It's the wiring. Follow the wiring diagram in your manual (or the one online) and you'll see what are relatively small #14 ga. wires to the interior lights. They essentially run all the way around the boat. Many of us have either upgraded the wiring gauge or branched off to avoid having them all on one loop. Small wires tend to exacerbate voltage drop issues, like when your pump runs.

One possible way to alleviate your problem is by reducing the demand for current over those smaller wires: swap out the present bulbs for LEDs, which draw way less amperage than what's in there now. There are lots of benefits from this, such as being able to hang on the hook for a longer period.

I've read really good things about the sensibulbs. They also sell the adapters that will fit the bayonet style lamps used on the C36 (at least the Mk II).

[url]http://www.sailorssolutions.com/[/url](link is external)

They're on my list for next year's upgrades.

I don't know what type light fixtures are on your boat. It's probable that Catalina light fixtures evolved over the years as the available fixtures at any given time evolved. That said, almost any marine light fixture today can be upgraded to LED, and usually by simple plug-ins. I wrote an article on Repairing Reading Lights (C36 Mk II) and upgrading with LED lamps. Look in the Technical - Maintenance library, accessable by paid C36IA Members (capital M).

A lot of benefits for your boat, potentially including not needing to change out wiring.

Nick,
As a follow-up to Stu's post, your electrical panel probably needs some work. I believe that your boat, and all other early Catalina panels, had a "daisy chain" setup with fuses and toggle switches. More modern panels use buss bars and breakers. With a daisy chain (small jumper wires going from one fuse to the next, to the next, etc.), there is a much greater chance for corrosion within all those contacts, and your overall voltage is reduced. As a start, I'd suggest going thru your boat, and cleaning every contact you can find, including ground connections. Maybe even a simple disconnect and connect again a few times for the spade terminal connections. Any place you see a wire connected to something, take it apart and put it back on. If you see corrosion, clean off the corrosion before assembling again. Buy a can of CorrosionBlock or similar. Put a drop of it on every connection. Also check for loose crimps. Give a good tug on the crimps. If they pull out, you know they weren't tight enough to begin with. Buy a multi-meter and check the voltage at different spots. The OEM wiring would probably be good enough in many situations if you had clean connections. Also, how old are the house batteries? How clean are their connections? Most importantly, does your boat have the wiring harness upgrade?? If not, DO IT!

Nick, go to the C36IA home page (via the 'Catalina 36 International Association' link, lower right corner of this page), click on the Technical tab, then on Upgrades, and you'll land on a seven page list of Upgrade articles, one after the other, including 'Tom Soko's Upgrades to Julandra'. From the Technical tab you can also click on Maintenance, which takes you to a many page list of Maintenance articles. Grab a favorite beverage, sit in that comfortable chair by the fire, and you'll have several days of happy reading over the winter.

[QUOTE=Channel Islander;10723]Thanks, Tom. I believe you are right about the electrical panel and I would be surprised if the wiring harness has been upgraded (how would I tell?).

As a side note, you seem to have replaced/repaired/upgraded just about every system large and small on your boat; how long has that taken and what shape was she in when you bought her?

[/QUOTE]

1. Wiring Harness: [url]http://c34.org/bbs/index.php/topic,5078.0.html[/url](link is external) These are our C34 "Critical Upgrades." Please read all three pages. Read the links, like Larry suggested. Your C36 website has similar items. The wiring harness has two major issues: an ammeter in the cockpit, and the trailer pin connections wrapped in electrical tape. Maine Sail also just wrote this: [url]http://c34.org/bbs/index.php/topic,6682.0.html[/url](link is external)

2. We bought a pristine boat. Took years to get it "our way." Don't sweat it, take it step-by-step. Lots has to do with how you use your boat: marina hopper has less issues with electrical systems (i.e., big battery banks, living on the hook) than a "I wanna get away from the dock" approach that many of us have taken.

Your boat, your choice. Enjoy it all, it's rewarding and fulfilling. And, you have a great boat! :)

[QUOTE=Channel Islander;10726]
My problem is more along the lines of where to begin! [/QUOTE]

Hope you had a nice sail.

May I suggest: Make a list of all the things you KNOW about so far, and then prioritize them.

For instance, the lights would be low on my priority list. Why? They work, but they aren't perfect. And now you know why, right? Just don't try to turn them all on at the same time, this isn't a house! :)

But anything engine related should be. I put off doing a fuel filter replacement for years because I was deathly afraid that I wouldn't be able to bleed my engine. But I finally "got up the courage" because, way back in 1999 before these great message boards were available, I read up on how to do it, and finally did, successfully. You can do a search on this message board under "bleeding" which will find you lots of great hints, and probably links to our C34 tech wiki engine that I think I mentioned earlier.

Chainplates are easy, this C36 website has great information on that subject.

And if you want to learn about electrical systems, you could start here, in addition to reading on this website: [url]http://c34.org/bbs/index.php/topic,5977.0.html[/url](link is external)

All the best, continue to have fun. Think of it this way: you already have the cleaning part behind you! :D

I am not sure why electrical wiring upgrade is needed here - unless the light fixtures were changed with a brighter light bulbs. I would imagine that this caliber of boat would have the proper gauge of wire for the fixtures that were originally installed. So I would measure the voltage across the batteries when the lights are off then when they are on. also measure the voltage across the light fixture when they are on. It is very likely to be a bad ground connection at the battery terminal or just bad connection where all the light fixtures are connected such as the circuit beakers for the cabin lights. Since your lights dims unacceptably it may just be time to replace the batteries. Check the amount of water that is in it and add distilled water. Since you are also experiencing dimming even when the shore power is connected - then it looks like a bad ground from the battery.

Wiring getting hot to the touch??? This is a red flag...a sure sign that you have electrical issues that affect the safety of the boat. Wiring should NOT be getting warm to the touch because of the current passing through them.

Get a good book on boat electrical systems (Charlie Wing's book, for example) and read it; then get a schematic and mark it up so that it represents your boat's unique system. You have a manual for your boat, I hope. The Tech Notes CD has most C36 manuals on it, and the manuals have a schematic of the DC system in them. A good place to start.

[QUOTE=Channel Islander;10737]

Relatedly, how can I tell whether the wiring harness upgrade has been applied to my boat? There are instructions for performing the upgrade in the manuals binder, but I am not sure it's been done. At the engine control panel the ignition is with a key, not a button, but there's an ammeter, not a voltmeter.
What's the definitive indicator?

Thanks![/QUOTE]

The link to that is in Reply #11, our C34 Critical Upgrades page. There must be much related to that on this website, too.

Nick,

If the light get to dim to read by, hold your book next to the wires on the breaker panel, you should be able to read by the flames of the iminent fire in that location.

You obviously have an electrical issue that does not need a voltmeter to trouble shoot. If you are finding hot wiring you have already found the source of the problem. Other than the lamps them selves nothing in the circuit should be getting hot, if it is you have a high resistance connection (corrosion or a loose terminal) that is causing the heat. Renew the connection and you will be cool.

Insatlling LED lights will lower the current draw but, it will not fix your problem it will just mask it for a while.

Nick,

I had a similar problem with the "Daisy Chain" wires on the control panel. I discovered there was only one wire from the main battery switch supplying 12V to the switches and that wire, if I remember right, didn't seem to be all that heavy of a gauge. And to compound things there was one wire, also a small gauge, that bridged over to the second set of toggle switches.

When I first got my boat I had the frig, lights, radio and a few other switches on. Just by chance I was tinkering around the panel area. I detected what smelled like warm wires and found out that the wires were warm. I even found one wire warm enough it appeared to be bonding with another wire.

My solution was to remove the bridging wire that led from the one row of switches to the other. I then ran two separate heavier gauge wires from the battery switch and supplied separate power to each row of toggle switches.

After turning everything on I found all the wires were cool to the touch. I've been running with this modification for a couple of years and have had no problems. I don't know if this will help but it's worth looking at.

Chris

I was thinking of the same rewiring at the circuit panel as the one that Chs1517 has performed. It is hard to believe that a boat of this caliber will have such a sub standard wiring. Now I am going to have a look at my own panel. Thanks for the tip guys!:confused:

Nick,

Brush up on the regulations in your area regarding waste discharge, the wye valve must be saftied to the off position inside the five mile limit in my area. The penalty for discharging inside the limit is hefty, just the fine for not having the valve safetied is large. I would assume that most marinas in SoCal like the bay area have free pump out facilities, I have just gotten in the habit of pumping out everyother time I go out. If nothing else it gives you a chance to see what your crew has been eating, you can add indian corn to your diet for a bit of color.

To generate heat in the circuit requires the circuit to conduct current, if the fuse is blown and the wire is disconnected, I do not believe it is could posibly be contributing to the heat in your circuit since it is no longer connected to the circuit.

Nick,
Good for you!!!