Hi All, Many know that I have been involved in a partial re-wire these last few days and what I found was shocking and horrifying to say the least! I was planning a full re-wire for this coming winter but some could NOT wait any longer! Now my boat surveyed very well with the exception of a few minor issues mostly wiring which I immediately corrected. However there are certain areas of a boat that are not justifiably accessible during a survey if all else looks good. Well at the end of last season my shower sump stopped working. I checked the fuse & breaker, both of which were in fine condition and operating properly. Being that we were on vacation, and I usually just go for a swim anyway, I gave it about 5 minutes of trouble shooting and decided I'd fix it over the winter. Well somehow winter turned to summer and last weekend I finally dug into the shower sump. Well after about two hours of tearing apart internal cabinetry I finally reached the conduit and the wires I needed to access. Wow, is all I can say! The PO, who is a great guy & friend is clearly NOT very good with electrical, added both a Macerator and a shower sump pump about 10+ years ago. In the compartment with the Macerator the wire was tinned 12Ga leading through a bulkhead and then hidden behind interior cabinetry. There was no reason for the surveyor to pursue the macerator wiring as it looked like properly sized tinned wire. The problem was that behind the cabinets was an 18 gauge lamp cord feeding this 12 ga tinned wire. The terminations for the Macerator were yellow wire nuts! The shower sump had a switch that the PO had soldered the wires directly to. My failure was at the junction of the stranded wire and the solder. Fatigue and work hardening caused the failure of the shower sump. Needless to say fixing a simple shower sump turned into re-wiring many pumps, the speakers, some lights, the nav station and on and on. You never know what is lurking behind your interior cabinetry! All looked good where it could be seen but all was not good! Here's an interesting photo. This was the 14ga tinned ground wire that led to the shower sump which was connected to 18ga lamp cord. The tined wire is in perfect condition and the lamp cord shows signs of over heating and melting of the jacket not to mention severe oxidation. It's rare to see two wires joined at the exact same time one being tinned and the other un-tinned. I think it's an interesting comparison but please NEVER use wire nuts !!!!
