Breaker Panel Access - MT 36 Sundeck

[DBG8492]

How in the name of all that's holy do you work on this breaker panel?

There is ZERO room behind it - but it looks like you're supposed to remove a screw from the breaker on the front and pull it out of the back. However, half of the 12v positive common-side connections are soldered. And for the other side, they're screwed in, but there's no way to get a screwdriver in there.

There are no screws holding it in from the front, so I don't see any way to remove it or get it to "fold out" or anything.

I'm pretty sure that the breaker for the sump pump is bad, but I don't for the life of me see how I'm going to get it out of there and replace it.

 

[Bmarler]

How in the name of all that's holy do you work on this breaker panel?

There is ZERO room behind it - but it looks like you're supposed to remove a screw from the breaker on the front and pull it out of the back. However, half of the 12v positive common-side connections are soldered. And for the other side, they're screwed in, but there's no way to get a screwdriver in there.

There are no screws holding it in from the front, so I don't see any way to remove it or get it to "fold out" or anything.

I'm pretty sure that the breaker for the sump pump is bad, but I don't for the life of me see how I'm going to get it out of there and replace it.

Unfortunately it’s fairly common to have a soldered positive buss on the breaker panel on old Taiwanese trawlers. It’s a real challenge working on them sometimes.
You may have luck taking the front screws out of all the breakers that are attached together and pull them back as a group. It could get you the space to get a screwdriver on it. Or not… good luck!

 

[DBG8492]

Unfortunately it’s fairly common to have a soldered positive buss on the breaker panel on old Taiwanese trawlers. It’s a real challenge working on them sometimes.
You may have luck taking the front screws out of all the breakers that are attached together and pull them back as a group. It could get you the space to get a screwdriver on it. Or not… good luck!

HAHAHAHA

Holy S**t...

Well - it is what it is I suppose.

Thanks for the info!

 

[Comodave]

On our last boat we had sorta the same situation. Add to that the builder wired the second shore power inlet directly into the bus bar without any overcurrent protection. Add to that there was no access to the rear of te panel to work on it. So I decided to replace the whole panel with a Blue Seas panel, love their stuff. I built a shallow cabinet to house the new panel. I hinged it so that when I wanted to work on the back of the panel I could swing the cabinet out 90 degrees and have great access to the rear of the panel. It worked great. I will put a photo of it but unfortunately I don’t have any other photos of it.

 

[DBG8492]

On our last boat we had sorta the same situation. Add to that the builder wired the second shore power inlet directly into the bus bar without any overcurrent protection. Add to that there was no access to the rear of te panel to work on it. So I decided to replace the whole panel with a Blue Seas panel, love their stuff. I built a shallow cabinet to house the new panel. I hinged it so that when I wanted to work on the back of the panel I could swing the cabinet out 90 degrees and have great access to the rear of the panel. It worked great. I will put a photo of it but unfortunately I don’t have any other photos of it.

Yes, a new panel and (mostly) new wiring is in the cards - just not right this second

I will figure something out that doesn't involve even trying to take that panel apart.