Electric Panel Replacement

[Paul Reiss]

Just purchased a 1976 Cape Dory 25. After inspecting the boat, I removed the 4 screws to investigate behind the switch panel and noticed severe corrosion on both the toggle switches and fuses. I work well with solderless wire connectors but the hard wire connecting the fuses concerns me. Has anyone replaced their fuse/switch panel? If so, do you recommend I hire an electrician. Has anyone rewired the panel w/out soldering? Any advice would be helpfull. Thanks



pwreiss@aol.com

[Russ Campbell]

Paul, I just replaced the elecrtical panel on my CD 28. I basically rebuilt the whole panel and used circuit breakers so I just eliminated the hard wire. I used only solderless connectors on the whole thing. So far no smoke and everything works. Good Luck
Russ

Just purchased a 1976 Cape Dory 25. After inspecting the boat, I removed the 4 screws to investigate behind the switch panel and noticed severe corrosion on both the toggle switches and fuses. I work well with solderless wire connectors but the hard wire connecting the fuses concerns me. Has anyone replaced their fuse/switch panel? If so, do you recommend I hire an electrician. Has anyone rewired the panel w/out soldering? Any advice would be helpfull. Thanks

camroll@together.net

[Jim Stull]

Just purchased a 1976 Cape Dory 25. After inspecting the boat, I removed the 4 screws to investigate behind the switch panel and noticed severe corrosion on both the toggle switches and fuses. I work well with solderless wire connectors but the hard wire connecting the fuses concerns me. Has anyone replaced their fuse/switch panel? If so, do you recommend I hire an electrician. Has anyone rewired the panel w/out soldering? Any advice would be helpfull. Thanks

Hi Paul
The elec panel on my '75 CD25 was about as you describe.

I removed it and purchased new switches and fuse holders from Boats or West (I forget which). They were an exact replacement. The soldering was no problem. Purchase a small electric soldering iron or gun and some ROSIN core solder (Radio Shack) and do a little practice. If you are not confident about the soldering this could be quickly done by an experienced person after you have prepared the parts. The basic trick is to make everything bright and clean and get the wire hot enough to make the solder flow (on the wire!).
Do not melt the solder on the gun or you will probably get a cold joint.
I also wanted to refinish the face of the panel. It looked like the printing was imbossed into the aluminum. So I figured I could lightly sand and repaint the black without damaging the white lettering. No go! The embossing is ONLY into the paint. I had to start from scratch with the lettering. I sprayed the panel with semigloss black and had one of the office supply places make up embossed "nameplates". All in all it works fine and looks pretty good.
Jim



jtstull@icubed.com

[Paul Reiss]

Just purchased a 1976 Cape Dory 25. After inspecting the boat, I removed the 4 screws to investigate behind the switch panel and noticed severe corrosion on both the toggle switches and fuses. I work well with solderless wire connectors but the hard wire connecting the fuses concerns me. Has anyone replaced their fuse/switch panel? If so, do you recommend I hire an electrician. Has anyone rewired the panel w/out soldering? Any advice would be helpfull. Thanks

Hi Paul
The elec panel on my '75 CD25 was about as you describe.

I removed it and purchased new switches and fuse holders from Boats or West (I forget which). They were an exact replacement. The soldering was no problem. Purchase a small electric soldering iron or gun and some ROSIN core solder (Radio Shack) and do a little practice. If you are not confident about the soldering this could be quickly done by an experienced person after you have prepared the parts. The basic trick is to make everything bright and clean and get the wire hot enough to make the solder flow (on the wire!).
Do not melt the solder on the gun or you will probably get a cold joint.
I also wanted to refinish the face of the panel. It looked like the printing was imbossed into the aluminum. So I figured I could lightly sand and repaint the black without damaging the white lettering. No go! The embossing is ONLY into the paint. I had to start from scratch with the lettering. I sprayed the panel with semigloss black and had one of the office supply places make up embossed "nameplates". All in all it works fine and looks pretty good.
Jim

Thanks for the help. I'm off to buy some supplies this weekend. If I run into trouble I may inquire for more help.

Best,
Paul