Florescent Light bulb for Galley?

[Lane]

What is the least expensive way to get a new florescent bulb that is out for my Catalina Mark 11- 1994 galley? Thanks in advance if anyone knows.:D

[Allan R]

There are a variety of places to buy (auto/Rv, etc.) Below is a link you can try.

Link (http://www.pplmotorhomes.com/parts/rv-lights/12v-fluorescent-tubes.htm)

[caprice 1050]

Lane
I bought one for Caprice at Home Depot a year or so ago. Mine is 12" at 8 watts, 12 volts.
Mike

[stu jackson c34]

Take the old one out and go to Ace Hardware with it. They have lots of replacement lamps. Ours is a fluorescent T5 lamp. The old one was cool white, the new one is warm white and it makes a large difference - the lamp color is important, too.

[mutualfun]

Have you ever thought about changing the insides over to LED and keeping the same fixture. The lights are bright and low amps, and will last a lot longer. I have done all of ours and tossed the florescent out. The ones that I used are very simple to insert. It will cost you more at first, and it take 2 screws to mount the insert into the old fixture. If you would like I will add the web site.
Randy

[Mark Wey]

Randy, Please go ahead and add the website. Also, did you change any of the other lights over to LED while keeping the old fixture?

Thanks,

Mark Wey

[Allan R]

I would be interested in seeing your lighting upgrade as well.

Thanks

[mutualfun]

Here is the link to the strip lights I bought. I picked them up last year at the Strictly Sail in Chicago for $20 each but I see they have went up in price.
http://mastlight.com/Products/HL-40LEDDCW.html

What I did was took everything out that was used for the florescent and used the power in leads to splice into for the LED strip. Looking at it you can not tell it was altered unless you take the white lens cover off.

As for the rest of the light. The only one I have that is a regular bulb is the deck light, Everything else is now LED on our boat. There is a old post I think back someplace that I wrote about changing over the inside lights and where I got them from. I had pictures of the whole process I did but it was on my laptop which got stolen. I will be going back to the boat this week and will take a few pictures of the finished lights for all to view. The Lights I used for the inside came from Menard's and has I think 18 lights in the puck. You have to do some rework but if your handy it is a cheap and great way to go.

Randy

[TomSoko]

Randy,
Your light-swappng project would be a GREAT addition to JibSheet, Mainsheet, and/or the website. If you could take a few pictures and write a few lines about what you did, I'd be happy to post it for you. Thanks!

[mutualfun]

Give me about a week Tom to do that. I am a couple of hours from the boat and just waiting to see what happens with the current snow storm we are getting currently. Once I can travel I will go and get a few pictures for everyone.
Randy

[cillman]

Randy - Thanks for the link, I went and ordered a couple strip lights for myself.

Craig

[mutualfun]

Here are a couple of pictures of the lamps I converted over to LED. The strip light has white white lens taken off and the flash from the camera made viewing the other hard. Sorry about them not being the best but it was 12 degrees in the boat and my fingers were dam cold.
Randy