Beatrix has a lot of new gear on her, much of it electric and electronic.  This means accommodating generator, inverter, refrigerator/freezer and cabin heater control panels plus new radios, Multi data display.  The new ICOM VHF and SSB radios are designed to be flush mounted, which we have chosen to do.  We are also planning an alarm panel, an auxiliary switch panel,  a context navigation light switch, and some other stuff.  The real estate for all this just didn't exist, so Patti and I decided to get rid of the stupid little  bookshelf on the side of the Nav Station and replace it with equipment panels.

Replacing the ugly, old. outmoded, and dangerous AC and DC main electrical panel is a job I've been wanting to do for a long time.  I first identified the various components and functional requirements for the replacement Main Panel and the Radio and Auxiliary Panel.   Then I could start planning the location of each component and what off-the-shelf items could be bought and what needed to be custom-built.

Design  Before Reconstruction  During Construction  Completed

Blue Sea System panels were selected because they 1) fit the space, 2) were cheaper than custom panels, 3) easier than home made, and 4) looked great.  

A difference on Beatrix's main switchboard is inclusion of an AC panel dedicated to international power (230VAC/50Hz).  When in use overseas the 230V AC Panel sits between the shore power and the isolation/step-down transformer and has two Australian-style power outlets.

Beatrix has an isolation transformer with windings designed to step down 230V/50hz power to 110V/50hz power which will power the Trace "modified sine wave" inverter/charger and all regular 110V AC loads. (Note: There are other ways to do this which are just as good or better, e.g. having a dedicated "International" charger plus a pure sine wave inverter only [no charger]).  

VisioT and SmartDrawT are what I have been using to create the drawings on this website.  The drawings below give me an idea of what the rebuilt Nav Station might look like when finished, and also helps me place the components.  Part way through the project I drove over to M&I Systems to see what it cost to make the custom panel for the Nav Lights (second picture from left, below).  Much to my surprise, custom engraving of the entire panel wasn't as much as I had thought, so I scrapped my plans for using an off-the-shelf switch panel and because of the space-saving that ensued I was able to produce a much nicer, tighter, more efficient design (third picture from left, below).  It will take about a month to make it, so this project will be on hold until mid-May. (Note, it took a lot longer than a month and a bit more than quoted, but I'm still happy with it).

The custom panel takes a few weeks to manufacture.  I  drew the design using Visio but  a CAD program like TurboCad or AutoCad would work even better.  Done right, the design loads directly into the control program for the auto-engraver which does the job.  The engraver is essentially a computer driven router which can cut the aluminum backplate and the plastic faceplate.  The lettering is cut from the back of the plate which allow backlit illumination of the switch labels. 

The wiring diagrams below show the modifications made to the Blue Seas AC panels to accommodate international power.

Design  Before Reconstruction  During Construction  Completed [top]

Last modified: October 08 2007 11:21