Out with the old! In the early 80s when Thursday's Child was originally built the electronics aboard a boat like her we incredibly simple no GPS or 12V outlets or fancy led lighting. If the 12v panel is any indication the boat really only came wired with lights and there was no option to expand. While the old panel had faithfully served it's purpose for quite a while I decided that it was time to replace it with something a little bigger and a little more suited to the 21st century incarnation of Thursday's Child. I wanted to be able to control the lights, sailing instruments, outlets, GPS, and any other additions independently. I also wanted breakers as opposed to fuses so that if something went wrong I didn't find myself desperately looking around for an appropriate sized fuse - a situation that was only likely to occur in the dark in rough weather...
In with the new! I opted to go for a slightly customized BlueSea panel complete with breakers, lots of room for expansion, battery monitors and even an amp meter so i can see how much current the boat is drawing! Of course this wasn't as simple a task as i was hoping - much of the wiring needed to be replaced as it was just a little too short to reach the new panel, and of course the original cabinet wasn't wide enough to accommodate the new panel. I suppose these things aren't really meant to be easy anyway. It took me a few days but it is all installed and working brilliantly! What's wrong with this picture!?
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