Just did my "delivery ferry cruise" from Deltaville to Mount Vernon - about 120 miles - 2 days and am still trying to sort out little things. Trip from Chesapeake and then up the Potomac was uneventful in beautiful Spring weather - lots of motoring and some motor-sailing (when winds cooperated). Been fixing minor things, when while cleaning up in the bilge, I noted that the retaining nut cap on my Raymarine ST-40 Depth Transducer was cracked. It (apparently) has been holding, but I immediately pulled it and replaced it in the thru-hull with the blank plug/bung (which has a perfectly fine nut cap). Of course, there is a line from the depth transducer that snakes from the bilge area (along with the line for the ST-40 Speed/log transducer) in an aftward direction ending up on the pedestal at the rear of the indicator. I assume I have to access the connection plug end of the transducer line (30 ft/9m) at the rear of the indicator to slip on a new nut. I assume I can temporarily use the nut from the blank thru-hull plug until I can get a new one (from Raymarine?). Has anyone had to make such a repair? Any tips or suggestions before I start? Of course, from what I can see in the bilge area, the two lines from the depth instrument and the speed instrument are cable clamped and appear to be routed together in a common flexible black plastic channel...so that suggests that I may need to remove both lines from the rear of the indicators in the pedestal, and use a line to snake the transducer cables first out, then replace the cracked cap, then re-snake the cables back into their original routing. To anyone who's done this or is intimately familiar with the 306 instrumentation wiring or can lend suggestions, thanks for the favor of a reply.
I am at a decision point in how to proceed to replace the Raymarine ST40 depth transducer retaining nut. Thanks for the comments and support. EITHER I go into the pedestal and try to follow the cable from the three connectors at the back of the depth indicator through the pedestal wiring bundles down through the pedestal through the waterproof (somewhere) seal between outside and inside (probably by the cockpit floor by the pedestal mount) thence through the sole flooring to the bilge area by the transducer to put on the new transducer retaining nut (a $6 part!) and then re-run the cable...OR...I just snip the cable by the transducer with enough slack to make good (well, my best) soldered splices for each of the three small wires in the cable covering each with a small heat shrink tube, and encasing the whole cable and three splices in another larger heat shrink tube...AND THEN just see if my depth instrument works. The former looks to be probably more than I can do in terms of pedestal and (whatever) disassembly and loosening up the cable enough to remove it. I did get the Raymarine support engineer, who first told me that this ST40 transducer cable should not be cut, when he was pressed, to admit that that was just the official position, and..."we do not suggest doing this. Unofficially, many have and it has worked out okay. Just make sure you do a very good splice and it is well protected. Otherwise the impedance will change and you could find the depth not working at all." ANY EXPERIENCE OUT THERE WITH ANYONE CUTTING AND RE-SPLICING A RAYMARINE ST40 DEPTH TRANSDUCER?