Dismay

W

Wansworth

Well-Known Member
Joined
8 May 2003
Messages
38,486
Location
SPAIN,Galicia
Visit site
On my quest for a secondhand yacht I have been dismayed on going down below to be proudly shown the electronics neatly screwed to unadorned plywood backing plates with the wires spewing out and bundled up as they disappear into the under cockpit area.Only the owner knows what is going on .It all works with nice lights beaming out but no sign of a control box or labeling or fuses…..my heart would leap to see a simple compass.
 
It sounds a bit like when I went to look behind the panels of a brand new Garcia at Boot (2020): the cables were in a mess....
I don't think it was second hand (;)) but it might have already been bought.

The guy "manning" the boat was not too pleased about me looking behind the scenes, as it were.

Well, just as well I didn't have 800K to spare on a boat. It would not have gone Garcia's way.
 
Despite negative critique about the marque from some, Island Packet factory electrical install is as good as I have ever seen on a leisure boat.

The factory even pre - wire for accessories, leaving wires in the control panel area and cabins/ anchor locker etc.

As many IP's are used in the tropics this makes it easy for owners - and contractors - to retro fit Fans, lights, A/C etc.
 
Wansworth said:
On my quest for a secondhand yacht I have been dismayed on going down below to be proudly shown the electronics neatly screwed to unadorned plywood backing plates with the wires spewing out and bundled up as they disappear into the under cockpit area.Only the owner knows what is going on .It all works with nice lights beaming out but no sign of a control box or labeling or fuses…..my heart would leap to see a simple compass.
Click to expand...
It's the sort of thing that happens all too easily - you add something in, perhaps even just a trial fit, and don't want to disturb existing (working) stuff. Do that a few times and you end up with a rat's nest that "just became" instead of being designed. Good haggling point when looking, and good, clean, indoor fun sorting it out if you're so minded :)
 
Wansworth said:
On my quest for a secondhand yacht I have been dismayed on going down below to be proudly shown the electronics neatly screwed to unadorned plywood backing plates with the wires spewing out and bundled up as they disappear into the under cockpit area.Only the owner knows what is going on .It all works with nice lights beaming out but no sign of a control box or labeling or fuses…..my heart would leap to see a simple compass.
Click to expand...
Sounds normal. Are you sure the owner knows what is going on? When I bought my current boat I asked about the electrics and the comment was, I've no idea but they work. It took two years of working through the boat electrics and the removal of about 300 meters of cable to get it to the current state. Of that 100 meters was not attached to anything!
 
When i started refitting our Sabre it was suggested i trace the wires & sort it all out.
It was a proper herons nest of wires & i took the easy option of simply getting the wire cutters & chopping the lot out.
Ran some trunking & fitted new from scratch. Far easier!
 
When we were searching for a cat, and eventually bought Josepheline, we looked at a cat called Black Label. It was the wiring that discouraged our purchase. There seemed to be three generation (or maybe 3 different owners) and there were no labels nor colour coding. Wires were simply not connected to anything and there was no indication that a 'red' wire disappearing down a conduit was used or not. If the wiring was like this and obviously a future nightmare what might the plumbing, engine, mast head etc be like.

We moved on.

Other cats were no different - but in different ways -evil smelling laundry stuffed into lockers, the saloon minus the table (it was being re-built - or so we were told).

It was a lesson - all our wiring is labelled, our fuse boxes are all labelled (with spare fuses attached), circuit breakers are all labelled - its not difficult.

I did wonder if people actually wanted to sell their yachts.

Jonathan
 
On our last boat I discovered that the autohelm, VHF radio and GPS + repeater units, all professionally installed in the Ionian had the wiring connections noted down in the owners handbook for each of the units, I was quite impressed until I discovered over time that every one of those addenda were in error; a slip of the pen, or just ensuring that they got the gig for any future repairs?

When we sold each of our boats I got the impression that the one thing the new owners most appreciated was that the wiring was all 'orderly', marked at each end and for longer runs intermediate too, there were a few intentionally 'spare' cables and draw wires -also so marked - but no unknown/redundant ones anywhere and I had up to date/corrected wiring diagrams covering the whole boat.
 
Wansworth said:
On my quest for a secondhand yacht I have been dismayed on going down below to be proudly shown the electronics neatly screwed to unadorned plywood backing plates with the wires spewing out and bundled up as they disappear into the under cockpit area.Only the owner knows what is going on .It all works with nice lights beaming out but no sign of a control box or labeling or fuses…..my heart would leap to see a simple compass.
Click to expand...
Judging by the number of boat threads on here you perhaps are trying to buy a good boat at shed prices, hence why always disappointed.
If the electronics were in perfect shape, the price would be higher and/or the boat already sold.

Perhaps need to either up you budget or lower your expectations - whether in condition or size of boat. Plenty of boats in good condition, but they tend to attract good prices and sell fast.
 
dunedin said:
Judging by the number of boat threads on here you perhaps are trying to buy a good boat at shed prices, hence why always disappointed.
If the electronics were in perfect shape, the price would be higher and/or the boat already sold.

Perhaps need to either up you budget or lower your expectations - whether in condition or size of boat. Plenty of boats in good condition, but they tend to attract good prices and sell fast.
Click to expand...
Your probably right,unfortunately
 
Widening my search out of Galicia would probably solve the problem but Spain is quite big to go off looking at a small boat 500 klms away.Things might improve after christmas
 
It is very satisfying to have sorted out the electrics on an old boat that's been through many hands though, with the added benefit that you end up knowing how it all works. Sometimes they are not so bad & can be tidied/updated, others it's easier to start from scratch. Also makes it easier to move the boat on as & when...
 
V1701 said:
It is very satisfying to have sorted out the electrics on an old boat that's been through many hands though, with the added benefit that you end up knowing how it all works. Sometimes they are not so bad & can be tidied/updated, others it's easier to start from scratch. Also makes it easier to move the boat on as & when...
Click to expand...
Not gifted in that area?
 
What you see is par for the course. When old boats were built electrics were rudimentary and inevitably owners take the line of least resistance when adding new gear. This is what I am faced with in my latest acquisition. Amazingly everything works. However will be ripping out and starting again at least for the battery installation, but will keep most of the house circuits and just replace the old switch panel with space for additional circuits.
IMG_20211202_141302.jpg
 
Tranona said:
...old boats were built electrics were rudimentary and inevitably owners take the line of least resistance when adding new gear. ...
Click to expand...

When we first came to sailing I don't think we stepped onto a boat (and mainly certified sail-training boats) where the Skipper didn't warn us of some slight glitch or foible with the electrics; most were due to a poor connection somewhere, usually a bad earth. It became a bit of a habit to take along screwdrivers, multimeter crimping pliers and a few connections to leave the boat better than when we arrived.
With those and our own boats when we bought them, I felt that your 'line of least resistance' pretty well sums it up. My theory was that owners would buy a new electrical/electronic whatsit and immediately make a 'temporary' connection', just to see if it lights up as it should; nothing wrong with that, I do the same. They're then especially keen to take their boat out for the day/weekend to try out the whatsit and we may as well leave it hooked-up where it is until they've 'tried it for real'; again, something I sometimes do too. Of course it's late by the time they get back, so a mental note's made to fit/wire it properly next week before setting off, that mental note then being re-made every week/month until the end of the season. By then the crew have got used to working around any shortcomings in the current installation and are reluctant to properly re-install as 'it's working OK now and it might stop if we disturb it.' By the following season a new whatsit been bought, th e first one gets completely forgotten/ignored and the whole scenario plays out again; quite often this whatsit is tagged onto the same two handy live/earth points as the last, because 'we know they're good'.

And No, I'm not some electrics expert/professional, I've just owned a few Italian motorcycles and there's no better school than those, especially when it comes to poor connections; Magneti Marelli make Joe Lucas' stuff look good.

PS: if you are sorting out the boat's 12V system, a permanently installed/maintained and easily accessible 'temporary/try-out/test' hook up point is a worthwhile addition - heavy cables back to a clean/independent ground and supply (the battery switch is good spot) with an in-line fuse holder (and wide selection of fuses handy to it) terminating at a pair of big chocolate blocks; any problem you throw a meter across the chocolate blocks to test voltage, then hook up to it, if your whatsit now works then it's OK and the problem's in your wiring.
 
Last edited:
This is real de ja vu stuff for me. In 1995 I completely rewired my Eventide and Merlin designed the circuits and supplied all the bits while Taplin Marine made a beautiful DC distribution panel with built in repeater instruments and a custom made mimic panel. Everything was still working perfectly when I sold it in 2019. In between I have had 2 new boats and almost no electrical problems because everything was factory fit. However the solid state stuff in the latest boat scares me!

So back to basics with the Golden Hind and I shall wire it much as I did the Eventide although I might pass on the custom made DC distribution panel as now you can get good modular pre wired panels for a fraction of what a Taplin type would cost now.
 
I grew up and sailed wooden boats where if anything other than the wind and the tide worked for very long it was regarded as pretty amazing ?

otoh one was soooo easily pleased by say a simple safe arrival somewhere and the pub/cafe being still open - and welcoming to thirsty damp brits mangling languages

Reliably dry bunks, showers , electric reading lights , electric start engines ( that started ) were yachting magazine story la laland
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page

Top