[Public-List] Battery and electrical system

[Stephen Gwyn via Public-List]

The wiring diagram is on the Alberg 30 website->Maintenance->Electrical
http://www.alberg30.org/maintenance/Electrical/WhitbyWiringDiagram.jpg

I've replaced about 90% of the wiring on my boat.
I did it bit-by-bit. The first to go were all the wirenuts, replaced by
either bus-bars (good) or step-down butt connectors (less good, but
still better than wirenuts). Then the wiring for the radio/GPS/depthsounder.
Then the battery cables. Then the all wires leading from the engine to the
panel. Then all the wires up the mast. (This was the worst! I ended
up pulling out the wrong wire. My wife was at the bottom of the mast,
I was at  the top. We identified the wire to pull out by colour. However it
turned out the wire had been spliced halfway up the mast, and the colour
changed). I'm down to a few wires for some of the lights that are original.

My tips:
  -I found Don Casey's book to be very helpful.
  -Buy a good pair of wire-cutters/strippers/crimpers. I like the stainless steel
   ones by Accor. 15 years later and they're still razor sharp, and cut machine
   screws as good as day one.
  -Spend a little time, and a few terminals learning what a good crimp feels like.
  -If you replace one wire at a time, and pay attention to the wiring diagram,
   you won't get confused.
  -Stick to the colours in the wiring diagram
  -Buying the battery cable terminal crimper was well worth it. Crimp using a
   vice rather than a hammer.

SG