We got a bit more done on the houseboat project, today. Debbie had to give me a hand with things from time to time, as I'm still nursing this damaged arm and not moving too fast... First, we went in and got all of the plumbing joints glued and in position, from the fitting a couple of days ago. Next, I modified a Federal-Pacific electrical panel for 120 vac single phase ONLY operation in a boat. The US Coast Guard Electrical Guidelines require that a boat that receives shore power should have the electrical neutral and ground bars separated, and that the neutral be kept above ground (independent from earth ground). The earth ground is connected to the boat hull, the neutral is an independent current carrying conductor and isolated from the boat hull. The electrical system then must be connected to shore power via a galvanic isolator. Once I modified the panel to float the neutral above ground, I jumpered both sides of the line input together, so the panel is only for 115 vac input (the shore power I have access to at the marina is 115 vac, not the 220 vac power as supplied to larger slips). I'll be only using one side of the double pole relays seen in the photo below. I will also be swapping the breakers out for the appropriately sized breakers, but this is OK for my initial layout and testing.
Below you can see the jumper I installed to bridge bosh sides of the buss together for 115 vac only operation. The "main" breakers will be the larger double pole breakers, even though I'll only use one pole of each from the appropriate source. The boat will have power from 3 possible sources, depending on where it is and what is available...shore power from a slip, generator power from the on-board gen, or solar from the on-board solar/battery system.
I framed up the rear wall in the bedroom for the panel, and got that installed. I'll be pulling wire into it, next, once I get the electrical boxes roughed in. Below is a pic of the front panel that I relabeled, and of the panel installed in the rear wall.
I needed to get the framing completed in the upper wall section, where the first roof angle starts, in order to mount the upper electrical boxes and get the wiring pulled around accordingly. This required screwing in some of the trim strips along the top wall, and cutting 26ea 1" x 4" pine boards with an edge angle of 25 degrees, to allow the upper box and wall covering attachment. I have them in place in the pics below, but have to come back with th nail gun and complete the job.
