The Lights Went Out In Georgia . . . Actually New London!

SHIP'S LOG:

As I have mentioned many times before, I view electricity as something akin to Voodoo. No matter how hard I try I can not seem to grasp the concept except in the most vague and limit manner. Anything more electrically complex than a flashlight and I am at a loss. And if fixing it requires anything more than replacing the batteries, well . . . . just forget about it.

Thus is was no fun when the lights in the salon stopped working. Damn! If one had stopped, or perhaps two, I could have let it slide, my usual method for dealing with things electric. But all the lights and all at once, no that was a matter to be dealt with. Unfortunately, it wasn't a batteries problem!

All of the electrical items and switches and outlets are all connected to the house battery Bank ( the source of power) panel of breakers at the nav table. The breaker which controlled the lights was also wire to control the propane solenoid as well. Well that worked because I would have been without morning coffee otherwise, not a good thing, but the lights did not. This little bit of information told me that there was juice to the breaker and that was the first place to start. I unscrewed the 8 screws holding the breaker panel in place and checked the appropriate breaker for a loose wire. No such luck.The next move was to check out the wire connection at the light fixture nearest the breaker panel. Sounds simple but it entailed taking down the ceiling. that meant unscrewing the 18 little screws that hold it to the overhead(and not loosing any) and horsing the panel out of its spot and into a place where it would be out of the way. Oh, did i mention that it was 89 degrees and 97% humidity? NO? It was! And no breeze!

After the ceiling was down, I was able to access the back of the fixture and there it was, a wire broken of a stud on the light switch. It seemed easy enough to fix through it entailed removing the fixture so that I could get at it with a soldering iron. this particular fixture was a gooseneck lamp for the nav station and its design made it necessary to not only disconnect it from the ceiling but also to cut the wires connecting it to the power. Then I needed only to re-solder the connection and reconnect the wires and reattach the fixture to the ceiling then reattach the ceiling to the overhead and the job would be done. Simple.

I had a butane soldering iron, a jar of flux . . . . . but no solder. So Call the launch, get ashore, drive to Radio Shack, get the solder, drive back, get the launch out to the boat and fix it. And I did. The light work perfectly as did the other light on the port side of the boat. Darkness still reigned however on the starboard side. Both of the florescent fixture were "non-responsive!" While wired to the same breaker switch, they probably took power from the propane solenoid panel. I say probably because I don't know for sure. I do know that i had to put the ceiling back and to investigate the florescent side of the issue meant taking down another ceiling panel on the other side of the salon, as well as dealing with the back of the solenoid power panel, which, despite my best previous efforts, still bore some resemblance to a bowl of spaghetti. It also meant having to deal with some ham-handed wiring that was even worse than my own.

I hate to say it, but I have pout it off for awhile. It is too bleeding hot and, based on the first foray into the ceiling, which took from about 11am to 5pm, it will be an all day affair of the first water. The prospect is not so much daunting as debilitating, what with the serious heat wave heading our way(actually, already here!). Next week is bound to be cooler, plus it doesn't mean i can't go sailing!