Re-Wire

chrisallse · 17 October 2003, 21:26

I am going to rewire by boat over the winter has anyone any help or advice.

tue · 17 October 2003, 21:48

Make sure you use water proof connectors on everything even if you think it is in a watertight area. Also using different colour wires for each different system can help if you need to trace faults at a later date. Silicone (or Quicksilvers Dielectric £20 a tube) grease on connectors can also help keep moisture at bay.

I've just done my console before I put it back in my RIB and all the lives to switches are red. I can't remember what goes where so I will have to put one fuse at a time in and see what works then mark the fuse block

. Will be a buggar if I get a broken wire. I am going to have different colours out from switches when I put it in RIB to all the different systems so I know what corresponds to what colour. Nav lights yellow, bilge pump brown etc.

John Kennett · 17 October 2003, 22:22

Keep it tidy, but don't go mad with the zipties/spirabind/heatshrink/whatever as you just might need to get it undone again sometime, in less than perfect conditions!

Label everything at both ends (you can get little cable ties with write-on tags that work well)

John

thewavehumper · 20 October 2003, 16:56

IT's allways good to have 17 opinions , so here is mine. Use reuseable tie wraps and coloured tie wraps halp cable tracking.

Alex Brown · 20 October 2003, 17:46

If you use standard wire connector blocks, don't spray them with screwfix metal seal to stop water getting in - it goes all flakey, and induces rust

Also, when I put the extra wiring in on my boat for VHF etc.. I only put in wires that were thick enough for what I had at the time - when it came to installing the cigarette lighter socket, I had to replace just about all that I put in to start off with to handle the extra current.

If you have wires hanging around inside, zip tie them to something solid to stop them flopping around..... I found insulating tape lasts about 5 waves before coming undone

It's all fixed now, but I did it all wrong in the first place.....

-Alex

chrisallse · 20 October 2003, 19:29

Thanks guys,

This is the plan so far then,

I am going to build a loom with about 8 different colours of cable, these will further identified with cable markers. terminations where possible will be soldered to minimise corrosion problems and they will be sealed using adhesive lined heat shrink,

I will be using breakers rather than fuses and all main circuits will bbe switched and have indicator LED's showing supply on, circuit on and fault condition should a breaker trip. Cable routes in the Bilge will be in flexible conduit. both batteries will be fitted with isolator switches and a change over with blocking Diode for split charging.

I will be fitting a couple of 'proper' waterproof aux sockets(not cigar lighter). I am going to fit a fan to ventilate the bilge as it is prone to getting petrol vapour building up from the tank vents.

I am going to fit floats to the Bilge pumps with manual /auto switching capability. I might run two discreet supplies one from each battery and run the lights etc from one and the electronics from the other.

I am thinking of fitting a short S/S mast on the centre of the A frame to take the Aerials, white Nav light , Anchor light navtex aerial GPS etc. this will need to be hinged. (i could get a mate to fabricate this but i fancy getting a mig, (anyone welded stainless?)
and having a go myself. Alternatively i could use ali.

I am thinking of getting a Silva S15 and interface it with my Raymarine plotter/finder and it has the ability to display navtex information if its connected to an aerial...any opinions?

be glad to hear any more advice.

Mosser · 20 October 2003, 20:33

Just on the sealing of the wiring loom...I've used a superb product from 3M called self-bonding tape. I'll get the product code as soon as possibleand post it. People may know it by differnt names and for different reasons, but it's basically a rubber-type tape that, once wrapped over itself, binds
as though one piece of rubber. I then covered this in PVC tape and heat-shrank the whole lot. The reason I was so cautious (!) was because it was going through the underfloor duct and I didn't want any problems.

On the wire connector blocks, I always find a dab of vaseline works a treat.

That'll be some boat when your done...all whirring and beeping...

chrisallse · 20 October 2003, 20:39

Thanks mosser,

I have just ordered a couple of rels of that tape from RS they call it self almalgamating... fantastic stuff

jwalker · 20 October 2003, 22:44

Quote:

Originally posted by chrisallse
Thanks guys,

(i could get a mate to fabricate this but i fancy getting a mig, (anyone welded stainless?)

I am thinking of getting a Silva S15 and interface it with my Raymarine plotter/finder and it has the ability to display navtex information if its connected to an aerial...any opinions?

be glad to hear any more advice.

1) Yep.

2) No, the S15 doesn't. It displays navtex from a navtex receiver, not an aerial.

jwalker · 20 October 2003, 22:47

Quote:

Originally posted by chrisallse
Thanks mosser,

I have just ordered a couple of rels of that tape from RS they call it self almalgamating... fantastic stuff

Self amalgamating tape amalgamates to itself. It does not amalgamate to the surface which it is wrapped around.

chrisallse · 21 October 2003, 13:10

JW,

how much more difficult is SS to weld than mild?

your correct they call it a Navtex Engine i think. it looks like an aerial cos all the electrics are built in

jwalker · 21 October 2003, 13:43

Quote:

Originally posted by chrisallse
JW,

how much more difficult is SS to weld than mild?

your correct they call it a Navtex Engine i think. it looks like an aerial cos all the electrics are built in

SS is tough stuff and its heat conduction is bu**er all. It does weld ok but it is more difficult to produce consistent and neat welds than in mild steel. For general mig welding you can use the same gas as for ms (argosheild light). It's not the ideal but the best product is only available in the largest cylinders. Your choice. The problem with the welding is that there is huge grain growth adjacent to the weld area and this fatigues very easily if there is even slight flexing.
I also have a tig welder and all my welding on the new boat will be done with this. As to whether it produces a more flexible result only time will tell because the boat is not yet on the water. Even then, the steelwork will be designed to reduce flexing in the weld areas, so any results will be inconclusive.