AC power outlets
The 42DS is supplied with 7 single AC sockets as standard. The sockets for the water heater and microwave are hidden inside lockers with the remaining 5 being bulkhead mounted as listed below:
- Fore cabin
- Saloon (chart table)
- Saloon (galley)
- Aft cabin (hanging locker bulkhead)
- Aft cabin (aft bulkhead)
Although this seems to be sufficient I discovered that we were regularly trailing extension cables around in certain areas. I could avoid extension cable completely by fitting the following:
- TV:- Single UK style Berker socket on the bulkhead at forward end of the saloon
- Fan heater & laptop:- UK style domestic twin sockets on bulkhead underneath chart table
- Table lamp:- Bulkhead forward of galley
- Hair drier & curling tongs:- Bulkhead underneath starboard seat in the aft cabin
Adding more AC sockets should not overload the wiring as the mains RCD will trip at a little over 4kW. Most marina supplies will also trip at the same limit or even much lower. I believe that most boat owners manage power usage to avoid the supply tripping. We certainly avoid running heavy loads such as heaters and electric kettles at the same time. This helps to keep the load under 2kW with short 3kW peaks when boiling a 2.2kW kettle. However, any new wiring should still be capable of transferring 4.5kw to any single socket on the boat's AC system.
Parts
I purchased 2 UK domestic twin 13A sockets plus 2 new Berker sockets. The Berker sockets are made up from 3 parts, allowing selection of UK style rather than the European ones fitted by Jeanneau. The Berker cover, frame and wall box are shown below.
New wiring required 6 metres of 3-core 2.5mm² heavy duty mains cable. I purchased H07RN-F grade as this is suitable for a marine environment. The Neoprene coating is extremely tough, flexible, weatherproof and resistant to oil. It has an overall diameter of 11.5mm and can handle 4.5kW when used between -25°C to 85°C.
Installation notes
Connecting the additional sockets proved to be very simple as there were plenty of spare push-in connectors. Two connections behind the electrical panel at the chart table provided power for the new port side sockets. The rear panel on the hanging locker in the fore cabin is held in place with 6 screws. This gives good access to mount the new Berker socket on the bulkhead ahead of the hull window in the saloon.
The original Berker socket in the galley is mounted on a small easily removeable panel. Undo the screws inside the adjacent cupboard and then lift the panel off to access the wiring and rear of the adjacent bulkhead to fit a second Berker socket. I switched the new Berker UK type socket with the existing European one at this point. This means that the electric kettle is fed from a UK 3-pin socket.
The rear panel on the hanging locker in the aft cabin is removed in the same manner as the one in the fore-cabin. This gives access to a spare connector so that the wiring can be run down to the twin socket underneath the starboard side seat.
All high power devices (heater,hair drier etc.) are now fed from 3-pin UK style sockets. Lower power devices use European plugs or plug-in adapters.
