routing cable on O'Day 22

[bellnier]

I have installed a transom transducer and need to get the cable from starboard side to port side display. I have easily got the cable up to area of the battery. Now I want to route the cable from there under the floor or inside the walls from where the switch panel is located. Has anyone found a way to do this?

 

[Joe11688]

I would run the wire up high along the inside transom. Install an 8'' Beckson Deck plate in the center of the inside transom. This will give you access not only to this wire, but the gudgions, the self bailing cockpit hose, your swim ladder, and your stern light.

I use my access plate twice a year when I run my outboard charging wire to a term board which I have located on the rear Port bulkhead just under the lazarett cover. I had changed this charging wire over to a #10 copper stranded duplex wire and I have another one just like it going from the term board to the battery. It's a better connection than any electric outlet plug and socket I've used in the past.
At any rate, access deck plates is the way to go. I installed a 4" Beckson in my fuel locker so I could get at a jam cleat I wanted to install for my furler control line on the Starboard combing. I can even get at the stern cleat now if I have to.

 

[bellnier]

Good ideas Joe. Routing the cable from the starboard to the port side inside the transom makes sense. I hadn't considered it. The idea of putting a 4" Beckson in my fuel locker wall sounds like it will allow this to work. I'll have to rethink this. Thanks

 

[Joe11688]

I'm really not all that familiar with the O'Day 22 but it has to be somewhat similar to the way my boat is constructed. The deck plates are the way to go for gaining access.
If you have an aft bulkhead that separates the cabin from the lazarett area which takes in the area of your fuel locker, you may want to consider cutting the small portion of it that fits under your combing on the Starboard side. I did this to my boat and wound up gaining about 3.5' of extra space for my boat pole and 6.5' whisker pole. I removed that part of the rear bulkhead first, just to make sure I was able to do this. After that, I built a short cap rail to fit on the 1/2" plywood bulkhead and covered it with the same rug material that makes up my boat cabin's headliner.
The cabins in these boats are kind of small for storing a boat hook and with this extra space that I gained, you wouldn't even know I had a long whisker pole or a boat pole on board unless you looked into that quarter birth cubby hole.

The area in the center of your inside transom is probably curved like mine. Consequently, the deck plate flange is not going to fit nice and flat on that area and you're not going to be able to screw it down too tight or the cover won't screw on. Just fill in the voided areas of the flange with Dap Silicone Rubber Adhesive caulking and it will work out just fine.

 

[bellnier]

I ordered a 8" deck plate to replace the 4" on the inside of transom. I cut a 4" hole in the aft wall of the fuel locker as you mentioned and installed the 4" deck plate. The hole in the fuel locker made routing the cable inside the transom very easy. Using the 4" hole I was able to grab the end of a snake that was passed aft through an existing ceiling access port in the port side berth. There was an unobstructed path under the port side combing to the inside of the transom. It made cable routing so easy that I added a red & black 12 Volt DC #10 cables from the accessory circuit breaker back to the transom and forward to the same ceiling access port as the traducer cable. I'm going to need power for depth display, a power sink faucet and a bilge pump. I have waterproof switch box that I'm going to install three toggle switches for these items. Thanks Joe for taking your time to pass some wisdom. Thanks for the tip about installing the deck plate on the curved surface. No doubt I would have screwed it down too tight for the cover to screw on. Got a lot of projects for Greta that I had hoped to get done this weekend but storm Sandy preparations might spoil my plans.

 

[Joe11688]

Beautiful! I'm glad it all worked out for you. It was my pleasure. Good luck with your projects.

Joe