Wonder what that switch is for?
18 May 2012 | Vuda Point Marina
Cloud and nice.
When we first bought Zephyr(almost 5 years ago) I had long conversations the the last owner, Bill. I'd asked him what the switch that said "LIGHT" was on the panel that has the key to start the engine. He had no idea.
Jump forward to today. When ever we run the engine at night, the lights on the instruments(oil pressure, water temperature, voltage, and tachometer) didn't work. You had to use a flashlight from time to time to see if everything was alright. Today was the day to see why they didn't work.
I unscrewed the cabinet and easily found the wires that went to the four lights in question. Attached to the fitting was a pink wire that disappeared into the boat. I unscrewed the ceiling panels and Tracy found the correct wire. I pulled on it a bit just to be sure. Across the ceiling it went and down into the starboard wall cabinet. Under the settee and into one of the cabinets in the galley. Down to the floor and under the floor boards and back to the engine room. Into the engine room and across it and up the far wall. Through a hole cut in the forward firewall and right into the cabinet that has the switch to start the engine. It was attached to the switch that says "LIGHT". Amazing. All these years and no one knew. Unfortunately, the other wire that conducts the current wasn't attached to anything. I found a positive current wire and screwed it on. Tracy grabbed a blanket and headed for the cockpit to check out the instruments. She needed some darkness to see if they worked. Once covered, I threw the switch and we had light. Three of four light worked. The one on the tachometer didn't light up. I pulled out the bulb and it looked like it was burned out. I quickly changed clothes and headed out for the 1300 bus to town in search of a new bulb.
Seven stores later, I had the replacement bulb and headed back. The new bulb didn't work either. For some reason, the socket for the bulb only reads 9 volts and not 12. Tomorrow, I'll try and figure out why and get it all fixed. It will be nice to have lights on the instruments when we are out at night. A bit of security when the engine is running.