Upgrading the Electrical System

I have spent the last five days upgrading the 120 volt electrical system of Island Queen. The system was original plus a bunch of cutting and adding over the last 35 years. In short it was a mess. The original system used 16 gauge SO cord. Basically not the same cable used for extension cords. The circuits were all 10 amp so you could not hardly use two things at the same time. Now every inch of wire is new, all new boxes and devices, and a new breaker panel. The whole system has been replaced. I can now see a light at the end of the tunnel as far as the electric goes. I still have to rewire the 12 volt wiring which will take more time the the 120 volt did,but it is not as overwhelming as it was.

The panel for the 12v dc and 120v ac was originally all one panel and all the wiring was run together as one system. I have now separated the two systems as they should be. The way the panel was installed in the boat I could not just buy a new panel off the shelf without doing a lot of reworking the woodwork to make it fit. So I built a panel to fit the area. It worked out really well. I will build the new dc panel in much the same way. I used 1/8 aluminum for the panel and Blue Sea breakers. I installed a hing so the panel can be opened to be serviced insteal of standing on your head in the closet to work on it. West Marine wanted $24.99 each for the breakers, I got them from Defender for $12.99 each.

Original AC and DC panel. DC on top and AC on bottem.

AC portion of the panel.

Back of the AC portion.

New AC panel.

AC panel opened up. Note the breakers are feed by a bus bar, not 2 million wires.

AC panel closed without back installed.