I'm hoping someone can point me in the right direction or maybe towards some good resources. I picked up an O'day 25 last summer. The boat was free to a good home and so far I think I am pretty fortunate on the find. It was on a mooring and floating so I figured that was a good start. The boat has been raced the last 10 or so years and has new rigging and sails. The 2 stroke 8hp outboard is in good shape. The boat appears to be in decent all around shape with exception to the interior.
I've gutted and scrubbed the boat bow to stern and replaced the head.
My next project is the electrical system. I have a good amount of background in AC and DC voltage. I can do the work, but looking for help with the design. I also picked up Don Casey's Complete Maintenance Manual which is great, but doesn't really get into system design.
The existing wiring is horrible. It is melted in some places and on the verge in others. My intent is to take a rake to it and start from scratch.
I want to do it right the first time and not look back.
What components are essential? What kind of luxuries should I consider? What is the "ideal" design?
She's going to be on a mooring so I need to maintain the batteries somehow. Suggestions?
Thanks!
Aaron
Aaron,
You're going to need to take stock of what you have on your boat that needs to be powered. By that I mean, if you have a mast head light and a steaming light, figure on running two duplex wires or four separate conductors to them. Both of these lights need a ground and both need to be on a separate switch. So you're probably going to need four conductors. I wouldn't put a mast head light and a steaming light on one common ground, myself.
You would only turn your steaming light on if you were motoring at night. For this reason, you would put it on a separate switch and this holds true for the mast head light.
Then you have your bow and stern lights which should be on the same breaker or switch. We are talking two wire, black- and red + for these circuits.
Then you have your dome lights in the cabin which can come off the same breaker. Usually these interior lights have their own switches on the light and the breaker can be left on.
Your compass light can be tied into the running lights.
Then you'll most likely need power for your VHF radio which can come off the same breaker as you interior cabin lights. Other circuits for an autopilot for instance could be run in anytime but if you plan on replacing the stern light conductors, now would be a good time to run in another pair for a future autopilot connection.
My Johnson 8 hp has a charging unit to keep my battery up. I never cared much for those marine recepticals and plugs that they sell at Worst Marine. They're made for small conductor wire and they go bad after a period of time. I don't think you get a good connection to your battery when they are plugged in. The set screws on these connectors a tiny and they cross thread pretty easy. They're junk.
What I did was replace the wire on my outboard with a copper stranded #10 two wire duplex which I made long enough to reach a small terminal strip connector mounted on the rear bulkhead just under the cover of the lazarette. I cut a piece of a PC mouse pad and used two wood screws to cover it.
I removed the guts from the old electric outlet on my inner transom and I ran the charging wire over the transom and through the outlet to the term strip. I have another two wire #10 copper duplex coming off this term strip to my battery.
Every year when I mount my outboard I run this wire through and the 8" Beckson deck plate that I have mounted in the center of my inside transom allows me easy access to this wire as well as my self bailing cockpit hose, stern light, gudgions, swim ladder, and etc.
If your load center or electric panel is questionable, you should replace it with new. The new load centers have built in LEDs and they are wired in just a little different than the old panel that is on your boat right now.
The panel that came with my 1986 O'Day 222 has a red + wire running from the battery to a buss bar in my panel. All my black - wires are twisted together with a black wire coming from my battery. To my way of thinking, this is kind of Mickey Mouse, but I bought the boat new and that's the way that they set it up at the factory.
My suggestion to you is to buy a terminal connector strip for the grounds only if you don't have one on your existing panel, or a new panel if you choose to buy one.
This way, you have better access to each pair of wires and you could separate any pair and ring them out a lot easier in the event that you ever have a fault in your wiring.
In essence, what I'm saying is, take note of what you have and figure on running your wires to them along an area of the cabin interior where they can't be seen.
My cabin has a fabric headliner and all my wiring is under it. Each pair is red and black and appear to be single conductor.
The wiring on these boats are so simple that a wiring diagram really isn't needed. You can make your own wiring diagram.
