wiring chase

[Page 83]

Page 83's wiring chase is so full it moans when the weather changes. Naturally, this compels me to update all the electronics. My first and nastiest challenge is to identifiy and remove any old unused stuff. I would love to hear ANY suggestions on how to do that. How have you all dealt with this problem? Alternative routes?

[chicagocat]

Sandy,

I did exactly this last year and it's certainly a pain, but I don't know an easy way around it. Use a cheap hand held multimeter and chase down the wire ends. Then flip circuit breakers while testing voltages to make sure you know exactly what you're cutting before you snip.

Obviously, the radar cable is pretty easy to figure out. If you're upgrading the radar you need to decide what to do about the new radar cable where it goes through the mast. That's a whole different can of worms, though.

Are you replacing the depth and speed transducers in the hull?

Brendan

[Cat Tales]

Another alternative route to run low gauge wiring is just above the top step leading down to the starboard hull (about two feet starboard of the wire chase). The hot & cold water lines follow this route between the head & the pump. If you open the helm electronic's lower access panel (where the inverter is located), look starboard following the wall paneling, you should be able to see where the starboard hull joins the bridgedeck. You can also see this access through the starboard settee, directly beneath the nav station one-piece insert. I found this route last year when I replaced the floor between both hulls (over the wiring chase), but it will be difficult to fish wire through this access.

Tip: Before replacing the floor, I placed line in the wire chase & this alternative route to act as a wire pull. It has simplified running wire between the helm & electric panel.

[chicagocat]

Chris,

I'm really glad to learn about that hidden tunnel. I suspected there was something over there, but I never found it. That may come in handy when I do some work this spring.
Thanks.

[Page 83]

Sigh.... It never ends.
Hey! Thats what I got into this for; something to fill my idle, golden hours, right? (hmmmmm.)
Is the turn to the step a larger radius than the channel? It might make sense to move the fat DC and AC cables there and leave the channel for data.

I've acquired two new chart plotters (Garmin 3010 and 4208) the GMR 18 radar, XM Weather, an AIS receiver, and a new VHF. I'm putting the 3010 at the helm and the 4208 at the Nav Station, along with all the network stuff, so I got to pull the old radar cable out and replace it with just the network connection. That should have made a little room in the channel, but it sure doesn't show yet.

[Page 83]

Brendan
I replaced the transducers last season. I dreamed up a tool from 4" PVC pipe, and all-thread rod to pull the old txdcr tube. There's a trick, but its easy. The "long" plastic barrel ST60 speed txdcr was too short, so I ground a half inch out of the top of the interior mounting block with a hole saw and a grinder. I coated the bare wood (Which was dry!) with penetrating epoxy and bolted in the new assembly. I bought a junction box made by airmar but sold by Raymarine to convert the ST60 txdcr signal to my ST50 instrument.

I removed my JRC radome and cable and mounted the Garmin GMR18, which has a huge cable. I had to pull the mast to pull the cable through my PVC-pipe channel in the mast. Many curses. Now its done. I also took care of the usual mast chores at that time. I had used a West Marine Junction box under the deck when I installed the JRC, and will use it again, adding the rest of the wiring (wind txdcr, lights, RCA cable for the camera, etc.) when I get to that point.

[Tanah-Keeta]

When I installed my radar on 36089, I ran it down the outside of the mast using a pvc product from PYC and then just ran the cable over the deck to the chartplotter in the cockpit. This saves running the wire thru the boat and makes it possible to remove the radar and use it when you are running with the mast down.

[Lady of the Lake]

OK, tell me where this other cable run is? I know of the little tunnel under the salon floor with access from inside the access under the helm instruments on the inside and connecting to the area under the salon seat near the back of the nav station. I also know of the passage from port to starboard behind the step in the companionway. And finally, the pvc running through the starboard bilge. But were you saying there was another behind the starboard steps?

[chicagocat]

Sandy,

Yeah, the new Raytheon radar cable I installed was much bigger than the old one as well. I tried to use a fishtape and pull it through without dropping the mast, but that was a total &*%#ing failure (much frustration). I pulled the stick, then ran the cable from the navstation through the wire chase, then under the settee, then installed a junction box under the rear settee seat (near the water tank). From that junction, the cable runs up the mast to the Radome. I hope that makes sense.

Raytheon's official policy is that you shouldn't cut a radar cable. But apparently everyone does it. The important thing is that you use a good junction box with very low impedance, and (most importantly) never shorten the cable. I don't know too much about how radar works, but it's very sensitive to the timing delays of the cable. Just leave any extra cable in a loop sitting on top of the water tank.


Brendan

[Page 83]

Luckily, the Garmin radar has most of the electronics in the Dome; the data cable is Ethernet! But for some reason, Garmin molded a huge skin around the data and power cables, and its now an oval nearly 3/4 by 1/2 inch in cross section.

But its done. I'll put the junction box in the space under the mast step. I've had a leak in the area, and will have to be more careful with my water-proofing this time.