Wiring Picture

[rburlington]

Finally got a camera and I posted a picture of my rewiring job on my '81 ExpF 24'6" boat.  Picture is looking up.  The job is none-too-professional, but it works and is orderly.  The board everything is mounted on is a kitchen cutting board from WalMart ($9.00).  You can see the old fuse box in one corner with two wires (not connected to anything right now) hanging off of it.  There is still lots of room to add things.  Every single item on the boat now has its own circuit and fuse.  The console will fit back over everything, but I will have to modify the access to be able to reach all parts of the board.

Next project is the transom and I have scheduled that for the last week of April and first week of May.  I will post pictures of the progress.
RGB

[rburlington]

The picture location is:

http://www.classicaquasport.com/gallery ... ng_1_1.jpg

[JimCt]

Looks good!

[RickK]

You almost had the code right to show the picture in the post.  All you had to do was click on the "Img" button and then paste the url in and then click the "Img" button again.

[rburlington]

RickK,
Thanks for the advice.  I will try to do it right next time!
Meanwhile, I think I posted the picture twice in the photo gallery under rebuilds in progress.  Feel free to delete one or both since you got the picture into the thread for me!  I'm not sure it really is photo gallery material.  When I get to the transom work and the repainting, that might be good in the gallery.
RGB

[JimCt]

Forget about the quality of the pictures, just post 'em.  Rather look at "less than perfect" pictures than none at all.

[warthog5]

Ah'  It looks like EVERY connector is a automotive type connector. :(

They are open ended and have no heat shrink. This will allow moist air to get to the wiring inside of the barrel of each connector.

The crimp/shrink end's is what you want.

All the wiring should run neatly in a bundle at angles of 0,90, 180 or 270 deg's.

I hate to be the barrier of bad news, but that whole mess would be torn out and redone.


Just a couple of examples:

[RickK]

I have to agree that you have a lot of potential failures coming in the future.
Since all the wiring is done and already short wires become shorter if redone .... one alternative that I've done myself, right or wrong, is to get some liquid electrical tape and brush each end of each connector to seal them up. This will at least help seal them up. Some people go to the full extreme and solder the joints of 2 wires, use heat shrink over that and then brush on liquid electrical tape over that.  
I think you can get it at Home Depot or a place like that (can't remember where I got mine).

[JimCt]

If you do solder joints, use rosin core solder.  Solder & paste flux used for copper plumbing will corrode and fail.

You certainly can rip everything out and re-wire it but RickK has a point.  As long as you seal the crimps with Liquid Tape you should be OK.



For the spade and screw connectors you can protect them with WD-40.

[RickK]

Plus, I feel his pain - laying on his back working upside down inside a Center Console.  My 170 has the tank inside the CC so there is very little room to work on the wiring - about 4"Dx4"Hx24"L and you can see in there even less.  So with that room available to work, the wiring is what the wiring is.

[John Jones]

It's not the most reliable way to do it but I wouldn't gut it and start over now.  Just spray it all down every 3 months with Boeshield T-9 and it will do you for a long time if nothing gets salt directly on it.  It doesn't look any worse than what the Key West I bought new in '02 looked.

[rburlington]

Once again I find myself indebted to the advice and experience of those on this forum.

After reading and viewing your inputs the following represent what I will do/not do:

1.  I will not be able to follow the 0, 90, 180, 270 rule.  The space afforded does not allow for that without some very inventive routing; so, the hanging wires will continue to hang and to be bundled as best as possible.

2.  There is plenty of slack in all wires at this point, therefore, I will solder (using rosin core) and heat shrink all the butt joints and refit the connectors to the fuse blocks and negative terminal bars with female spade connectors that look like the ones in Wharthog5's post.  If some joints cannot be addressed in this way, I will use the liquid tape as suggested by JimCT and RickK.

3.  I will not change the fuse blocks out to the marine type mainly b/c the location of my wiring is inside the cabin behind a good console and under the station where, until I sink, it is pretty high and dry.

4.  The Boeshield T-9 suggestion (thanks John Jones) looks good, especially for the terminal blocks.

Overall the present rewiring corrects some big issues.  For example, previoulsy all positive wires were linked together in endless Y joints; many just taped and none fused.  All negative returns were also endlessly Y'ed eventually tied to the fuel tank ground and from there back to the battery.  The whole mess looked like a gaint ball of string with random wires entering and leaving at random points.

Presently, the system is neat, I know every circuits origins and terminal, everything is fused, and every circuit can be isolated and tested.  I will be able to produce a decent map of the system and store it on board for quick reference.

Your further inputs are most welcome and very helpful.  Many of us enjoy the water but have limited backgrounds in electricity, engines, fiberglass and woodwork.  Thank you for helping us along.
RGB

[JimCt]

Good plan!

[RickK]

Jeez, I thought it was a center console (I guess I didn't read the first post very well).  Since it is in a cabin  ......

[warthog5]

Post another pix when you get done. :)

A couple of other suggestions. On the fuses where they make contact. Wipe a light coat of dialectric grease on the pins with your fingers. very light is all you need.

I use Fluid Film http://www.eurekafluidfilm.com/ as a spray coating.

It's not messy and dry's clear. Keep's thing's looking good [no greasy mess] and protects.