Whoa guys...
My whole point was missed! #1 I NEVER said tinned wire is the only product that should be used in the original post anywhere!! What I said was "but to diminish tinned wires value in a boat is just short sided on PS's part." Remember the article was titled "Tinned Wire Myth Busted" not "My Boat Has New But Un-Tinned Wire, Should I Replace It?" #2 My entire point was that PS did NOT qualify their comments and that ALL wire is NOT created equal. There are good wire insulations/jackets and bad. Bad ones, most likely made of vinyl and not PVC, allow oxidation through the jacket! Ross, Capn Dave and I will have to agree to disagree on this one. Though there is much evidence that supports oxidation through the insulation, on cheap wire, whether or not the ends are sealed. I am in TOTAL agreement that a GOOD QUALITY wire can be heat shrink wrapped and the wire will be fine in 20+ years! We do NOT differ on this point! During this recent wiring project I removed a total of five runs of wire from the same exact DRY conduit that was NO WHERE near the bilge. Three of these runs were original, factory installed, duplex 14ga un-tinned wire that were 29 years old. Two of them were cheap DIY installed stuff, one was brown lamp cord and one looked like speaker wire with a transparent vinyl type insulation/jacket. They were approx 15-18 years old not the 29 of the original factory wiring. The reason for this project was a WIRING FAILURE in the DIY installed stuff.. All five of these wires were in the exact same dry conduit and all used the same type of open, non-heat shrink, crimp connectors. The three 29 year old factory wire runs had black oxidation that traveled or "wicked" about 4" in from the ends. This is to be expected with open style crimps on bare copper so no surprise there at all. The other two wires, that had significantly LESS time on the boat, in the order of 10+ less years of service, were oxidized the entire length 15+/- feet and not just 4" in from the ends! These wires were the "lamp cord" and the "speaker wire" grade wires. Remember, same terminations, same locations different quality wires and wire insulation. It does not get any clearer than that to show that the jacket of the wire allowed oxidation through the membrane! It did NOT wick the 15 feet or the other three with the SAME crimps would have looked worse being 10+ years older and they did not. #3 I am actually re-using much of the original wiring if the snaking and re-routing would cause a massive tear apart of the interior or if it is of the proper gauge. I am however re-cutting and & crimping the ends with heat shrink crimp connectors. I do like tinned wire, and I do prefer it, heck I even wired my speakers with it, and find it a very good value (I have a very good distributor $43.00 for a 100' spool of 14-2 duplex) but don't find it 100% necessary with a KNOWN GOOS QUALITY un-tinned product. My problem is that the PS article, I felt, as a long time reader, leads readers to believe that sealing the ends will work on every brand and quality of un-tinned wire. The harsh reality is that this is just NOT the case with many cheaply made wires.
