Forums, Electrical Systems, Navigation and Safety equipment, Wiring from Instrument Housing

moongirl at 10/01/2012 19:46:32
Anyone had experience of getting wires from the Doghouse down to the Nav Station. I have managed in the past when there has been a panel blanking the coachroof winches ie halfway house but I am now faced with getting from the ‘hole’ in the breakwater down to the Nav station. Thus far I have tried an Electricians nylon rod & various stainless steel wires without success – it is probably the transition from horizontal to vertical thats preventing success. Is it just a case of patience & repeated attempts?
All suggestions welcomed!

Alastair Pugh at 11/01/2012 10:06:34
I found that job a lot easier by removing the roof panel from the pilot berth.

Good Luck
Alastair

George Isted at 11/01/2012 11:40:46
This probably doesn’t help but there is a lot to be said for Tacktick wireless instruments.

Sorry, couldn’t resist!

moongirl at 11/01/2012 20:09:07
Thanks George
Don’t think they do a GPS Repeater!
The head lining panel above the ‘coffin’ berth has been removed but its the transition from horizontal to vertical thats the problem. I am too chicken to use one of the existing Seatalk cables to pull a ‘string’ through.

George Isted at 12/01/2012 18:34:44
If you get the NMEA interface box (that is probably not it’s correct name) then Tacktick displays will repeat GPS data. That said I have a Nasa repeater, but only because it came with the boat and works surprisingly well.

Sorry, still not much help to you though.

Wisdish at 13/01/2012 20:56:44
We were faced with this challenge when fitting new instruments. The first couple of cables went through fairly easily, although the last one took a few hours of fiddling! A few things I found to help:
1) Can you use one of the existing cables as a mouse? If you have a few feet of spare length, you can tape a piece of string/cord to the existng cable and this may allow you to pull this through as a mouse, you can then attach the new cable(s) to the mouse and pull them through
2) Is there anything compressing the deckhead to the coachroof? I found that the bolts on the jammers on the coachroof were slightly compressing the two together. By loosening them off temporarily it freed up enough space to get the cable through.
3) Can you remove any of the old cables (or use these as a mouse)? this may just allow enough space for the new cables.
4) if you can’t go in one direction try the other. Most instrument cables can be cut and reconnected without a problem if the wires are single cores. I would be hesitant to do this with Coaxial cables.
5) If none of this works it may be possible to use the old cables if they are still there for this short part of the cable run with the new cables.

Good luck! You will need it with this job.

Mark

moongirl at 13/01/2012 22:03:57
Mark
Thanks for your input. This is the 4th GPS Repeater I have fitted! Thats 4 different CO32s. The problem is that the other instruments are Raymarine ST60s & the Seatalk cables are not really easy to disconnect.
Where the winch has been replaced there are ‘bungs’ and I guess with patience I might be able to work to & from the bung holes – just needs patience and warm fingers!

Wisdish at 14/01/2012 21:01:30
Hi Colin,

Best Regards,

Mark

moongirl at 15/01/2012 13:47:35
Thanks Mark
Patience paid off in the end this morning – I was able to run a thin stainless wire through in stages via plugs in the headlining where the clutches and winches had been re-fitted. I now have 2 mouse strings to pull the wiring through. Just the final wiring plus NMEA interface to do once I have fixed the very smart new black acrylic fascia to the garage this afternoon.

waratah912 at 28/01/2012 12:37:06
Really pleased you succeeded – I had B & G and was unable to shift the old cables at all. While Raymarine don’t recommend it, after talking to the local installer, there are just enough cores in the B & G to run a full set of ST60 instruments and compass, so while most of the cabling is Raymarine, the last few feet are B & G! Works fine.

moongirl at 28/01/2012 14:57:23
Fascia fitted. The black acrylic looks very smart.
The GPS Repeater is now connected and working but the wiring on Muscadet is a worry as its really untidy + water has been dripping onto the panel! A re-wire seems likely but not this Winter.
One little tip. I wanted to avoid sticking the instrument panel/cover down with Sikaflex in case a speedy removal was necessary. I bought some very good 3.5mm thick single sided sticky rubber strip from Affixit via the net – next day delivery by Courier.

St Paddy at 21/02/2012 11:29:51
Hi

It will go better if you feed from below and pull from above, again tape the cable to and existing cable and use that to pull. There is a wedge somwhere and the cables take a short cut if you go from above and jam.

No need to cut holes, just push and pull

shardik5588 at 22/02/2012 09:33:43
I recently had to feed a new cable from the cockpit display to the switchboard & had lost my mouse that I normally leave in situ. I had to be rather brave & detach an existing cable from the display – pull it back to the switchboard with a long mouse string attached & when it arrived at the switchboard pull through enough mouse line to reattach the cable & pull back with enough line behind to form a mouse for future use.
Be very careful to attach the mouse line securely & ease it along the side longitudinally till it is level with the deck winch support then pull back through the cockpit hole while easing at the swithboard end
This has to be done with the panel above the quarter berth removed so one can get a visual