posted 08-31-2000 12:37 AM ET (US)            

- The West Marine catalog (E&B Marine is the
same outfit). The "West Advisor" columns
in the catalog are pretty straight, and
(mostly) avoid selling you the most
expensive stuff. Note that I said MOST
expensive stuff. Nothing about boats is
cheap.

- Chapman Piloting, Seamanship and Small Boat
Handling. This will discuss the correct
lights for your boat, and teach you a lot
about how to operate it. When you pick it
up, you'll think it's going to cost $50.
It $25 at West, $36 at Amazon, $45 list.
It's the biggest bargain in boating.

- MAYBE, probably overkill at this point,
Nigel Calder's Boatowner's Mechanical and
Electrical Manual.

Don't put anything electrical on a boat that
came from a hardware store or an auto parts
store. The marine environment is just to
corrosive for it. And the marine grade stuff
is just plane better (and the price reflects
it). One of these days, I'm going to toss
all the autoparts store crimp-ons in the
garage and replace them with marine grade
stuff.

You need to use the good
Ancor tinned wire. Solder anything that can
be soldered and cover it with the Ancor
hot melt glue lined heat shrink. Use the
correct ABYC color codes: grey for hot to
the lights, yellow for ground (neg.)
The tables say 18 gauge would be right,
but it's pretty flimsy. I'd use 14 gauge
(and that's what whaler used on my montauk).
Use the cable (two wires inside a white cover
if it will fit.

Read up on the correct fusing and switching.

It sounds like you are hot to put the new
rub rail on this weekend. Leave plenty of
extra hanging out so you have enough to work
with when you install the lights, switches
and fuses.

And one final thing: Use the shift key and
periods. Your posts are hard to read because
you don't.

Chuck Tribolet