Solar wires in arch on Hunter 356?

[KiwiChris]

Hello all from NZ. We are one of the few owners of a Hunter 356 in New Zealand.
I'm going to be adding a large 400W solar panel to the aft end of our bimini.
I hope to run the wires down the 'arch' to the port lazarette where the batteries are. I see wire connectors from the manufacturer in the lazarette for the speakers that some boats have on their arch. Our boat does not have these ButI wonder if I could run the solar wires in the same way through the arch tubes? The problem is that we don't have any existing hole at the top of the arch for the wires to enter.
I wonder if any owners who have the speaker option can post a photo of where their wires enter at the top of the arch?
Thanks for any advice.
Chris

 

[chuckwayne]

yes you can - I ran my solar wires around the traveler and large tubes on the port side. the speakers are in the plate on the bottom of the arch that covers the center part of the arch from where the tubes go horizontal over the wheel. I made my panel connections under the plate and then ran down the port tubes. However, the speaker wires go thru a small hole under the arch mounting plate - to get the wires up I went thru the aft swim platform locker and ran a snake up the arch from the bottom. If you don't have the speakers, you may not have the hole - but you could certainly drill one - centered under the mounting flange. I don't think I have a picture but the opening is obvious under the plate. Escape will be under shrinkwrap until the beginning of April - snow again tomorrow!

 

[KiwiChris]

Snow! What's that! we enjoy sailing year round thankfully.
Thanks for your answer.

I guess I want to know what size hole hunter deemed ok to have without weakening the arch?

Speaker wires are a lot smaller then solar wires!
We don't have any holes in the arch atm and I would like to drill one without causing an structural issues.
I would drill one in the forward tube as there is already an 'out' hole at its base in the rear port cockpit locker.
Note that in the picture I have added a hand hold under the arch and would probably drill my hole on the port side of this (off centre) to keep the wires shorter and out of hands way.
Thanks
Chris

 

[chuckwayne]

your handle is in about the same spot/size as the plate hat holds the speakers and pedastal light. the hole in my arch is between your handle and the start of the curve in the arch tube and is large enough to hold the 4 speaker wires (16ga), the two wires for the light, and my 3 - 6awg solar cables (thick insulation cable). I don't think the hole you need will be a structural problem