wondering if anyone has experience with the catalina 5 series and adding solar panels. I am wondering about places to drill the deck for wiring on the right side of the boat near the companionway that will allow me to run large AWG 10 wires to the batteries and controller. I cannot see an easy way to remove the liner but it seems there are hollow places? thanks, possible other catalina's have a similar setup?
catalina 315 solar panels and suggested places for drilling deck for wiring?
- Thread starter Tim Murphy
- Start date
I too ran 10awg wires on my last boat for solar. But then realized that even my 6A controllers were overkill for my 100w panel so I would look into that. Amazon brand BougeRV wires with pre-terminated connectors held up great with only slight color fading over the course of 4-5 years.
On my 94 C30, there's a piece of wood along the side of the interior. If you look up/behind it, you'll find wiring and stanchion bolts. This would be an excellent spot to drill a hole for wiring. Another option is the stern or aft lazarrette. I would take a good look at something like BlueSeaSystem CableClam. You drill a hole in the rubber for your cable, make a slice in the rubber if your cable is already terminated and assemble. The rubber will compress to make a solid seal
On my 94 C30, there's a piece of wood along the side of the interior. If you look up/behind it, you'll find wiring and stanchion bolts. This would be an excellent spot to drill a hole for wiring. Another option is the stern or aft lazarrette. I would take a good look at something like BlueSeaSystem CableClam. You drill a hole in the rubber for your cable, make a slice in the rubber if your cable is already terminated and assemble. The rubber will compress to make a solid seal
thanks good suggestions I agree that for 100 W 12 AWG will work. I could drill at site 2 near the lazarette (see photo) but would prefer to go at site 1 (companionway) and go under the deck if possible and not run wires across the bimini
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Where and how are the panels being mounted? How many watts gives a rough estimation of physical size
currently I use a single 100 watt panel with a Victron controller MPPT 75/15 when anchored for a day or more, I just clip it to handrails in the area of the yellow highlight. it works great but there is a wire that goes through the companionway. I would love to have a solar plug on the deck near the dodger for this that is lead down between the liner and the deck to the batteries and out of sight . Eventually I could see adding a second 100 to 150 watt panel that would also lay on the deck. I have not wanted to mount on the bimini/dodger since it might affect easy removal. I am also using non-marine solar panels-camping type
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I honestly don't know how you'd run that between the skins of the deck and headliner without turning it into a major project. On my last boat I had two upside down L shaped pieces of bimini tubing (bow cut in half) that had the solar panel mounted on top and the lower section was clamped to the bow pulpit. It could be removed in 15-20 minutes and installed in 20-30. I can give you some details on it if you'd like to do something similar
After looking at your post I realized I could go up and over the Bimini and lead wires through a hole near the lazarette. To do I would need to go a longer distance and might need to use the 10 AWG wire but it's doable. The reason I think you can go between the liner and the deck is it sounds Hollow and there is a connection for a light. Catalina was able to run wires through there I'll be at much smaller for low current LED light. I'm going to talk to the people at Catalina Direct to see if they can tell me whether it's possible to go between the liner and the deck for such wiring if not I'll go with your solution at the stern.