[Public-List] Where to run wires from the mast into the boat

Wed Nov 2 01:37:55 PDT 2011

Hi all, 

I've have had really great success mounting four blue sea terminals, each drilled separately through the deck. I put two each side of the mast mount. They don't leak, ever. When I pull the mast, I unscrew the top of each blue sea fitting from its base, leave it attached to the wire, disconnect the wires from a terminal block in the cabinet down below behind the head, and lift the four pigtails and mast off the boat. Never need to cut a wire end or replace an electrical connector. 

I also successfully ran the rectangular plastic coated, marine two strand wire through Blue Sea's rubber grommets, with no drips. I drilled slightly smaller diameter holes in the rubber grommets and let the little plastic top mount conform the rubber holes to the wire shape. Works fine. Also ran two wire harnesses through one grommet to limit the number of deck fittings, and wrapped the two coated wire sets back to back with tightly wound electrical tape to create a generally rounded shape that sealed perfectly inside the grommet. 

I will say I am not found of these older, chrome platted deck connectors that are on some of our boats - the kind with little brass electrical corroders, I mean, connectors, pressed into the metal base. On Dolce, the knurled up caps, that marine distributors tell you with a straight face to: " screw onto the base to keep the water out", proved to be little miniature petri dishes. They fratricidicly killed more wiring ends every summer than I could replace; perpetrating nearly continuous electronic scandal and confusion with first one thing and then another at the masthead; all summer - every summer. My newly installed tricolor light worked randomly , and my spreader lights where mostly decorative. I soon found I needed to burn both the masthead lights and my old cabin side running lights to ensure enough illumination to run at night. When I finally switched to the Blue Sea mountings, everything worked all the time - even had the affect of soothing the late-night moaning-shriek-angst sounds emitted by other boat crews who were out of the water. 

So now I have two sets of running lights. When I sail at night and see some poor sloop run up to mooring with only one set of running lights burning, and often even less then one, I think Awh, you poor sap: you've still got those shiny metal connectors on your deck. 

Anyway, hard to go wrong using these Blue Sea gadgets, they really work. 

m: "pat nolan" <pnolan33 at yahoo.com> 
To: fongemie at gmail.com, "Alberg 30 Public List -- open to all" <public-list at lists.alberg30.org> 
Sent: Tuesday, November 1, 2011 4:13:06 PM 
Subject: Re: [Public-List] Where to run wires from the mast into the boat 

I'm thinking of a dorade box for the head vent . Should be simple to make a pipe for wires inside of it ...? 

________________________________ 
From: Jeffrey <fongemie at gmail.com> 
To: Alberg 30 Public List -- open to all <public-list at lists.alberg30.org> 
Sent: Tuesday, November 1, 2011 5:44 AM 
Subject: Re: [Public-List] Where to run wires from the mast into the boat 

Thanks Guys, 

I should explain my setup a little better. The hole that goes through the 
mast beam into the cabin has a stainless pipe through it. You can't see it 
from the inside, but it does stick up a couple of inches above the mast 
step. It appears to be well sealed and with some extra goop around the 
outside it never leaks. 

Here's a picture 
https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/Isu-4ned3Hyg_BhlVi-qIQ?feat=directlink 

I'd be happy to keep this setup, except there's no extra capacity for more 
wires, and I need to clip the terminals of half of the wires to remove them 
all when we pull the mast. It would never work if I added one more wire. 
The Blue Sea Clam thing looks good, but only for one or two wires? I've 
seen a boat where someone made a little candy-cane shaped fitting (could 
have been a plumbing item) that led the wires into the cabin, complete with 
drip loop. It looked a little gaumy, but could accommodate quite a few 
wires. 

Thanks for the input guys, love hearing what everyone else does. 

On another note, we brought the boat home last Wednesday and I barely got 
her covered before 15 inches of snow fell over the weekend. 

-Jeff 

On Tue, Nov 1, 2011 at 8:37 AM, John Riley <jriley at dsbscience.com> wrote: 

> ALL fittings or screws that pass through a cored surface should be 
> drilled oversize, the hole filled with thickened epoxy, then proper size 
> holes drilled in the epoxy "plug." This is modern construction 
> practice. If the fitting leaks, it leaks INTO the boat, but not 
> sideways into the coring. 
> 
> Also, as mentioned, chamfering or beveling the edge of the hole before 
> bedding helps TREMENDOUSLY, so make sure to do that around any screw 
> holes as well before bedding. 
> 
> 
> 
> James Allocco wrote: 
> > Jeff, 
> > 
> > What concerns me is water migrating sideways thru the whole and rotting 
> > the bean or the wooden fillers between the fiberglass. 
> > 
> 
> 
> -- 
> John S. Riley 
> S/V Gaelic Sea 
> 1972 Alberg 30 #521 
> 
> _______________________________________________ 
> These businesses support your Association: 
> http://www.alberg30.org/store/A30supporters.html 
> Please support them. 
> _______________________________________________ 
> Public-List mailing list 
> Public-List at lists.alberg30.org 
> http://lists.alberg30.org/listinfo.cgi/public-list-alberg30.org 
> 

-- 
Jeffrey Fongemie 
_______________________________________________ 
These businesses support your Association: 
http://www.alberg30.org/store/A30supporters.html 
Please support them. 
_______________________________________________ 
Public-List mailing list 
Public-List at lists.alberg30.org 
http://lists.alberg30.org/listinfo.cgi/public-list-alberg30.org 
_______________________________________________ 
These businesses support your Association: 
http://www.alberg30.org/store/A30supporters.html 
Please support them. 
_______________________________________________ 
Public-List mailing list 
Public-List at lists.alberg30.org 
http://lists.alberg30.org/listinfo.cgi/public-list-alberg30.org 

 1320223075.0