my boat these would leak into plywood - a real nightmare.

    I hope the weather and the painting goes well - good luck!

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  2. Cheers Alden - the day after said painting and I ache in every bone...i'll put up a post later but suffice to say it was a hugely tiring but successful day!

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