On Board with Mark Corke

Proper electrical connections

   These are something that has no place on a boat - wire nuts.

I recently surveyed a power cruiser which had lots of alterations to the electrical system, not only were many of the connections made with wire nuts the cable was solid core rather than multi strand tinned boat cable, both of which are a big no-no on a boat. Wire nuts are not moisture resistant and cable with a solid core is susceptible to vibration and fatigue eventually leading to failure.

For the complete step by step guide to making proper electrical connections continue reading ..

LED lights

    Now here is a nifty little tool that I have been having fun with. It's an infrared thermometer that measures temperatures very accurately. I am sure that there are other makes, well I know there are but this one is from Fluke and since borrowing it I have found all sorts of uses for it around the boat. As it is a non contact tool I only have to point it at whatever it is that I want to measure the surface temperature of, pull the trigger and hey presto an instant readout.

    But the point of me telling you all this is that I have had the chance to take accurate readings from the old and new cabin lights fitted to a 38 foot sailboat. It has to be said that the illumination left much to be desired there were many dark spots in the cabin and reading a book or chart was difficult unless you sat directly under one of the original dome lights. As an upgrade we removed the old lights and installed new Imtra Hatteras LED lights. Not only has this provided much needed extra illumination but they also look great. I have been totally sold on the use of LED lights on boats for some time and use them everywhere on my own boats including navigation lights. LED's don't burn out  and use far less electricity than incandescent bulbs.  However one thing that is often overlooked is that they also produce significantly less heat.

LED lighting upgrade

This strange looking device might not look much like a light bulb but this Sensibulb from Sailors Solutions is in fact an LED light source.

Whenever a group of cruisers get together invariably the talk will come around to conserving electrical power. When I first starting cruising we had a trailed log and a depth sounder that ran from an internal 9 volt cell. Things have moved on since those days and radar, unheard of on a cruiser in the ‘60s along with a plethora of other electronics are now commonplace. With each piece of new electrical gear that we bolt to our boats our demands on the batteries increase and we either have to increase our capacity for making electricity in the form of generators, solar and wind generators and so on or reduce our consumption.