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.

Dura-Plate 235

Dura-Plate 235 Multi-Purpose Epoxy is a modified epoxy phenalkamine, formulated specifically for immersion and atmospheric service in marine and industrial environments. Dura- Plate 235 provides exceptional performance in corrosive environment, and can be applied at temperatures as low as 0°F.

  Self-priming, Low temperature applicationSurface tolerant - damp surfaces, Provides salt water and fresh water immersion resistance, Cures at temperatures as low as 0°F

This stuff covers great.  These images are just 1 coat.  I will put on a second coat after a cure of 48 hours.  Very forgiving, cures a little slower below 32 degrees but nothing that will throw you off.  Bonds well, hard as nails. The only down side is it is VERY expensive.  Almost $80/gallon.  I have gone through 3 gallons in this refit.  But as a primer coat I don't know if it can be beat.  We will see in the coming years if it holds up well.

Cockpit Lockers

 This past weekend only left me a couple of hours for the boat in between soccer games, horses, museums and dinners out.  i had hoped to get a coat of paint in the lockers but really only finalized the prep work.  I epoxied in the final pieces in the stern locker and then fillets and tabbing were installed. 

 
There was a large piece of wood running vertically along the interior edge of the rear cockpit.  It looked like something really beefy was mounted on it or through it.  It had been patched and painted many times but i could see no real reason structurally for it to be there and it was in the way of where I wanted to install the engine control panel.  So it had to come out.  It was epoxied in quite well and took some persuasion to get it out (pry bar).  when it did give up its hold it revealed a bad patch job on a very nice oval opening in the fiberglass with 4 screw holes. 

My guess is an old set of engine controls for the original Volvo that was in the boat.  I can fill and patch it properly now when i redo the cockpit.  I removed the controls from the starboard lazerette and uncoupled the wiring harnesses. 

It is now in the basement and I will make a backing box to protect the rear of the panel after I install it in the wall of the stern locker with a spray shield on the front. 

Finally I filleted and tabbed in the last new support for the fuel tank in the port locker.  Now for some final sanding, prepping and cleaning before a coat of paint goes on, weather permitting.

Battery power

The beginings of my wiring diagram.  I have decided to have the Main starter battery (BAT 1)on the port side and the the House batteries (BAT 2), 2-6 volt golf cart, deep cycle, on the starboard side.  This was decided based on available space and weight distribution.  The diesel tank will go on the port side as well.  The diesel tank full will weigh about 70 lbs and the starter battery weighs in at 60 lbs.  The two deep cycle 6 volts on the  Starboard side weigh 63 lbs a piece.  The 6 volt batteries are a lot taller than the 12v starter batter and I can just about get them in the lazarette down low under the cockpit sole.

 










 By moving the control panels away from the batteries I have created some interesting issues with cable runs.  The biggest issue is with the batter selector switch which is tied to the main panel versus being separate.  The primary battery cables are still AWG 4 calculated at a 3% loss and the runs are only about 10' in length. All of the interior lighting and exterior lighting work out well with this location but the instruments that need to access the cockpit have a longer run.  To get the battery cases in I also have removed the engine exhaust pipe that was questionable if it needed replacement, until i tried to remove it.  It definitely was just a while away from rusting out connections.  The only bilge pump and hose was also removed to be replaced with all new.

I fashioned some risers out of treated 2x material that are glassed to the hull and will be painted with epoxy.  The shelf/platform is made of marine grade ply that will also be epoxied.  The batteries will go in individual battery boxes and the strapped down to the platforms.  The original assembly was floating in the locker and not very secure.

Beginning of the End

Installed the main electrical panel in the new door/box.  Need to add the 12V plug but did not have the correct size hole saw.  The objective for the weekend was to remove the last of the electrical wiring, document the current battery and switch set up, remove the batteries with associated wiring and begin scrapping lockers.  The wiring came out with only a little fight.  The batteries removed easily enough as did the plastic battery trays.  I will replace with fully enclosed battery boxes.  The trays were mounted on some 2x material that was supposed to be glassed to the hull.

I was able to pull them off with my bare hands.  The wood was dry and beginning to rot but the fiberglass tabbing had completely failed.  Gravity was the only thing holding the batteries and base in place.  My trusty little 1 gal shop vac finally gave up the ghost after a couple of years of dutiful service.  So I was limited on how much old paint I could scrape off before the whole thing was a mess.






I took apart the old Yanmar engine control panel which at purchase time did control the starting and stopping of the engine and gave a pretty reliable RPM reading.  I always thought it was a bit cumbersome to lift up the starboard cockpit locker and reach back underneath to access the starter and controls.  I took some measurements and made a decision to relocate it to the rear of the cock pit well.  The wiring harness would reach and I could recess it into the fiberglass wall of the well or flush mount it and cover with a splash guard.  I will price out both options as now is the time to do this and restore the locker to useful storage.  This locker always had to be left somewhat clear to be able to access the controls.






In poking around in the stern locker to make sure the controls panel would fit I found one more area of rot that had to come out.  It was obvious that any water getting into the stern locker was going to pool at the low point trying to get into the bilge. There was no drain hole so it rotted out the plywood instead.  I will fit and tab in a piece of new marine grade plywood and include a drain hole at the low point.  I also took a look at the rudder post.  This looks like it has been weeping for a while.  I will have to try and get that apart and repack it assuming it is like a stuffing box.  I was thinking of installing an access panel in the cockpit sole to gain access to the prop shaft and stuffing box.  I might want to look at putting in another to gain access to the rudder post as well.