running cables in a Sadler?

[TigaWave]

I'm looking to install new deoth and speed instruments in a friends Sadler and it look like a nightmare, as the whole interior is a moulding!

Has any one been there or done this with a Sadler? is there an easy way? it looks like it could be a long and tricky job to get wiring from the hull up to the chart table without dismantling the boat.

 

[Leighb]

You could always persuade him to use Tacktick, you can mount the transponders low down in the hull, with the hull transmitter nearby, the instruments receive the data wirelessly.

The hull transmitter needs a 12v supply, but you only have one wire to feed.

 

[samwise]

Did this on our Sadler 29 a few years back and it was a b***r. If you are lucky the previous kind owner will have left a mousing line. If you are replacing cables, use the old ones to pull through the new. If that isn't possible,lengths of stiff wire and lots of patience will eventually succeed. If taking cable up to the cockpit instrument panel, there is a wooden plug you can take out to access a conduit.

If you think that's tough, wait until you try to replace the water piping or tackle the fixing bolts for the lav. I guess that's the price for being unsinkable.

 

[cliff]

[ QUOTE ]
I'm looking to install new deoth and speed instruments in a friends Sadler and it look like a nightmare, as the whole interior is a moulding!

Has any one been there or done this with a Sadler? is there an easy way?

[/ QUOTE ]Yes and it was a doddle. The cable conduit runs from the forward sump (where the log and D/S are located) to below the nav table. If the original cables are still there then use them to pull the new cables through, not forgetting to attach a mousing line for future use. If the cables have already been pulled out it is easy to feed a length of strimmer line through the conduit then pull the new cables/mousing line.

Before starting try pulling the old cables gently - you may find they move one way easily but not the other - that will give you a clue in which direction to pull the new cables / mousing wire, also have someone feed the new cables rather than you trying to pull them through especially as you try to negotiate the bend in the conduit just in front of the forward bulkhead.

IIRC mine fed easily forward to aft but not the other way

Removing the sealant at both ends of the conduit before starting makes the job sooo much easier /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif and remember to reseal otherwise you can flood the conduit when using the shower.
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Artificial Intelligence is no match for Natural Stupidity.

 

[Gin]

My S26 isn't so neat as the cable must be taken externally for most of the route to the fuse panel- clipped to the heads bulkhead, through the main bulkhead and then discreetly inside the upright which serves as the full saloon length shelf front.

That's the easy bit- after that its a devil to get it through the double skin over the quarter berth. That area on my boat is packed with cables and little room for more but using a length of gardening wire I was able to fiddle a mouse line through and pull the transducer cable into position

 

[TigaWave]

Thanks Cliff and Sam,

Great to know there is actually a conduit, and it is a tcktick system but we still need the receiver box powered and wired to the depth/log above water line, so the conduit back seems the easiest or best option as going into the locker and up may be even harder.

Next job is to move and enlarge the hole to take the bigger unit half and inch further forward!

Nice boats but that internal moulding makes fitting electronics a bit tricky...next job after the tackticks is a chart plotter and re wire a new chart table switch panel!

Thanks again this extra information is a great help.

 

[cliff]

[ QUOTE ]
Great to know there is actually a conduit

[/ QUOTE ]Well there is on the 34' - not sure about the smaller boats. - Is it a 34' you are working on? if so it is fun trying to get new cables from the cockpit/companionway instruments back to either the electrical panel or the nav table but once sussed it is not so difficult either - just fun.... /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
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Artificial Intelligence is no match for Natural Stupidity.

 

[johnalison]

There was a conduit on our 1987 29, which ran from the transducer box to the aft end of the cabin. The hard bit was from above the hatch to the nav area because the old cables had been bound together at various points. It was a while ago but I think I managed to find a way in the space between the headlining moulding and the deck. This won't be relevant to your Tacktick intallation but might encourage others.

 

[KenMcCulloch]

A bit OT but I'm often grateful for the foresight of the long-ago inventors of clinker construction. Knowing that lectricity would one day be invented and that people would want to conduct it around boats, they cunningly arranged for the possibility of cables to be run along the plank lands behind the frames with no need for any additional fixings in most places. I hope you solve your Sadler wiring puzzles.

 

[DJE]

Our 29 has a cable conduit too as described above. She was also built with a few spare power cables from the switch panel to the hatch garage and the chart table and a four core data cable from the chart table to the hatch garage. I've used the data cable for a NMEA link from the chart table GPS to the repeater over the hatch. To get the wind instrument cable from the base of the mast to the hatch garage I cut three 50mm holes in the headlining and got a friend with a lathe to turn me some nice teak plugs to put in them when the wiring was done.

 

[radarman]

My 26' sadler also has a conduit on the port side that runs from the bulkhead on the forepeak to the last storage compartment just before the quarter berth.

I know cause I've just run the cables for a new depth sounder and paddlewheel /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[TigaWave]

Its a 29, so it sounds like there is the same set up I'm pleased to say, or relieved to know.

 

[DJE]

The trouble with the cable duct in our 29 is that it is in the front sump while the log and echo sounder are in the rear sump! So the cables go up and across the bulkhead then they're drilled through to the main cabin and tucked behind the edge of the liner for the run back to the chart table. If and when I ever replace the log and depth instruments I'm going to try and install a duct between the two sumps. The most difficult run to make is between the chart table and the hatch garage. There's no cable duct for that one!