NASA Cables - can I cut them?

[dleroc]

In my recently acquired Sailfish I have a depth sounder and log connected to two very long cables. The excess cable is bundled into a box with a scrawled message 'do not cut'.
I remember being told something similar about my house satelite cables but I did cut them with no resulting loss of signal.

Am I talking about the same principle here or should I just accept that my efforts to tidy up things might be going too far?

 

[Alex_Blackwood]

Simple answer "No" Best not to. However if the log is an impulse log i.e. impellor, then no harm will come from cutting the cable, you of course don't have any spare slack! Also you then have to make off new connections!
The depth sounder is a bit different in that the cable length is part of a "Tuned" system and cutting the cable can result in inaccuracies in the readings.
If you are not tripping over them and they are out of the way I would leave well alone.

 

[Graham_Wright]

Ask Nasa;- they are very helpful.

 

[Leighb]

I believe that with echosounders it is wrong to shorten the cable, why not just coil it neatly and secure the coil with a couple of cable ties. The coil could then be secured to a bulkhead or hull with a cable clip.

 

[Amulet]

I spoke to Mr Nasa at the boat show about this. I think the implication was that they tell you not to cut it because so many people cock it up. My boat has an echo sounder transducer which has been there since about 1970. I also have a new one. If I connect the 1970 one with the random length of cable that it has left, it works intermittently - when it does work it reads exactly the same depth as the new one. I also asked Mr Nasa about the wind instrument - which also says do not cut. He said that boatyards always cut them, and explained to me how to do so.

The wind instrument clearly doesn't care about the cable length because you can buy an extension for your superyacht with a 40 meter mast.

But I won't take the blame if you cut it and it doesn't work!