Radar cable routing to the helm, Hunter 35.5

mz4wheeler · May 7, 2015

I had the exact same issue, and decided that I didn't even want to think about running cables through my pedestal. With my solution, the wires were routed directly into the lazarette.

Now I have a Hunter 33.5, but this may give you some ideas.

Attached is my solution to this problem:

1" PVC, two 45 degree couplers, and a service cap to keep out water. The cap was painted white using white epoxy paint (was grey). A mistake I made was thinking that I could route all those wires with the PVC tubing together. Not even close! I had to route the wires through each section of the PVC tubing apart. In addition, they became tighter as I stuffed them all in there. To ease the running of the wires, I used SailKote as a lubricant.

What is not shown is the final 4" PVC that went through the deck. Later, I sealed it up with 5200.

Sorry for the side-ways images... Tilt your head [grin].

I hope this helps!

mz4wheeler · May 8, 2015

There were a couple of connectors with my setup, and all of them fit through the 1" PVC w/o modification. I just ran them first, followed by the rest.

I'm not using a POD, just a single Raymarine C120 which is an all-in-one unit (GPS/CP/DS/FF/Radar) mounted on a RAM swivel mount.

http://www.themountdepot.com/category_s/1607.htm

The through deck (in my setup) goes directly in the lazarette where I have a mini fuse panel where the chart plotter, autopilot, Seatalk, and DSM300 have individual fuses and is connected to a single breaker on the nav station.

I guess it all depends on what is directly below your pedestal.

mz4wheeler · May 8, 2015

TommmD said:
Similar, just my pedestal is ahead of the lazarette. Would go into the aft cabin liner.

I want to install a separate breaker for the radar since it is a power drain (25W) I don't always need.

Thanx for the great pix. Real food for thought.

According the the Ohms law calculator:

http://www.ohmslawcalculator.com/ohms-law-calculator

12V @ 25W is only 2AMPS. You probably don't need a separate breaker, but you want at least a inline 5AMP fuse.

Good luck!

mz4wheeler · May 10, 2015

TommmD said:
Similar, just my pedestal is ahead of the lazarette. Would go into the aft cabin liner.

I bet that it wouldn't look bad if you ran the PVC into your aft cabin, use a 90 and run it along to ceiling to another 90, then vertical along a wall. You would have to cut the hole in the cabin liner (not the deck!) to be the same diameter as the OD of the PVC so you could tightly recess it. Use no glue (so you can take it apart later).

MDBack · Aug 4, 2015

I know it's not easy and it takes a bit of courage and patience, but I just did the same install on my 35.5. Routing the wires inside the stainless tubing is the right way, gives you a professional installation and keeps all your wires protected. Not easy, but doable.

I removed the stainless pedestal guard and drilled through the curved foot into the tube both sides. Open these as big as you can get them and fully deburr the holes. Then take a piece of paper and lay it onto the curved foot and trace the new holes and the screw mounting holes. Hold this up to your pedestal and transfer the marks to the pedestal using the screw holes as guides to make sure you have it aligned, and drill the matching holes in your pedestal. The pedestal is aluminum and will drill very quick after what it took you to get through the stainless steel. You now will have matching holes through which to route the wires to below the pedestal. Pulling wires takes 2 people and a couple hours of patience but can be done. Fishing the wires down through the two little holes in the base of the pedestal is especially fun. I would guess an inspection camera placed down the pedestal from the top might help but I didn't have one available at the time and I managed. I was able to very nicely route the new wires into the aft starboard locker through the same hole where the engine cables go and deal with everything once In there.

One thing I had to commit to was cutting the B&G ethernet cable because the ends would not fit through the tubing. I solved this problem with male and female field installable Nmea 2000 ends from Maretron. 5 wires cut apart and reattached once the wires were through everything.

I put a video on YouTube showing some of it. Search "New wiring in the hole".

Hope this helps you and others looking for a more permanent solution.

Steve Lavigne · Aug 5, 2015

I also hid all the wires from my Zeus2 7" chartplotter in a Navpod Railmount RMX4400, through the pedestal guard, through the pedestal, then along the existing wiring to the aft starboard lazarette. I cut the hole in the SS pedestal guard away from the boat with a drill press, since cutting holes in SS tubing can be a bit of a challenge.

I ran power, NMEA2000, and ethernet. I think I used the factory ends in the Navpod and used the retrofit connectors in the lazarette. I ran out of room for the video cable and had to abandon that idea.

I always leave the chartplotter in place. I guess it would be different if I was planning on removing the chartplotter when I was away from the boat.

Radar cable routing to the helm, Hunter 35.5

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