Original Wiring

After considering a partial rewire it became clear that very little if any of the original wire would remain, nearly all would be removed, and accomodating new wiring in the old circuit panel was close to hopeless.

Diesel related wiring

With the removal of the diesel engine quite a bit of electrical wiring is no longer needed. This includes key switch, temperature sensor, diesel tank level, and tachometer. These wires have been removed.

Engine driven refrigeration wiring

The engine driven refrigeration was added by a previous owner. This is likely to have been contracted to a professional as it was well done. Regardless the refrigeration wiring differs for a modern electrical refrigeration system. This wiring was also removed early in the process.

Original battery and charging wiring

The original house battery bank was a single 12V 125AH AGM deep cycle battery. In addition there was a 12V starter battery. Both of these batteries have been removed. The original house bank was charged by the alternator and trickle charged by a 100W solar panel. A Xantrax Echo charger was used to provide charging for the starter battery.

Wires for the original solar charger and battery monitor have been be removed. The battery monitor will be replaced with a set of shunts for charging and load on the 48V, 24V, and 12V banks. The original solar charge controller will also be replaced as it is a PWM controller rather than MPPT. There may be no use for the original Xantrex Echo Charger that isolates the two original 12V batteries. All of the wiring associated with the house and starter batteries and charging have been removed.

Original instrument wiring

The original depth and speed instruments were Datamarine models that were likely installed at build time. The depth instrument was analog with old and corroded coax cables to the transducer. The speed instrument had a clicker style knotlog installed in the navigation station. The wind instrument was also Datamarine and added later, but still very old. The radar was an ancient Furuno with CRT display. None of these intruments are networked since most were early 1980s vintage.

The wind instrument and tachometer were in a terrible location, on the forward wall of the cockpit footwell. If anyone were sitting or standing in the cockpit their legs would obscure visibility. This also seems to be a bad place to put holes in the cockpit.

The GPS was a Garmin 182C, a portable unit mounted when needed to the steering pedestal bars. This is a poor solution for this size boat and while perhaps the most recent instrument is also not capable of networking.

A decision was made to replace all of the original instruments and so with them the wiring. They have all been removed and the wiring removed. Holes for the wind instrument and tachometer have been patched.

Original wiring routing and quality

Many of the original wires were run down the center of the engine compartment, through the bilge, and either further aft or under the cabin sole to either side near the aft end of the water tanks. This put electrical wire in the bilge and tie wrapped to the fresh water lines. Even AC wires were routed through the bilge.

On the port side there are very good alternative wiring routes along the cabin sides behind cabinetry. On the starboard side wire routing is a bit more difficult due to the navigation station. Small load wiring can be run in the space that is above the cabinetry and below the side decks. This might be tight for high load wires but fine for smaller low load wires.

The manufacturer's wiring quality was very poor. Wire sizes were small. Many wires are duplex with red and black inside a grey cover with some red and brown in a white cover. None of the wires were marked. In many places wires were bundled with what seems to be masking tape or some other paper based tape which had long ago deteriorated.

Most of the previous owner's wiring was worse than the manufacturer. The VHF was tied directly to the battery. Wire nuts and electrical tape were used to connect wires including AC wiring. AC wiring added by a previous owner used household NM-B solid conductor wire. DC wiring added by a previous owner was often spliced into an unrelated existing pairs of wires.

The wires on the circuit panel were soldered on. The circuit panel also had the 12V dual battery switch. Replacing the panel has become a priority partially due to the unworkable spagetti wiring. The new circuit panel will have three priorities of 12V and two priorities of 24V using solenoids to shed less essential loads if battery SoC drops.

Some of the circuit panel wiring has not been removed since it is inaccessible until the ice box is modified or replaced.

Gas locker solenoid and stove wiring

The decision to replace the gas range with an induction cooktop and electric oven makes the wiring associated with the gas locker solenoid no longer needed. Removing this wiring is ongoing since accessibility is limited.