Runnin' Wires

There never seems to be enough of everything when doing a job like wiring as it takes so many little components.  the wire, ends, crimps, blocks, buss bars, fixtures, mounts, zip ties, etc.  And everything is it's own specific size.  So I have three wire sizes on the boat so multiply the above list by 3.  Takes a lot of stuff.  I ran out of the positive battery cable.  I ordered 50 feet and probably need about 8 feet more for the addition of the ACR routing and fuses that I added.  I have too much neg/ground battery cable.  It looks like I will be OK on the other sizes with ample left over.  I had ordered 250 feet each of the #14 and 50 feet each of the #10.  The rest of the bits I will have to keep ordering as I go. I can't figure out exactly what I will need till I have the final layouts and wires run.  I do have way too much heat shrink with adhesive  Primarily because I changed the way I was going to do everything.

 I had planned on crimped and soldered joints.  The prevailing wisdom amongst those in the know is that with the new ring fasteners that already come with the adhesive shrink wrap are sufficient without solder and the solder can even be detrimental as it can wick up the wire creating a hard spot that can not be supported and thus fatiguing the wire.  In addition I decided not to solder the battery cable joints either as there is no way to solder and keep the plastic wire shield from melting.  It is better to have the shield shoulder right up to the lug for added support.  Then add the adhesive shrink wrap.  I added the clear plastic shrink wrap to go over all the labels so I can find the wires that I run at the time of termination.  I was able to borrow a battery cable crimper and a ring crimper so it makes life a lot easier (and cheaper).

I ran everything from the main panel forward which really only consisted of lights and fans.  It takes time to figure out the best paths which will be the least viable.  The head has the most visible wires in it as it is the only way to get vertical to the Terminal Block that will be the disconnect point for the mast lights.  I will refine and wrap as I keep going.  The forward navigation lights are now pre-wired and will be connected when installed.  A reading light and fan in the for-peak and two lights in the main cabin. 

I have all of the main battery cable runs made and will finalize the connections as I go this week.  The main positive and neg/ground to the engine is done and connected.  I replaced it as it was found.  The Yanmar must have a combined starter and alternator wiring harness as there was only a couple pf small wires from the alternator going back into the harness.  There was no direct line going back to the battery as I would have expected.  This messed with me for a while and I looked at the wiring diagrams for a good hour before I was able to draw this conclusion.

 I will continue on terminating the and wiring the back half of the boat which will be the stern nav lights and ACR wiring and fusing and the Main Neg/ground buss bar..  The wiring for the electronics such as VHF, Chart plotter and Depth/speed log will all go to a positive buss and the negs will go to the neg buss.  If that gets wrapped up next weekend then I can get back to finishing the teak.

Electrical Prep

This weekend allowed for some time on the boat.  Last weekend I only had time for sanding on the boat which doesn't allow for very interesting reading or viewing.  However I sanded all of the teak cockpit hatch seats that could be removed from the boat.  Then i sanded all of the teak cockpit combings.  They will require another final sanding before stain and varnish.  I also this weekend discovered by chance how to remove the hatch so I plan on taking the hatch and doors off the sand and varnish with the seats.  I ordered enough varnish to start the job.  probably not enough to finish it all.

The other big news was the order of all the electrical wire came in.  So now I have two completely different jobs at hand.  One is dirty and outside.  The other is clean and inside.  The electrical required some prep before I was ready to begin the install.  I had installed the battery boxes with the straps provided.  They were junk.  Cheap plastic with difficult buckles and poor mounting.  I made new straps from commercial tie downs.  I cut off the hooks on the ends and melted in some screw holes with a hot nail.  These I attached with SS screws and washers to the backer boards and now have a very strong, positive locking tie down that I know won't come loose in a sea way.  I had an extra one so I made an additional tie down for the forward water tank.  The rear of the tank is secure under a support beam but the front is technically loose.  My only flaw is this will work it's way forward and slip off so I need to add another strap to keep it tied back.

I created a lateral path through the starboard side of the boat under the settees and through all of the bulkheads.  I used 1-1/2" PVC tubes cut in 3" sections to create a channel that would support and guide the main wire bundle.  They were screwed onto support pieces that were already laminated to the hull and epoxied into place when penetrating a bulkhead.  The edges of the tube were sanded down to minimize any chafe. With the left over epoxy I adhered the two 10 gang pos. and neg. busses to the exterior hull.  I ran the battery positives and the main negative last night.  I will label them tonight and continue to run the additional wires as needed before beginning the job of crimping and soldering the ends.  I still need heat shrink tube and solder.  I also need to understand what size post will come on the batteries.  I don't want to pick up the batteries till the end of the job so they are not sitting around aging.

More Epoxy Paint

I have been away from the boat and home for two weeks, so there is no real progress.  This weekend I did get a chance to finish painting the stern locker and cutting out new lazzerette shelves from 1/2" marine grade ply.  I was able to get one coat of paint on them and will get a second on this week sometime.  I also worked on a replacement for the missing light pedestal on the stern.  There was only one on the boat when I got it.  I have fashioned a sorry looking replica that should suffice when I get it all done.