Rewire salon lights on the 37

As wired by the factory, all ten (10) of the salon lights on the NT37 are on the same circuit. There are 7 over the galley area and 3 over the settee. Splitting the lights into 2 separate circuits is straightforward requiring modest electrical skills.

We spend a lot of time at anchor and didn't like the idea of burning all those amp-hours in the evenings. Our solution was to add a switch to the existing wallplate and split the lights port and starboard. Now the original switch operates the galley lights and the new switch operates the settee lights. This turned out to be a very simple modification because the factory wires each of the 10 lights individually to a common terminal area which is readily accessible behind the galley cabinets.

Over the course of a typical evening you can save quite a few amp-hours by just running the settee lights. We find they provide sufficient illumination for most activities unless you are actually using the galley. Another possibility would be to split out every other light, 5 and 5, to provide a pseudo-dimmer effect. Although I haven't tried it, it would be very easy to experiment with different combinations by moving the individual wiring leads between the 2 terminal strips.

Photo 1 shows the new 4-gang wallplate. As built, the boat came with a 3-gang wallplate. The old switches and wiring were transferred to the new plate and a new switch and jumper wire added.

In Photo 2 the lighting terminal strip is visible behind the removable panel in the cabinet outboard of the refrigerator. A new terminal strip was added and the 3 settee wires transferred to it. The disturbed wiring is noted by the orange tie-wraps.

Jim & Pat Waskowich
Grand Adventure - NT 37-142
NT37142@aol.com

Ideas list