Running Wire From Port to Starboard

[windcat]

1978 Catalina 30 hull # 959.
Current situation: wire from mast entered near ceiling just inside of head.
Batteries located to port of A4 engine in same compartment.
Electrical Panel located in galley on port side.
guages located near engine control close to floor of cockpit.
Tiller steering
Gas Tank is located aft just to the starboard of steps.
We bought the larger of the two electrical panels from Catalina Direct.

Problem: 1. Best Way to get mast wires over to new location above the map table on the starboard side.
2. How to run wires from engine over to new starboard location.
3. move batteries to starboard side, 2 under map table and one near gas tank.
4. Move engine gauges aft and up from current location like the newer Catalina 30 boats.
There is a large hard plastic water tank under the starboard setee, just opposite of the engine. There is a "hump" in the floor from the corner of the galley sink cabinet and engine compartment which is the transition to the main cabin area. My husband seems to think that the "hump" is hollow underneath and he can run wires under this hump by removing the water tank and drilling a hole through into the "hump." My suggestion to him would be to wait until the boat is out of the water. I have seen many pictures on this site about relocating the electrical panel, but no really detailed info about the best way to run the wiring. PLEASE HELP.

 

[seanshine]

I have a C30 in Everett exactly the same layout. I really can't see the benefit of all of this work. The only thing different is all three of my batteries are located in the aft cockpit locker. The water pump is located where your batteries are. I did have to rewire all of the lights as I lost the ground somewhere in the ceiling.

 

[jrowan]

Windcat,

I tried to respond to your question before and this darn website lost my post.
I disagree with the last post. It is completely worth rewiring your boat for both safety
concerns & reliability. The description of your boat sounds like it has completely original wiring. Catalina's 1970s-80s era wiring was really lacking. They commonly used a trailer type wiring connections to the main wiring harness that corrodes badly as it ages. This corrosion causes more electrical resistance, & overheating of wiring that can cause shortages & fires.

The original main fuse panel location under the companionway opening was a poor choice that allows rainwater to run down onto the panel, causing sever corrosion & shorts. Replacing the panel & moving the it to the nav. table is a wise investment. It gets it away from the leaks of the companionway,
it allows more room to install a bigger, modern breaker panel, instead of old school fuses. Also make sure that you rewire the main charging circuit wiring running from the alternator to the batteries, as this was undersized in the original wiring. Catalina also installed a amp meter in the cockpit gauge that draws tons of current, as it has wiring running from the alternator to the gauge & back to the battery, which ads about 20 + feet of wiring length to the charging circuit. This causes a massive extra draw & drop in voltage to the batteries, making it harder to start the engine.

Most prudent C 30 owners have rewired their boats & installed a volt meter instead of an amp meter after rewiring to get rid of the extra loop of wiring. As far as routing your new wiring, as long as you use tinned & sealed wiring it can be run under the cabin sole, just try to keep it out of the bilge area. Catalina also unfortunately ran some wiring hidden within the fiberglass head liner, which is virtually impossible to replace. Good luck & read up on rewiring.

 

[jrowan]

ps. Here are some wiring schematics for the Catalina 30.
Hope these help. There are a lot of past threads on rewiring
a C 30 on this site so do some research.

 

[The Garbone]

1978 Catalina 30 hull # 959.
Current situation: wire from mast entered near ceiling just inside of head.
Batteries located to port of A4 engine in same compartment.
Electrical Panel located in galley on port side.
guages located near engine control close to floor of cockpit.
Tiller steering
Gas Tank is located aft just to the starboard of steps.
We bought the larger of the two electrical panels from Catalina Direct.

Problem: 1. Best Way to get mast wires over to new location above the map table on the starboard side.
2. How to run wires from engine over to new starboard location.
3. move batteries to starboard side, 2 under map table and one near gas tank.
4. Move engine gauges aft and up from current location like the newer Catalina 30 boats.
There is a large hard plastic water tank under the starboard setee, just opposite of the engine. There is a "hump" in the floor from the corner of the galley sink cabinet and engine compartment which is the transition to the main cabin area. My husband seems to think that the "hump" is hollow underneath and he can run wires under this hump by removing the water tank and drilling a hole through into the "hump." My suggestion to him would be to wait until the boat is out of the water. I have seen many pictures on this site about relocating the electrical panel, but no really detailed info about the best way to run the wiring. PLEASE HELP.

One wire at a time.

I just did a similar job this weekend. Basically rewired every circuit coming out of my DC panels. Just takes patience.

One thing I did do is install a nice big -DC bus bar to tie all my Neg leads down to and then ran a larger gauge commons back to the batteries. You could do pretty much the same thing and run only red + wires back to the new panel.

I also put smaller separate +vdc bus bars in for cabin lights, electonics, accessory outlets, etc. On the electronics it is nice because the feed fuse at the switch panel is fairly large and each of the radios, chart plotter, depth sounder etc still has its own inline fuse at tied down at the bar.