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Catalina/Capri 25/250 Sailor's Forums

General Sailing Forum

my turn to curse Catalina wiring (again)

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JimB517
Past Commodore

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USA
3285 Posts

Initially Posted - 04/14/2005 : 01:19:04

Took a big wave over the bow for the first time 2 nights ago. The anchor locker filled up and the bow lights went out. When I opened the locker later the bulb sockets were totally filled with salt water. I hate those cheap bow lights on the older boats so I bought a new fixture to mount high on the bow pulpit.

Spent several hours tonight installing the new light. Installed deck plug, passed wire into locker.

The old wires were in really bad shape. Trying to find some clean copper, one of them broke right where they dissapear into the fiberglass. The wire was like nothing but powder.

Oh well, didn't get the job done. Time to drill and run new wires through the salon, bulkheads, V Berth, etc.

Every time I run into a wiring problem I just love to find that Catalina glassed the wires into the deck.

Indiscipline 1978 FK SR #398

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lcharlot
Master Marine Consultant

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Antigua and Barbuda
1301 Posts

Response Posted - 04/14/2005 : 01:38:22

I went through the same problems on my '79 (hull #1205). Wires corroded to powder, solder won't stick to them, etc.
Replaced all light fixtures on that boat, and on my new boat (#5799) with Aqua Signal #25's. Had to run all new wiring harness through #1205 and install new deck plugs on both boats for mast lights.

I wonder how much more it would have cost the factory to use tinned marine grade wire instead of the cheap stuff? Probably only $20~$30 more per boat, and we owners wouldn't have to go through these hassles... As for laminating the wiring between the deck and inner liner, I guess they just weren't thinking of the possibility that 25-years later, a future owner would be faced with replacing corroded wiring.

Take comfort knowing that you will never have to do this job again (at least for as long as you are likely to own this boat).

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ilnadi
Captain

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452 Posts

Response Posted - 04/14/2005 : 15:48:14

I'm sure laminating the wire seemed like an "elegant" solution at the time. I guess the boats surprised some people by sticking around. Having re-wired most of the boat recently, now I feel the wiring will survive as long as the hull does. My 89 has a "Delco" 4-wire cable from the panel to the deck plug for the mast lights. Automotive wiring should fare good for vibration and heat, but untinned wire is another story. I am curently dealing with what's inside the mast, which seems to have had a rough life. All the metal in the light fixtures was corroded, but a little scraping revealed shiny copper.

I am trying to decide between tinning the solid copper (basically covering them in solder) or spraying them with an inert cover (like poster finish).Maybe I'll tin the contacts and spray the open areas.

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atgep
Master Marine Consultant

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1009 Posts

Response Posted - 04/14/2005 : 16:55:17

Jim, It might be time for a total re-wire. You seem to use your boat more than anyone else. The wiring in out boats is a non-critical issue----until it catches on fire! The wire on my boat is in good shape but the panel itself was in very poor shape in design and condition. Now that is fixed, I have added functions and 100% reliability.

Tom.

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JimB517
Past Commodore

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USA
3285 Posts

Response Posted - 04/14/2005 : 17:56:20

a little bit at a time!

Today at lunch time I mounted my new bow light on the pulpit, drilled the foredeck, installed a deck plug, ran a wire into the anchor locker, drilled through the bulkhead into the V berth, ran a 25 foot cable through it, and epoxied everything watertight. Then cleaned up the mess enough to go sailing tonight (home before dark)!

If there's no wind I'll finish by running the new cable through all the bulkheads aft to the power panel, and then reconnect to the nav lights switch. If not, tomorrow or the weekend.

Since my electrical fire some months ago, I've now re-wired about 1/2 the boat and checked everything else very carefully.

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Lightnup
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
1016 Posts

Response Posted - 04/14/2005 : 19:21:43

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Today at lunch time I mounted my new bow light on the pulpit, drilled the foredeck, installed a deck plug, ran a wire into the anchor locker, drilled through the bulkhead into the V berth, ran a 25 foot cable through it, and epoxied everything watertight. Then cleaned up the mess enough to go sailing tonight (home before dark)!<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">

Dude, you must have one incredibly long lunch time!

Steve

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JimB517
Past Commodore

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USA
3285 Posts

Response Posted - 04/15/2005 : 10:56:53

Got it done in an hour!

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The Officers, Staff and members of this site only provide information based upon the concept that anyone utilizing this information does so at their own risk and holds harmless all contributors to this site.