Interior wiring?

[Ronnie_D]

Hello to all aboard!

I am in the process of restoring a 1972 MacGregor Venture 222. I am almost finished the interior. I was wondering what you guys do to tame the wiring inside. Do you bundle it up some how? I would like to clean it up and have it routed for appearance sake.

How do I insert a picture into this post?


cheers to all!
Ronnie

[RobertB]

Not sure what you have for wiring - mine was a mess brand new (loose grounds, accessories wired directly to the battery) but at least marine grade wire was used. Have heard others state they found lamp-cord used.
What state is your current wiring? What king of wire? What kind of terminations?

Personally, I use waterproof marine crimp terminals, marine grade wire (mostly) and terminal blocks for distribution. If areas where the wiring is visible, I generally use spiral cable wrap. If you are replacing wire, search online and you can find reasonable pricing (wire and other components).

[Ronnie_D]

Thanks for the reply. My wiring is lamp cord. I think I will rewire it all to marine grade. I want to hide most of it but where it is exposed, I would like to cover it, perhaps the spiral cable wrap will do the trick.

cheers,
Ronnie.

[u12fly]

In my boat I have about 85% Marine wire, which is a pair of stranded wire encased in an out protective sleave, the rest of the wiring is aviation grade MIL-Spec wire. I size everything to the load and have fuses or circuit preakers at the source of all wiring. I created wiring bundels that run up each side of the boat, most is under the floor boards. The wiring is held with tabs that I epoxied into place, this keeps things neat and tiedy under the hatches. All my wiring that needs to feed the headliner, radio, etc... goes vertical at the stern so it is out of view, but I also have a hidden conduit at the dagger board - which I covered with the factory felt carpet, so it is not noticable.

Chris.

[Sumner]

Started with this...




... and at this point have this...





here is a link...

http://purplesagetradingpost.com/sumner ... de-30.html

...and in the link is a link to a good supplier of wire and accessories (at the bottom of the page). Good luck,

Sum

Our MacGregor 26-S

Our Endeavour 37

Our Trips to Utah, Idaho, Canada, Florida

Mac-Venture Links

[kmclemore]

Nice!

Where'd you get all the nifty yellow arrows?

[Sumner]

Nice!

Where'd you get all the nifty yellow arrows?

Defender Marine has them...

http://www.defender.com/product.jsp?pat ... &id=271473

... you just need to cut them out and paste them where needed ,

Sum

Our MacGregor 26-S

Our Endeavour 37

Our Trips to Utah, Idaho, Canada, Florida

Mac-Venture Links

[Dark and Stormy]

I know this is a little outside of the realm of the yachting world... but I'm planning on using Mil-Spec teflon coated wire from these guys for my rewire job.

https://www.pegasusautoracing.com/

I've been using them on old race cars and motorcycles for years, and it's excellent to work with (and not terribly expensive).

I'll post a link tomorrow to weatherproof junctions (again, used on motorcycles extensively) for your consideration.

[Dark and Stormy]

As promised (but late)

These are really great connectors for anything you want to be able to remove easily. The crimper isn't cheap, but I find I get a lot of use out of it.

http://www.weatherpack.com/

I haven't purchased from these guys before... but they actually do seem to offer weatherpack kits with some intelligence to them. Usually I wind up being forced to buy a bunch of bits I don't need.

Complete kits:
http://www.diyautotune.com/catalog/weat ... -c-74.html

Small kits:
http://www.diyautotune.com/catalog/weat ... 647791a02a

[RobertB]

I know this is a little outside of the realm of the yachting world... but I'm planning on using Mil-Spec teflon coated wire from these guys for my rewire job.

https://www.pegasusautoracing.com/

I've been using them on old race cars and motorcycles for years, and it's excellent to work with (and not terribly expensive).

I'll post a link tomorrow to weatherproof junctions (again, used on motorcycles extensively) for your consideration.

This looks like good wire but why the extra expense? You can get duplex marine grade wire 12 AWG for $0.79 per foot http://tinnedmarinewire.com/wire/index. ... 2031983829 - the Mil-Spec wire is $.99 per foot for single conductor. You could use several hundred feet of the stuff - it adds up.

BTW, I am not slamming Mil-Spec wire - I was an engineer on the F-16 and YF-22 - just do not think you get anything extra that will make a difference.

[RobertB]

After years of using a hardware store budget wire stripper/crimper, I finally purchased a ratcheting crimper http://www.westmarine.com/webapp/wcs/st ... sNum=50569. The price may seem steep but $89 is actually pretty reasonable for this type of tool.

[Russ]

After years of using a hardware store budget wire stripper/crimper, I finally purchased a ratcheting crimper

Looks very similar to this one.

Good purchase.

Of the many things I learned from Divecoz was the need for proper tools in electrical work. A decent ratcheting crimper is SO much better than those useless $10 crimpers.

I also learned that there's no skimping on electrical tape. Use the Super 33+ or better. Sure you can buy electrical tape 10 for a buck at the dollar store but you want a quality tape on your boat.
CorrosionX is also a great product to keep connectors happy.

[RobertB]

Does that tape come in BLUE?

[kmclemore]

Does that tape come in BLUE?

Nope. You can only get this high-performance tape in black with a white container.

As with many high-performance things, the best is rarely available in BLUE.

[Miss_Dallie]

Ouch!