Re-wire progress with Pics

[Reel Knotty]

Hi All,

Progress is slower than hoped, but moving along. The spaghetti mess under my dash had me going crazy, as well as the mess under the transom, so I ordered marine wire, fuse holders, switches, etc and got started. Have a new Fish finder and VHF to install as well, so...

The boat
http://home.comcast.net/~burright/Reel_Knotty.JPG

The mess I have made thus far...
http://home.comcast.net/~burright/Messy.JPG

Had to pretty much take everything apart to remove old FF wires and route new wires.
http://home.comcast.net/~burright/All_apart.JPG

The transom area is a big mess, have to plan how to make that mess a little more tidy...
http://home.comcast.net/~burright/Transom_mess.JPG

Figuring out where to place everything is a pain when there is not much room to work with. Keep in mind the VHF and CB are not pictured here...sigh
http://home.comcast.net/~burright/placement....JPG

I Found that HDPE is very, very nice stuff when working around a boat. I used it to make an insulated mounting plate for the new power and ground busses underneath the dash where they hopefully will not get to wet.
http://home.comcast.net/~burright/New_busses.JPG

Last but not least, the new transducer was quite a bit bigger than the one previously on the boat. The existing bracket bolted to the transom was not wide enought to accomodate. So, HDPE to the rescue again. I wanted to make a larger aluminum bracket, but I did not have any marine grade aluminum around, and the sheet metal brake I ordered is on back order and will not be in for four to six weeks :hoboy:
http://home.comcast.net/~burright/transducer.JPG

Anyway, that is the progress thus far. The VHF will mount under the dash in such a way that I can access it without killing my knees or the radio (it is cool, submersible, DSC, and has distress feature...after I hook the GPS to it). The CB is the remote mount all-in-one handpiece model from Cobra, so will be easy. The hard part will be electronic interference with the compass...sigh.

There are other mods yet to come...installing a glove box (don't have one :hoboy:, but bought new door for it, just need that brake to arrive), enlarging scupper in bow, making a real splashwell, and maybe, just maybe, putting on a removeable radar arch (that heavy fog makes me nervous, especially when I hear the BIG boats drawing near :bigshock:)

[Gundog]

Make sure and use some corrosion inhibitor on all the connections it is very important in a marine environment.
Keta posted some good info a while back with links on boat wiring if you did not read it I suggest looking it up and reading.
Mike

[Reel Knotty]

Thanks for the tip, I have some inhibitor I use on a regular basis when in the salt. Works really well.

Now once I get the @#$#! steering wheel off, I can finish layout on the dash and start drilling.

[Gundog]

I have a steering wheel puller if you would like to use it.
Mike

[1pump]

:hoboy: That's a mess under the transom for sure.


I just rewired a Whaler about 2 months ago. It took longer to rip the old jury-rigging out than it did to install the new stuff.

[Reel Knotty]

Mike,

Thank you for the offer. I picked up a gear puller the other night, so should be in good shape.

Changed my mind about individual fuses in the dash, and picked up a nice blue seas blade style fuse block with ground buss to replace the busses I orginally purchased. Trade-off is I have to get under dash when checking fuses, however, I have rarely blown any, so should not be a big deal.

I will work on a nice aluminum enclosure for the fuse block once the sheet metal brake arrives :dance:

[walkersteelhead]

I'm getting ready to rewire my boat. I was thinking of using THHN. Since I have plenty laying around. Anyone know of a better wire to use. I have read surfing around that it is better to use tin-coated copper. I have never heard heard of a wire like that but who am I.

[Reel Knotty]

Tinned copper wire is 'standard' for marine use. Anchor makes the wire I used. You can find it in at any marina...many of them have wire in differnet gauges and different insulator color available by the foot.

[StickFish]

Was on a loacl Plastic Companies Web site and fund something a tad better than HPDE especially if you are in a salt environment - they call it Seaboard. This plastics company happens to be near a Tigard Marine shop that doesn't have boats in the parking lot and is near the BIG Orange Box store.

Seaboard is supposed to be UV stable and doesn't interact chemically in the marine environment - sounds like the ticket.

A good inhibitor to use is called Penetrox, it is a conductive grease - I use it on all my outdoor antenna assemblies and installations along with a sealant, there are several types.

[Sensei-san]

Tinned copper wire is the only wire to use on a boat. You can use THHN but if you get a nick in the insulation, saltwater will wick into the wire and turn it into copper paste. The tin plating protects the wire strands and slows down the corrosion. Commercial boats should use UL 1426 approved boat cable. Ancor, AIW and some other brands make boat cable. Ancor is the best. It is more flexible than the others and is easier to pull.

Also if you do any soldering, use lead free solder. It is mostly tin with a little silver added. Lead based solder has the same fate as unprotected copper. It goes bad quick in saltwater.