Leaving a Service Length

[Robin]

I think that is what it's called. The idea of leaving enough spare wire on an installation so that the instrument or whatever can be pulled forward to work on, or in case it is necessary to remake a connection. The previous owner of our boat had lots of stuff 'professionally' fitted and nothing has a service length so every job is more difficult.

I spent yesterday swapping an old VHF for a new DSC one, should have been 10 minutes to just swap the sets (time to drill the bracket mount holes), but no there was just 6" of 'slack' in the aerial lead and the same on the power leads. To do that the original installer had to solder the PL259 plug on the aerial, and it was soldered, at full arm's stretch across the chart table when if he had left a couple of feet of slack it would have been easy both for him and for me. If I ever need to remake the PL259 connection I will have to replace the coax from the chart table all the way to the mastbase connector, just to have enough cable to work with.

Are these guys sadists or what?

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[Guest]

Robin,

Through PBO Boatcheck and private surveys I do for people, the wiring I see on "professionally" installed electronics is generally dreadful.

This is usually down to a general lack of basic electrical skills by the electronics installer and a time constraint to "get the job done". Also, boat owners are usually wowed by a new gadget on their chart table and don't take the time to check the installation before paying the bill!!

All items fitted (including the switch panel) should have enough cable length to allow rear inspection and/or maintainence without stressing cable and terminations. These cables ususally end up in a loom and that loom should be protected by material to prevent chaffing.

The answer to your question - yes they are sadists!

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[Becky]

I have had similar problems on the little Moody I bought this last Spring. In future I will avoid any boat previously owned by an electrical engineer. Apart from a plethora of wires running from nowhere to nowhere, which might have been left over after instruments have been removed, he had fitted a new switch panel, which is the most awful cat's cradle of wires I have ever seen. So, I will eventually alter all this, and use marine type connectors well above the spash height of bilge water. So avoid sadists and so-called electrical specialists.

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[Robin]

The air was blue yesterday fitting the VHF. I actually could not fit the much smaller new set such that the facia was in the same place, because the short lengths of cable left wouldn't reach the back of the NASA set. It was either that or rewire the aerial all the way back to the mast join (under 3 different sets of headlining) or make up an extension cable, 2 more connectors with potential for bad contacts.

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[Robin]

I think most of this lot was professionally fitted In Queen Annes Battery, Plymouth since I have copies of some of the job cards raised. There is a long saga (comedy of errors) surrounding the installation of the charging systems commissioned by the previous owners. The boat was refitted prior to doing the AZAB 2 handed race and then 6 years in the Med. I am STILL sorting out the cockups on this after 2 seasons, almost there now but as I type I'm waiting to hear from Adverc re the smart regulator these people fitted and which gets very hot whilst not doing any better (either volts or amps) than when the loom is disconnected and the normal regulator takes over. The feeling from Adverc is that it is the wrong polarity regulator and they called me to ask the make/model of the alternator. Since the boat came with 2 alternators, 3 large battery banks, large wind generator, large solar panel, 3 bank 'smart' mains charger and a 300W inverter you will appreciate there is a lot of potential for getting it wrong! Once the Adverc question is resolved I will list all the defects I found, and have put right since taking over, I'm not an electrician but do (I think) have some common sense, can read wiring diagrams and have gained a smattering of previous experience sorting marine electrics. I dread to think what these people charged for the work they did, but I sure would like to charge them the same hourly rate for fixing it!

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[johna]

Robin
A report on the operation and performance of the NASA set would be of interest once you get it installed and working.

Perhaps we can get a game of golf in some time.
John

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[Guest]

Actually depending on the boat the cables are often pre-fab'd .... take for instance the Bav ....... guy goes to store takes a loom for x model, lays it in x track and then modules are fitted around over etc. etc.
The poor sod ----- you ------ who comes along later really has a job to get around it.

As to the antennae cable ..... in fact you can get spilce kits and junctions to extend in Maplins etc.

The one that gets me is the one that runs inside deckhead mouldings and cannot be used to pull through the new one .... and also the end that runs up into pulpits etc. to lights !!!!

Sadists ? No ar.......es is a better term !

<hr width=100% size=1>Nigel ...
Bilge Keelers get up further ! I came - cos they said was FREE Guinness !
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[Robin]

Yes OK. I quite like it so far as a straight VHF, certainly easy to use. We did do a radiocheck with Portland (as a new installation not as a nuisance call!) and they answered so quickly it made me jump, we also received the French Crossma Joburg forecast first on 16 then on 80, very clear. The DSC bit seems easy enough to use once I get the right NMEA connections to the GPS.

Re Golf, yes love to though I'm rusty this year the new boat took priority! That said I did skive long enough to play 11 holes at Wareham today but SWMBO beat me. PM me with any suggestions

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[Robin]

Just Six Inches

Would have done! Yes our last boat W33, the bicolour cable was just 1.5 sq mm wire (way too light) but it was all they could fit through the pulpit. The cable exited into the anchor locker via a pulpit leg base, which was then glassed over. At least the cable back to the switch panel was heavier stuff - but they made the join with a B & Q type chocalate box connector, in the wet anchor locker side of the bulkhead. It took a real genius to plan that layout but then it lasted 15 years before the bicolour refused to work!

Our current problems are all down to the add-ons, the original Jeanneau stuff isn't that bad apart from the lack of any reserve space in conduits etc, such are the pleasures of boat ownership.

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