The "perfect" switch / Control Panel

Regulars have seen these before, but...

First custom panel I did, on the previous boat. A traditional "everything lumped in together" panel, including the engine controls (original Yanmar wiring and components, fitted into this panel instead of the faded and battered original). Key switch replaced with rotary switch, and cutout for the buzzer added. The section marked "Fuses" is a pull-out drawer for spares.


Now on the current boat.

Chart table
The Yeoman mat is stuck to the underneath of the table. The chart is clamped to it using stainless clipboard clips, linked together by a bar and opened by pressing the black plunger next to the puck stowage.
The top row of switches is for "navigational" electrics, and starts from the right with essentials necessary for the briefest daysail, moving left for things that are progressively more likely to be left off. So I can ask someone in the cabin to "turn on everything up to Plotter", for example, when I step behind the wheel to cast off and realise that the depth sounder isn't on. The bottom row of switches is for "domestics", and the Cabin Lights one has a dim LED below it so I can find it when arriving on board in the dark.
The shore power panel includes the guts of one of those three-neon plugin testers.
The fusebox is behind the drop-down panel, and (as described by Paul earlier) includes a number of fused circuits that don't need switches on the front.


Cockpit panel
On the instrument pod next to the plotter, tucked under the windscreen at the front of the cockpit. Turning the nav lights dial selects the appropriate light combination ("high" means lights at the top of the mast, not "high intensity").
Anchor Windlass disconnects the low-current side of the control contactors, acting as a kind of safety-catch so that lying on the foredeck buttons while dealing with a jammed jib furler doesn't unexpectedly run the windlass.


Fuel and bilge panel
Location of the bilge pump switch here is partly for wiring run convenience (it's a 20a circuit so don't want to route it further than needed) but also it's right next to the pump if I wanted to watch it while manually running, and next to the companionway if for some reason I needed to manually run it in emergency (though it should be going on auto anyway).


Location of that panel, just visible through the steps:


Galley light switch
Turns on an LED strip under the side-deck, or the strip plus another LED fixture on the main deckhead above the sink. Alternatively a couple of red LEDs under the glass locker and just above the fridge and the stove, for making a brew at night. Turn left for red, right for white, swiftly becomes totally natural so you don't accidentally turn on the full beam at night and blind yourself.
Note the fridge controller here - there isn't an additional "Fridge" switch at the chart table because there's no need for one, the centre position on this switch is "off".


Binnacle switches
Left switch controls a little DIY gadget that automatically cancels Seatalk1 depth alarms when I'm well aware I'm in shallow water and don't need it to keep beeping distractingly while I'm trying to moor.
Right button is intended to sound a horn out of the VHF's PA speaker on the mast, but isn't yet hooked up to anything...


The panels were all made for me by (oddly) my old Internet Service Provider, A&A.

Pete
 
Last edited:
I came up with this...

day.jpg

Hmmm. Did you ever work for Boeing...?

That's kinda reminiscent of a 747-200 Flight Engineer Panel. ;)
 
Regulars have seen these before, but...


Now on the current boat.

Chart table
The Yeoman mat is stuck to the underneath of the table. The chart is clamped to it using stainless clipboard clips, linked together by a bar and opened by pressing the black plunger next to the puck stowage.
The top row of switches is for "navigational" electrics, and starts from the right with essentials necessary for the briefest daysail, moving left for things that are progressively more likely to be left off. So I can ask someone in the cabin to "turn on everything up to Plotter", for example, when I step behind the wheel to cast off and realise that the depth sounder isn't on. The bottom row of switches is for "domestics", and the Cabin Lights one has a dim LED below it so I can find it when arriving on board in the dark.
The shore power panel includes the guts of one of those three-neon plugin testers.
The fusebox is behind the drop-down panel, and (as described by Paul earlier) includes a number of fused circuits that don't need switches on the front.


Cockpit panel
On the instrument pod next to the plotter, tucked under the windscreen at the front of the cockpit. Turning the nav lights dial selects the appropriate light combination ("high" means lights at the top of the mast, not "high intensity").
Anchor Windlass disconnects the low-current side of the control contactors, acting as a kind of safety-catch so that lying on the foredeck buttons while dealing with a jammed jib furler doesn't unexpectedly run the windlass.


Fuel and bilge panel
Location of the bilge pump switch here is partly for wiring run convenience (it's a 20a circuit so don't want to route it further than needed) but also it's right next to the pump if I wanted to watch it while manually running, and next to the companionway if for some reason I needed to manually run it in emergency (though it should be going on auto anyway).


Location of that panel, just visible through the steps:


Galley light switch
Turns on an LED strip under the side-deck, or the strip plus another LED fixture on the main deckhead above the sink. Alternatively a couple of red LEDs under the glass locker and just above the fridge and the stove, for making a brew at night. Turn left for red, right for white, swiftly becomes totally natural so you don't accidentally turn on the full beam at night and blind yourself.
Note the fridge controller here - there isn't an additional "Fridge" switch at the chart table because there's no need for one, the centre position on this switch is "off".


Binnacle switches
Left switch controls a little DIY gadget that automatically cancels Seatalk1 depth alarms when I'm well aware I'm in shallow water and don't need it to keep beeping distractingly while I'm trying to moor.
Right button is intended to sound a horn out of the VHF's PA speaker on the mast, but isn't yet hooked up to anything...


The panels were all made for me by (oddly) my old Internet Service Provider, A&A.

Pete

Nice setup!
Any pictures of your fuse / behind panel wiring?
I find that stuff as interesting as all the pretty fascias!
 
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