I'm sitting here, and I feel the weight of my 30' Catalina sitting on my chest...
I bought a '77 30 last September, got a great price on a boat that was dry docked for 2 years. Had a mechanic go through it and aside from some minor issues with old hoses, an engine tuneup and normal 32 year old wear and tear, I think I got a good boat for a fair price. Well, it didn't sink when they put it in the water and she motored 5 hours (no wind) to my home dock.
So, over the winter I took ALL the interior and exterior wood out (3 van fulls) and sanded, stained, varnished, more varnished and then some more. No worries here, it's all looking good and ready to be reinstalled.
I want to rewire the boat and I don't want to ask the 'how do re-wire my boat' question. But, how do I rewire my boat?
This what I have to date:
Xantrex TrueCharge 40
Xantrex Remote Panel
Xantrex Battery Sensor
Blue Sea Battery Selector - the one w/ 1-2-B and Master for DC
Blue Sea 8 DC position panel
Blue Sea 3 AC position panel
Lots of 12 AWG duplex marine grade wire.
I want to put 2 batteries under the nav table and 1 battery in the engine space for starting.
I also want to add an additonal 6 DC postion water proof panel in cockpit to run lites, instruments, etc.
I understand house AC current and have no problems with it. I just seem to be over thinking the whole DC rewiring thing. I have a number of books on the subject including Don Casey's, Nigel Calder and another on the way from xx Wing.
Here are my questions:
Should I put a fuse off the positive right after the battery BEFORE running it to the positive terminal block?
As an example, using the AM/FM stereo, do I run the negative wire to a negative terminal bus and the postive to the a positive terminal bus, then jump a wire to the DC panel?
I know there needs to be a small fuse to protect the device. Should all these smaller fuses be part of a fuse block?
If so does the postive lead go to the fuse block, then to the DC panel?
I see the DC panels come negative bus on the back of the panel, is it easier to have a seperate negative bus?
I also see that the panel has a grounding bus, since I intend to use duplex wire, do I need to also run the same gauge primary wire for grounds when the devices have a dedicated ground wire?
See?....now I'm getting confused, because I'm thinking too hard.
When I run a wire for the lights, do I splice each individual light into the main run that will essential run all the way around the boat? If so, are there connectors that allow 1 wire to connect to 2?
On that subject, when I rewire the the AC side, I want to run 2 outlets on each side of the boat, on seperate circuits. In a house, I would wire nut the outgoing legs together with a pigtail to the outlet. Since there is no wire nutting allowed on boats, do I use the same type of 1 to 2 connector? Or, could I wire positive and neutral legs to small 3 screw terminal blocks with the third screw going to the outlet while the other two are used to 'pass' the current on.
Well this is long and rambling and I sure I've shown enough of my noobyness to last a few nights. Plus I didn't mention the 3 through hulls I removed and all the hoses...
Any thoughts or suggestions would be great!
Chris
I bought a '77 30 last September, got a great price on a boat that was dry docked for 2 years. Had a mechanic go through it and aside from some minor issues with old hoses, an engine tuneup and normal 32 year old wear and tear, I think I got a good boat for a fair price. Well, it didn't sink when they put it in the water and she motored 5 hours (no wind) to my home dock.
So, over the winter I took ALL the interior and exterior wood out (3 van fulls) and sanded, stained, varnished, more varnished and then some more. No worries here, it's all looking good and ready to be reinstalled.
I want to rewire the boat and I don't want to ask the 'how do re-wire my boat' question. But, how do I rewire my boat?
This what I have to date:
Xantrex TrueCharge 40
Xantrex Remote Panel
Xantrex Battery Sensor
Blue Sea Battery Selector - the one w/ 1-2-B and Master for DC
Blue Sea 8 DC position panel
Blue Sea 3 AC position panel
Lots of 12 AWG duplex marine grade wire.
I want to put 2 batteries under the nav table and 1 battery in the engine space for starting.
I also want to add an additonal 6 DC postion water proof panel in cockpit to run lites, instruments, etc.
I understand house AC current and have no problems with it. I just seem to be over thinking the whole DC rewiring thing. I have a number of books on the subject including Don Casey's, Nigel Calder and another on the way from xx Wing.
Here are my questions:
Should I put a fuse off the positive right after the battery BEFORE running it to the positive terminal block?
As an example, using the AM/FM stereo, do I run the negative wire to a negative terminal bus and the postive to the a positive terminal bus, then jump a wire to the DC panel?
I know there needs to be a small fuse to protect the device. Should all these smaller fuses be part of a fuse block?
If so does the postive lead go to the fuse block, then to the DC panel?
I see the DC panels come negative bus on the back of the panel, is it easier to have a seperate negative bus?
I also see that the panel has a grounding bus, since I intend to use duplex wire, do I need to also run the same gauge primary wire for grounds when the devices have a dedicated ground wire?
See?....now I'm getting confused, because I'm thinking too hard.
When I run a wire for the lights, do I splice each individual light into the main run that will essential run all the way around the boat? If so, are there connectors that allow 1 wire to connect to 2?
On that subject, when I rewire the the AC side, I want to run 2 outlets on each side of the boat, on seperate circuits. In a house, I would wire nut the outgoing legs together with a pigtail to the outlet. Since there is no wire nutting allowed on boats, do I use the same type of 1 to 2 connector? Or, could I wire positive and neutral legs to small 3 screw terminal blocks with the third screw going to the outlet while the other two are used to 'pass' the current on.
Well this is long and rambling and I sure I've shown enough of my noobyness to last a few nights. Plus I didn't mention the 3 through hulls I removed and all the hoses...
Any thoughts or suggestions would be great!
Chris
