One of the issues with an older boat is that when things fail they need to be replaced and trying to find a like for like replacement can be difficult. This is particularly apparent with lights and switches or pretty soon the boat starts to look like a mish-mash of switches. We found this when we needed to add some switches into the stateroom and a double switch into the forepeak with our recent lighting changes. This was relatively easy with the double switch from the state room being moved and two new matching switches being fitted.

However, there have been a number of issues with the old downlighter lights which have springs to hold them in place. A number of these springs had broken in the past and electrical tape had been used to jam them in place. I discovered this when I changed all of the halogen bulbs to LED. With over twenty lights on the boat, this significantly reduced the electrical draw of the lights which could drain the batteries quite quickly if a lot were on. I wanted to find something that was as similar as possible to the existing light fitting and after scouring the internet and various chandleries came up with the Aquafax Arisaig as a halogen replacement from aquafax which I could order through fox’s chandlery in Ipswich.  I could then fit my 24V LED replacement bulbs.  By replacing all of the lights in our stateroom, I freed up enough spares to replace the faulty lights in other parts of the boat. We now have working lights everywhere which don’t fall out of the headlining and the new ones look pretty good too.  Maria seems to like them too….