Stern Light wiring broken

[Roadie57]

I am unable to get to the stern light wiring to replace it. It is broken in an un accessible place. Go figure. Any way this is a new to me 26X. can anyone give me a hint on how to rerun the wire? I managed to repair everything else and I am wanting to get on the water soon.

[Be Free]

I believe that my "X" was still wired as it came from the factor and this is what I found...

The stern light is spliced just behind the breaker panel on the port side of the companionway. From the splice it runs down between the top and the bottom sections of the liner. If you pull the top section out where it overlaps the bottom you should find a section 18AWG lamp cord in the lip of the top liner. That is the wire that runs back to the stern light. It's not too hard to access until you get to almost to the transom. There are blocks of Styrofoam flotation material packed in there and it is hard to access the wire in that area.

If the wire is broken in the area with the flotation your best be is going to be to try to use the old wire as a "pull string" to run a replacement.

Do you know where the break is?

[Be Free]

Rodie,
I forgot to mention that the electrical panel and the stern light were both moved at different times during the production run of the 26X. It would help to know the year of your boat.

[OverEasy]

Hi Rodie!

I’m in agreement with Be Free on the interior routing he described.

On our 2001 vintage Mac26X there was a removable plastic disc plug on the inside face of the back port side wall in the area aft of the seat that allowed us to access the wires below the stern light. There was some styrofoam that we were able to pick out carefully to get to the stern light wires. This allowed us to retire our stern light and add a branch circuit to the swing seat to add a central post light that would get above the Bimini when having to cruise at night.

There is also an additional disc plug further down and slightly further aft that (while we haven’t accessed it ourselves) may also be of assistance to you.
I’ll try and take some photos tomorrow if possible to help clarify the locations.

Best Regards
Over Easy

[Gotro]

I completely required my x including the stern light . I had to purchase a 6 inch hole saw and and install round port access holes. At the stern on both sides and pull new wire up and to access the bolts holding on the stern fixture. Totally worth the effort in my opinion having not to worry about that inferior wiring is gone for ever.

[Gotro]

A lot of the wire headed to and from the stern on my 95 x was just laying on the bottom of the boat and water just fills in from leaks that I cannot completely stop to this day. So it was my mission and success completed to rewire all wire up out of that area, no more wire in my bilges . That gave me peace of mind.

[Gotro]

I used some pvc pipe to run wires aft