30+ Battery switch replacement

[L-G Harvey]

Last year about this time I started a thread about the battery switch on my 1984 30+ which had been broken by marina staff awkwardly attempting a repair. My concern was replacing the switch while being able to maintain the stock panel. I managed to rig the switch to get through the summer last year and was only able to replace it a few weeks ago, since we were late getting to the boat this year because of medical issues.

In any case, I thought I would report on this repair so that others will know what switch to use. Last summer someone had suggested the Seadog switch (model number 422750, 5 inch outside diameter) and it turns out this is almost a duplicate of the original switch: it is the same size and identical in its technical specs. The original switch was flush mounted to the rear face of the panel using contact cement. I have attached photos showing the broken original and the rear of the panel after I scraped off the contact cement. I mounted the new switch the same way. The trick is to line up the switch as closely as possible even though the new switch has a little less travel and will not line up exactly with the marks on the panel. However, the knob on the new unit fit snugly once the switch was glued in place and the repair allowed me to retain the stock look of the panel.<o></o>
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</o>A couple of words of caution. Some of the components are old and brittle. The three way toggle switch for the battery meter broke when I removed the panel and it took longer to change that than the original job (big fingers, small screws...), although the replacement only cost $5.<o></o>
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</o>I hope this helps anyone facing the same problem.

Cheers,<o></o>
Louis<o></o>