Electrical Project Almost Complete

[AP0196]

Spend the last two weekends (And two cases of beer) redoing the electrical on my Cat 22. I wish I had taken before pictures, because it was an absolute mess. The previous owners did whatever worked and it made no sense. I rerouted all the wires through split loom conduit. Rewired the masthead light with a new deck fitting. The battery was in the port aft lazarette, and I moved it to under the keel winch and reinstalled a new battery switch. Routed all positives to the switch panel and negatives to a bus bar. Pretty satisfied with the results. Lot's of work left to do but progress is progress!

 

[kappykaplan]

Looks great!

 

[AP0196]

Looks great!

Thank you!

 

[shemandr]

Beer and wiring? A great pairing! Wiring requires crawling in and out of small spaces, being in distressed positions and a good deal of sweat. Beer is the perfect anodyne for all that.

 

[High Current]

I'm always surprised by (and therefore appreciate) how much time and energy it takes to run a couple of wires.

 

[AP0196]

I'm always surprised by (and therefore appreciate) how much time and energy it takes to run a couple of wires.

Totally! I had a buddy helping out and it’s a lot more work than it seems like it should be!

 

[rgranger]

I'm always surprised by (and therefore appreciate) how much time and energy it takes to run a couple of wires.

Agreed... and I've come to the conclusion that it is a waste of time. How often do you actually sleep out on a 22' boat. Maybe one or two nights a summer???? How often do you sail at night? Maybe once or twice a summer???

I've restored 7 old sailboats... and I have made the choice to rewire them all.... and now think what I should have done is gone with puck lights in the cabin and battery operated nav. lights that I keep in a box under the galley sink.... and a handheld VHF. Easy peasy and probably the cheapest and fastest way to get a functional boat.

 

[AP0196]

Agreed... and I've come to the conclusion that it is a waste of time. How often do you actually sleep out on a 22' boat. Maybe one or two nights a summer???? How often do you sail at night? Maybe once or twice a summer???

I've restored 7 old sailboats... and I have made the choice to rewire them all.... and now think what I should have done is gone with puck lights in the cabin and battery operated nav. lights that I keep in a box under the galley sink.... and a handheld VHF. Easy peasy and probably the cheapest and fastest way to get a functional boat.

I see your point. This is my first sailboat and it was a lot of work but also a rewarding experience to see it go from an absolute rats nest to something that looks clean and functional. I learned a lot and I hope to do multiple overnights and eventually multi night trips on the Great Lakes, so I think it was worth it. I get where youre coming from though!

 

[rgranger]

I see your point. This is my first sailboat and it was a lot of work but also a rewarding experience to see it go from an absolute rats nest to something that looks clean and functional. I learned a lot and I hope to do multiple overnights and eventually multi night trips on the Great Lakes, so I think it was worth it. I get where youre coming from though!

Yep! It is rewarding to see them come back to life.

 

[AaronD]

Agreed... and I've come to the conclusion that it is a waste of time. How often do you actually sleep out on a 22' boat. Maybe one or two nights a summer???? How often do you sail at night? Maybe once or twice a summer???...

Good point, but it depends strongly on the user... We spent 2 weeks out on our C-22 on several occasions (2 adults + 2 kids or teens at the time), and slept aboard for 10-15 nights during many other summers when we didn't do quite as long a cruise.

Admittedly, we aren't often out at night, so clamp-on battery-powered nav lights would be acceptable, but when we had to motor out in the dark on Saturday, we were glad to just flip the switches on reliable hard-wired lights.

 

[Joe]

Spend the last two weekends (And two cases of beer) redoing the electrical on my Cat 22. I wish I had taken before pictures, because it was an absolute mess. The previous owners did whatever worked and it made no sense. I rerouted all the wires through split loom conduit. Rewired the masthead light with a new deck fitting. The battery was in the port aft lazarette, and I moved it to under the keel winch and reinstalled a new battery switch. Routed all positives to the switch panel and negatives to a bus bar. Pretty satisfied with the results. Lot's of work left to do but progress is progress!

Looks good, the hard part is done. Now all you need is a few cable ties to tidy things up and some label tags for the wires to make future troubleshooting more convenient for you or the next owner. Good job.

 

[Indysailor]

I'm addicted to the before/after satisfaction of owning a 47 year old sailboat and all that comes with two prior owners' "wiring projects". When I rewired my engine, I discovered the blower wiring was 14ga but the tail piece on the unit was 12ga, so when I upped the size of the wire leading to it, the blower responded by sounding like a jet engine compared to before.
My only suggestion is to neaten things up and provide support so that wires aren't hanging out in places where stuff can grab onto them.

 

[rgranger]

I'm addicted to the before/after satisfaction of ...

... and we are addicted to the pictures...

 

[Timm R Oday25]

I appreciate the time and effort . When you get to the eastern part of our state, I highly recommend Door county as a place to try out your sailing overnight adventures . Perfect place for a Catalina 22

 

[ShawnL]

Or if you get up north, we have some nice places to sail as well (without having to brave Superior).