Running mast wiring through bilge

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sailorande

Junior Member
Hello,

I am completely re-wiring my E-27. The existing wiring was such a mess, I have decided to do the whole job over again, with a lot of advice from people that know what they are doing, as I do not. I am routing new wires from the mast step back to the panel. It looks like the original design had these wires going down the wall in the head, then through the bilge, and then aft from there. It seems like an alternate route would be to take the wires laterally across the ceiling of the head, to the starboard side and run them through that space behind the paneling where there is already AC wiring routed. This would make for a longer, more complicated run, but through a space that is high and dry compared to the bilge. Any thoughts on this would be much appreciated along with any other advice when tackling a complete re-wire project. Thanks in advance for any help offered.

Rande Peterson
Sounds of Silence
Great Salt Lake
 
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shard7

1974 E27 'Bluey'
That sounds very sensible. The space behind the side panels is a much better place for wiring (especially if you epoxy in zip tie mounts up on the hull wall to support it). I'm also redoing most of my wiring and feel that it's time and money well spent.

I think the challenge will be routing the wiring between the deck and the headliner since it's a pretty narrow gap, and I'm not sure if there's any way to feed a fish tape through there. But I would love to hear how it goes since I'd like to similarly route wires for a light above the table.

You might be able to sneak the wires in through the gap where the plywood bulkhead extends up into the headliner flange (might require temporary removal of the bolts that clamp the plywood between the two sides of the flange).

Good luck!
 
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Gaviate

Member III
Well if like mine, there is also a coax cable in the mix that will not "sneak" into any tight space. I also would worry about chafe in areas that can never be easily inspected. Were it me, (and its not) wanting to take the suggested path, I would run wires on external of head wall at ceiling and down starboard corner to existing side panel area. Then mold a decorative trim (hollowed wood) similar to piece that already exists in vertical corner of mast compression post.
As long as wire through bilge is continuous (no connectors or splices) that particular location is of no concern. Actually I would expect less chance for chafe 'cause the lower you get in the boat, the smoother the ride:)
 
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shard7

1974 E27 'Bluey'
Your concern for chaffing is a good one, I imagine it depends on how much the deck flexes relative to the headliner and how much the wires will shift around in there.
 
peaman

peaman

Sustaining Member
My 1987 32-3 was built with a few wiring conduits of white plastic hose, which were little used originally, but were really useful when I did a bunch of rewiring recently. Three of those conduits terminated at the nav station next to the DC panel. One went from there to the mast step area, one parallel to that, but outboard, and one to the rudder post area. I used a fish tape to figure out where the conduits ran, and I used "wire pulling lubricant" to help get the new wiring through the conduits.
 
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sailorande

Junior Member
Thank you for responses everyone. I am going to tackle this part of the project over the weekend and will likely go "through" the bilge in order to make a less circuitous, continuous (no connections in bilge), and shorter route to the control panel. I've decided to do it this way in part, as Gaviate mentioned, the coax cable is already routed through the bilge so I'd like to keep all of the wires going to the mast along the same path. It will ride low in the boat to reduce chafe. Thanks again.
 
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sailing42

Member II
On my Ericson 27 when I had my mast re-done with new wiring I ran the wiring down through the head following the original wiring path - there is a wooden trim piece on the mast step pillar that has a cutout for the wiring. At the foot of the mast step just aft there is a floor plate for access. I fitted a waterproof junction box there for the wiring and from there the wiring runs through under the floor. When I need to step the mast again it's a simple matter to disconnect the wiring at the junction box and remove the wood trim.
 
Kevin

Kevin

Junior Member
I did the "routing along the ceiling of the head" option and added a bus bar in that channel for the terminations.
1689532809826.png
1689532910515.png

As far as getting from this channel to the panel... I decided to make a new panel on the starboard side that is still a work in progress, but that allowed me to avoid the challenge that Loren mentioned: running wires down between the hull and the liner. It made me uncomfortable even if the wires barely fit. I'm going to exit this channel via the wood covers and go directly into my panel: 1689533256709.png
Some of this work is temporary as this is heavily in progress at the moment. I still need to make the front of the panel :D
 
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