Tidy for shore power cable

[paul salliss]

How do you guys tidy this I feel like I need a bracket or so thing to stop this being a pile of cable on a deck. Any suggestions??

 

[BruceK]

Rather than a tidy have you thought about cutting to length to meet your home berth and then carrying an extension for away days. The last thing you want is to coil it up neat and tight and create a fire hazard.

 

[paul salliss]

Why did I not think of that. Solved and many thanks

 

[Seastoke]

Why did I not think of that. Solved and many thanks

Paul he has seen mine , I have done it in a stronger wire then put a cable cleat around the cable screw to pontoon then when you leave your berth plug your plug into your socket so they , ie both ends then they are keeping water out

 

[Daydream believer]

Mine is on a reel. Then I have a 3 ft length on the boat to join reel to boat consumer unit so I can place the reel in a locker whilst in use to keep it dry. The reel holds 50M of cable. I have checked that I never use enough power to make the wire hot enough to cause a heating issue in the coiled cable. Under way the 3ft extenson stays in the locker & dry, Unlike a deck socket which is always exposed to the weather.

 

[Seastoke]

Mine is on a reel. Then I have a 3 ft length on the boat to join reel to boat consumer unit so I can place the reel in a locker whilst in use to keep it dry. The reel holds 50M of cable. I have checked that I never use enough power to make the wire hot enough to cause a heating issue in the coiled cable. Under way the 3ft extenson stays in the locker & dry, Unlike a deck socket which is always exposed to the weather.

50m

 

[Seastoke]

50m

Mine is on a reel. Then I have a 3 ft length on the boat to join reel to boat consumer unit so I can place the reel in a locker whilst in use to keep it dry. The reel holds 50M of cable. I have checked that I never use enough power to make the wire hot enough to cause a heating issue in the coiled cable. Under way the 3ft extenson stays in the locker & dry, Unlike a deck socket which is always exposed to the weather.

That is unreal ,the first thing you should do is cut in half it in half and make up two , if then you needed 50m use both but you will only use one so you have back up, also using 50 m will be costing you more money .

 

[Daydream believer]

That is unreal ,the first thing you should do is cut in half it in half and make up two , if then you needed 50m use both but you will only use one so you have back up, also using 50 m will be costing you more money .

Noway, What is the point of removing some from the reel, cutting it in half & buying another plug & socket with attendant possible connection issues? Why do I need TWO reels when one does the job? I often have it out full length in a busy marina. That is why i bought a 50 M onein the first place. My boat is 10 M long so it needs 12 M just to get from the stern to the bow |& over on to the main pontoon. Then it will always be a minimum 5 metres to a local plug (if I am lucky.) Sometimes I can only just reach a suitable socket. UK pontoons can be OK but some foreign one can be a bit sparce.

 

[Daydream believer]

50m

Well it was, but some interfering twat decided to feed it between the joints in the pontoon at Dover & I had to cut 3 metres off the end because the cable got nipped. So now it is about 47m which can be a bit short sometimes, in places like Goes if not able to get to the inner harbour, or if rafting up about 8 boats out in places like Zeirikzee.--or 14 which I actually managed in Ostend one year

 

[Seastoke]

Noway, What is the point of removing some from the reel, cutting it in half & buying another plug & socket with attendant possible connection issues? Why do I need TWO reels when one does the job? I often have it out full length in a busy marina. That is why i bought a 50 M onein the first place. My boat is 10 M long so it needs 12 M just to get from the stern to the bow |& over on to the main pontoon. Then it will always be a minimum 5 metres to a local plug (if I am lucky.) Sometimes I can only just reach a suitable socket. UK pontoons can be OK but some foreign one can be a bit sparce.

Ok say you have an electrical fire , and the system is designed to run max 16mp . You have a 50 m lead I surmise it’s 2.5mm which is not rated at 16amps at 50mm , the insurance will assume you have over loaded it ,

 

[Daydream believer]

Ok say you have an electrical fire , and the system is designed to run max 16mp . You have a 50 m lead I surmise it’s 2.5mm which is not rated at 16amps at 50mm , the insurance will assume you have over loaded it ,

Ok. thanks for the heads up. I only use it for charging my batteries with a 10 amp charger & hot water. I do not recall what the MCBs are rated at, but one did trip when the thermostat failed. Can you advise by how much I will be overloading the wire? I do not have a fridge or heater. Where can I expect the fire to be most likely to start?

Then if I have 2 cables joined together of the same size to give me my 50M can you tell me how that will avoid the fire please. Then how , when rafted up, I can be certain that the connecting plug & socket will not accidentally be dropped in the water by one of the boats that I am crossing, leaving early one morning.

 

[BruceK]

wherever resistance proves highest but dont forget a coil with ac current running through it can also suffer from inductive reactance which not only inhibits current exacerbating the resistance issue but causes single (sinusiodal) phase shift where voltage and current are out of phase and that can damage electronics such as an intelligent battery charger or batteries themselves with the potential to cause fire.

Is it just me or are more boats lost through electrical fire than poor seamanship? We seem to know everything about boats and engines and what makes them go yet poorly understand basic electrics

 

[Daydream believer]

wherever resistance proves highest but dont forget a coil with ac current running through it can also suffer from inductive reactance which not only inhibits current exacerbating the resistance issue but causes single (sinusiodal) phase shift where voltage and current are out of phase and that can damage electronics such as an intelligent battery charger or batteries themselves with the potential to cause fire.

Is it just me or are more boats lost through electrical fire than poor seamanship? We seem to know everything about boats and engines and what makes them go yet poorly understand basic electrics

Are you assuming that I leave the cable wound on the drum when in use just because I said earlier that there was no sign of it getting warm. I have had an instance where a cable reel has melted into a giant sticky mess whilst using an angle grinder.
So I do understand that one has to unwind the reel to be certain.

 

[BruceK]

Yes I was as that is the issue with the OP and basis of this thread.

 

[Seastoke]

Well it was, but some interfering twat decided to feed it between the joints in the pontoon at Dover & I had to cut 3 metres off the end because the cable got nipped. So now it is about 47m which can be a bit short sometimes, in places like Goes if not able to get to the inner harbour, or if rafting up about 8 boats out in places like Zeirikzee.--or 14 which I actually managed in Ostend one year

Well if you upgrade your cable to 4mm it will meet the volt drop , but there are many crap leads , why people who love their boats but disregard the electrics , but it’s the same in their Holmes.

 

[Paulfireblade]

Rather than a tidy have you thought about cutting to length to meet your home berth and then carrying an extension for away days. The last thing you want is to coil it up neat and tight and create a fire hazard.

Done exactly that but with a brand new lead., Seemed by far the safest option to me