Catalina 27 - electrical

[GeneFuller]

This past summer while on cruise I had a battery problem. Although everything on the panel was turned off, I left the battery switch on and in the morning the battery was dead. This problem repeated itself. When home I put an ammeter in line and found it was drawing about 2 amps with all circuits off but battery switch on. I started isolating one circuit at a time and found nothing but whem I put it all back together the problem had gone away. I wish it had not gone away. As is I have no idea what or if I fixed antthing !!! Mt best guess is that it might be alternator diodes. But why did it go away? Any ideas will be appreciated.
Gene / ESCAPADE II

[SlowButSteady]

You might have some drain via a bit of corrosion, or even just a bit of salty moisture, causing a fairly high resistance short somewhere. If your automatic bilge pump circuit bypasses your main battery switch and distribution panel, as is most boats (and rightly so), that may be a place to give a bit of added scrutiny.

[tip]

Intermittent electrical issues like that are a real pain. If it were me, I would do a thorough inspection of the electrical system. You didn't mention if the system was original or not, but maybe its time to think about replacing the electrical on your 27.

Regarding the alternator, in my experiences if it was a diode, the draw would be constant.

Good luck and let us know what you find.