[duffer1960]

You are using the term series and parallel incorrectly. Reading your post, it sounds like you want to run one positive wire, and one negative wire through your boat for the lighting, and then connecting each light between the positive and negative wire. Yes, you could then say the lights are in "Series" the way they are physically located in the boat, from front to back, but they are actually electrically connected in parallel. This is how boats are already wired. I have one switch on my panel for the cabin lights. I turn on that switch and there is power delivered to each light fixture. Each fixture then has it's own switch. All of these lights are in parallel on the electrical circuit. There isn't one seperate pair of wires running to each light, that would be a boat-load (sorry for the pun, I couldn't resist) of wires! Your house is the same way, the lights may be considered as physically located in series throughout the house, put they are electrically connected to the wire in parallel, each light going from the hot wire to the ground.