San Juan 21 Class Association

I am restoring a MK1 (sail#263) and have questions about where is the best place to put a batery. the boat did not have a battery when Ibought it. there is a plate w/ various switches on the port wall. There is a box on the staboard side but it seems it was used as a cooler (styrofoam insulation had been placed inside the box long since eaten by mice. I see lots of wires coming from light fixtures at various places about the cabin but they disappear into the fiberglass. Is there a reference anywhere that can help me understand the wiring?

Honestly, I don't think many of us run a big normal battery. I think in my MK1 it was supposed to be in the starboard side of the boat.

The only "power" operated things that most of us, if even that, are bow and stern lights. And most of us have the clip on kind for those rare times too. I had debated putting something in when I bought the boat, and if I had done it, I was going to just use one of those really small 12v batt's rather than a large automotive style one.

Later
C

Thanks - clip on lights seem a much more practical way to go.

Tom

Buy good ones... I never use them, but I had some of the cheap ones for about 6-12 months. Somewhere in there they gave up the ghost, without even being used, while store in a rubbermaid container.

Later
C

Here is an extensive write up i did on my electrical system. I only cruise, so i tend to have more gadgets:

http://www.sj21class.org/phpbb2/viewtop ... f=16&t=171


Enjoy,

Kuriti

I left the lights and wires that my boat had but got rid of the batt and went to one of the smaller car jumper packs, I just clip the wires to the pos and neg and turn it on. It is light weight and rechargable. It will run my running lights for hours. Can also plug in portable stop light or phone charger.
YJacket

I second the 12V jumper pack. I keep mine in the starboard cabinet (when it's on the boat). I power LED nav lights, a small LED cabin light, depth finder, and compass light with mine, and it works for days at a time. I re-wired most runs (all the old wires buried in fiberglass seemed to have a break somewhere I couldn't reach) and used the existing "Clark" switch/fuse panel. I added a negative terminal block for all the runs, and a pigtail with a cigarette lighter adapter to plug directly into the jump pack. This setup works great for us.