Shore Power Plug (10/2017)

I had noticed the shore power plug had some blackening on one of the connectors, so it had been on my to-do list to replace it:



After removing the plug, the damage was revealed to be quite a bit more than it seemed from the outside. The plastic around that lead had completely melted at some point (upper left wire), evidence of severe overheating:


The insulation on the wire also had been close to melting as far as about an inch away from the terminal, surely a fire hazard:


After

On the Catalina 270 the shore power plug is inside one of the cockpit storage cubbyholes which is very nice for protection from the elements but terrible for visibility. One has to try to line up the correct plugs by feel because there is no way to see what one is doing. Sometimes it lines up right away, at other times I've spent many frustrating minutes trying to get it plugged in (which of course always happens when it is cold and dark - thanks Murphy).

That's why in addition to fixing the melted plug I wanted to take the opportunity to upgrade to something more convenient and easier to connect. I installead a SmartPlug connector instead of the regular style. The shape of the SmartPlug makes it easy to plug in blindly.



Back to my Catalina 270 page.