Thursday

Working in the forward cabin, I continued with the second fan, which I located on the starboard side in the upper corner of the bulkhead (where it was near the wiring from the starboard bulkhead light in the main cabin), and secured the wiring for both appliances behind the trim at the edges of the bulkhead before leading it aft into the electrical locker. I found that a little butyl tape was handy for holding the little wires in the groove behind the trim.  As with the port side, I’d make a piece of trim to cover the exposed wiring on the bulkhead in the near future.

After considering and rejecting various locations, and taking into account the owner’s wishes and the physical requirements of the spaces, I eventually installed the two small berth lights (one per side) under the sidedecks just aft of the berths, where there was open space, relatively convenient for hidden wiring, and to keep the lights out of the way.  These lights also incorporated built-in USP ports, and swiveled in all directions.  On both sides, I was able to run the wiring the short distance beneath the liner and then aft to the main wiring areas.  Note that those top few ceiling boards on both sides will be replaced as soon as I finish the wiring and install the forward chainplates.

I had hoped to begin installing the underdeck secondary lighting, i.e. LED strips, as I’d recently received all the materials I thought I needed, but I found that the diffuser covers I’d selected didn’t work with the LED strips that I had, so I spent a little time sourcing replacement diffusers and would await installation till another day.

Instead, I turned to the battery chargers again, and in the forward cabin, armed with new supplies, I installed an outlet box, wired in the AC outlet, and finished the charger installation.  After discussion, the owner had decided not to install the poorly-executed indicator lamp that came with the charger, since it would have been an eyesore and the digital battery monitor would provide all the salient information anyway.  Once I’d finalized the battery box and house battery location, I could run the charging wires from the charger to the box, but for now left them coiled aside.

The 48-volt charger for the electric motor power supply was a different manufacturer and design, and was easier to handle and install.  I chose a location on the starboard engine room bulkhead that was out of the way yet accessible, and left room for an outlet box for the 110-volt supply to the charger.  On this outlet, I added an external cover to protect the plug, and secured the generous excess power cord out of the way next to the box.  Once the engine batteries were in place, I’d complete the charger wiring, which would include a temperature sensor along with the charging wires.

For future expansion, I’d run one extra circuit aft into the engine room, and now I coiled up and secured this excess cable.

It made sense to continue in the engine room and finish up what was needed to terminate and secure the remaining few wires, starting with the large 8AWG wire pair required for the electric head controller.  With all components of this system now on hand (the toilet itself had been backordered for a couple weeks), I felt ready to begin the installation, starting with the small control panel in the head itself.  After confirming measurements of the throne, and working within existing limitations of the space and the opposite side of the bulkhead, I chose a location for the control and drilled the large hole required for its installation, then installed the panel and its Ethernet cable that would connect it to the control box.

Next, I chose a location for the control/wiring box, keeping it out of the way of the eventual battery boxes yet close and convenient to the main wiring.  With the box in place, I could terminate and connect the main power cables, and also the Ethernet cable from the control panel.  There were a few additional wires required that would run between this control box and the toilet itself,  and I’d continue installing these wires next time, but for now the day was done.

Total time billed on this job today:  8.25 hours

0600 Weather Observation:  14°, mostly clear. Forecast for the day:  Sunny, windy, 17°

Wednesday

I started the day in the cockpit, where I installed a new compass in the molded recess at the forward end.  The large hole I’d drilled there long ago to remove the engine was the perfect size to accommodate the new compass.  Installation was straightforward with the supplied gasket and three screws, and afterwards I made up the wiring for the compass light belowdecks.

In the galley, I prepared to install both a 110-volt and 12-volt outlet, and cut the required openings for their installation.  I installed an outlet box and completed the wiring for the 110-volt outlet, and similarly installed the simple 12-volt socket and completed its wiring as well.

I connected the newly-arrived transducer extension cable and led it the short distance up to the area where the display would soon be installed (no pictures).  Then, I moved into the main cabin, where I decided to install the starboard bulkhead light fixture.  Because the doorway to the forward cabin was off-center to starboard, I mounted the light at the same height and as close to the same transverse position as on the port side, while accommodating the open doorway.  For now, I just led the wires through the bulkhead for later attention.

While I’d been working below the v-berth over the past couple days, I’d pre-selected the location for the charger for the house battery bank, and now I went ahead with its physical installation.  The location I chose was on the port side, on the forward face of the port storage locker below the berth.  There was ample room on that surface, plus the bolts to secure the charger would be out of sight inside the locker.

The charger was extremely heavy, and to ease installation I made a simple template of the base design and the overall shape of the charger to help me position the holes.

In the boat, I collected all the tools I’d need and got set up in the v-berth, then drilled the mounting holes according to my template.  Then, with some difficulty thanks to the weight of the charger, I secured it to the bulkhead with four 5/16″ bolts, incorporating larger washers on the inside of the locker.  I positioned the charger so that its short power cord would be within reach of the outlet box I planned to install (and had arranged accordingly during earlier “thought sessions” while working elsewhere up there), and its included battery cables were of ample length to reach the battery box once installed.

Appended to the power cord was a short length of wire with a rudimentary “remote” indicator light attached.  This cable was only 18″ or 24″ in length, vastly limiting its remote-installation capabilities, and the entire thing was somehow inelegant and poorly planned, with an ugly stud required for mounting and only a basic lamp as an indicator, all crudely attached to the most minimal circuit board imaginable, and with a thoughtlessly-short length of cable to allow mounting options.  The indicator lamp built into the charger was not accessible for regular or even sporadic viewing in the charger’s location.

This meant the only feasible mounting location, when considering the cable length and the other realities of the available space (including, not unimportantly, access from within and the thickness of the various surfaces), was the forward section of the v-berth cutout, where the fiberglass panel was about 3/16″ thick and could potentially accommodate the light.  As of this writing, installation details were under review.  The good news is that I installed (or am technically still installing) a nice battery monitor for the house bank, so this monitor would more than obviate whatever minimal information the charger indicator light might provide.

Next, I installed the house battery switch, choosing a location in the port settee base.  After drilling the required 2-5/16″ hole, I flush-mounted the switch from behind, making up the cable ends and securing them as required to the switch before installing the back protective cover and installing the whole switch with four bolts, which I’d return to later to remove the excess length.

I pulled the excess cable forward and secured it below the v-berth unit, and finalized the connection for the “downstream” cable leading from the switch to the positive distribution buss.   I left the other cable unterminated for now, as it would eventually connect to the battery positive but I didn’t yet know how long to make the cable.

Total time billed on this job today:  8 hours

0600 Weather Observation:  25°, cloudy. Forecast for the day:  Snow showers, cloudy, 31°

Tuesday

Working my way from the starboard settee up through the backrest and into the electrical locker above, I finished securing the cables and wires running from the forward part of the boat–a fair challenge given the narrow space and tough access and the bulk of the cables.

Next, starting just forward of the engine room in the head and working my way forward to the electrical locker, I tightened, straightened, and secured the wires I’d recently run aft to and through the engine room.  This included the transducer cable, which I actually had to tighten and secure in the opposite direction (starting forward, but it ended up making it just into the engine room, where I left it to await its extension cable that would take it the rest of the way to the GPS/sounder display.

This finalized the wiring on the starboard side aft of the electrical locker, and greatly improved the related disarray.

Next, I turned to the wiring for the lighting and fan circuits required on the port side.  To streamline the wiring and minimize wiring bulk, I led in three separate wire pairs (circuits):  one each for the cabin lights and under-deck secondary lighting (LED strips–on order); and one for the fan to be mounted on the port bulkhead in the main cabin.  Another fan would be mounted in the forward cabin, but on the starboard side.   I led these wires from the starboard electrical locker, through the space below the forward cabin, and then through the port settee and settee back into the port locker, where I terminated the two lighting circuits in a terminal block that would make it easy to connect two cabin lights (a berth light forward and a bulkhead light in the main cabin) and the two sets of under-deck lighting (main cabin and forward cabin).  I used short lengths of cable to then lead forward from the new terminal block and into the forward cabin, where I left the ends for now pending installation of the underdeck and berth lights.

Then, I could clean up the wiring through the spaces and back to the electrical locker.  On the starboard side, there’d soon be more wiring running through these spaces (leading to the mast), so for now I considered the current result temporary in nature.

The owner had selected and purchased the various light fixtures and fans (one on hand) for the boat, and with no time like the present I decided to go ahead and install the fixtures on the port bulkhead in the main cabin, starting with the fan.  After dry-fitting in several locations, and ensuring full rotation of the fan housing in all directions, I chose the location near the upper port corner, in an attempt to keep the fan out of the way as much as possible.  I led the wire through the bulkhead into the forward cabin.

The LED light fixture destined for this space was a small domed, downward-facing unit with which I was unfamilar, so to ensure its eventual location would properly light the berth below, I temporarily hooked it up to a battery in a dim space.  The light was quite bright, and easily illuminated the bench below my test area.

I chose to mount the fixture near the fan and at the same level, and more or less centered directly above the berth below.  Installation was a simple surface mount, with the wire leading out through the bulkhead to the forward side, where I’d have to secure and hide it as best as possible.

The light fixture came with a good length of wire attached (as did the fan), and it looked like these wires would be long enough to run along the forward bulkhead and back to the aft side, where the lighting terminal block was located.  This also meant I could dispense with the 14/2 wire pair I’d run forward for the fan circuit, so I removed that.   Both sets of wires from these fixtures were quite small, and I thought I could hide them beneath the existing trim pieces at the edges of the bulkhead in the forward cabin, which turned out to work pretty well.  I’d have to mill a piece of trim to cover the wires where they were still exposed across the bulkhead, but I’d get to that a little later.

This meant I could go ahead and make up the wiring for the bulkhead light on the terminal block (cabin lights circuit), as well as the fan on its own separate circuit.  There’d be more wiring here soon when I added the final wiring for the underdeck lights in the saloon, but for now I secured the wires a bit pending some changes later when all the wiring here was finished.

Total time billed on this job today:  7.25 hours

0600 Weather Observation:  22°, cloudy. Forecast for the day:  Snow, 2-4″ expected, 28°

Monday

I spent most of the day wiring, starting with the final transducer installation.  The epoxy securing the tank to the hull had had quite a few days to cure, so now I filled the reservoir with mineral oil and installed the transducer and gasket atop.  It would have been nice if there had been a fill line inside to suggest how much oil to install, since the transducer was designed to extend into the tank and would displace a certain amount of the liquid.  I knew if I filled it completely I’d have a mess on my hands, but using one of the spare (differently-angled) tanks that came with the unit, I estimated a reasonable level based on how far the transducer extended in, and when I secured the transducer only a small amount of excess oil was pushed out, minimizing the mess but also confirming that the transducer was completely submerged within.  I was at the ready with rags.  I planned to come back later and touch up the gray paint around the transducer.

Now that the wiring runs leading aft along the starboard side were all roughly in place, I continued the wiring project with various wires and cables leading from the electrical panel area forward into the storage and utility space beneath the v-berth.  Here, there would eventually be a completely separate house bank of batteries to service  the lighting and all other loads unrelated to the propulsion system.  I began with a pair of #2 battery cables that would provide the main power supply from the house battery to the panel, sized to be substantially larger than required for the anticipated electrical loads.  In the forward locker, I chose a location for the two main distribution busses and installed them, then made up the cable ends before pulling most of the slack back into the electrical panel area for later termination.  The distribution busses were an ongoing work, and one might notice the cables’ positions changing through the remainder of the day’s work.

The distribution busses were to be on the downstream side of the main house shutoff switch, and I spent some time considering where the switch should be mounted.  It needed to be accessible, yet out of the way so as not to be an eyesore, and also required access to the back for installation and wiring.  The design of the molded forward cabin unit obviated all of my first choices, and eventually and at some length I settled on the forward end of the port settee base, which satisfied all the requirements.  I chose the port rather than the starboard side because it was a bit more out of the way (i.e. not as immediately visible in the finished boat with the table in place), and there was also a lot more going on in the starboard locker with the main wiring runs, and I didn’t want to add the extra clutter.

To this end, I ran red battery cables between the switch location and the battery location beneath the v-berth, preparing ahead for the switch installation, which would have to wait a day since I didn’t have the correct hole saw on hand for a flush installation.  The switch I chose was a small, basic one that fit the requirements of this system, and also happened to be the same as the one in the engine room for the electric motor.

To connect such items as electric bilge pumps, which needed to operate at all times regardless of the position of the main battery switch, I ran in a 10AWG cable from a small distribution buss in the electrical panel area; this wire would later be connected directly to the battery positive.

I had on hand enough heavy 2/0 battery cable to make the run forward from the battery distribution buss to the chainlocker, where these cables would eventually connect to an electric windlass.  I left the excess cable coiled up forward while I contemplated how best to run them into the tight chainlocker.

Two regular circuits also needed to run forward to supply the running lights, and a chainlocker light, and I now led these forward from the electrical panel, again leaving ample slack for their final runs and connection.

The last wires I needed to run along the route from electrical panel to the forward battery area were the control cable for the battery monitor (an Ethernet-type cable) and a 12/3 cable to power the house battery charger.  Also required for the battery monitor was a small shunt, which needed to be installed in the negative battery cable between the battery (not yet on hand) and the load side, which in this case was the negative distribution buss, so I made up that length of cable and installed it and the shunt in a convenient spot.

Now, working down and aft from these new installations, I secured the cables and wires as needed, using pre-installed mounts that I’d glued in long before during another phase of the project, and adding new mounts and supports as needed for the specifics at hand.  I secured most of the excess bundle of Ethernet cable for the battery monitor along with the other wire and cable runs leading aft, and secured the transducer cable into the bundle with a small stress-relief loop below.

In the locker beneath the starboard settee, I pulled in the remaining slack and secured this large cable bundle in several places along the base of the bulkhead and leading to the wire chase to the settee back before the end of the day.  This left me with a bit of organized chaos at the electrical locker and in the settee back, but I’d continue the organization and securing next time before continuing with the final wire runs required over to the port side of the boat.

Total time billed on this job today:  8.75 hours

0600 Weather Observation:  20°, clear. Forecast for the day:  Sunny, 30°

Friday

In the engine room, I finished up securing the new wires in their run across the forward, upper edge of the space, and leading the larger wire pair for the new potable water pump (12 AWG to accommodate the amperage draw) down the bulkhead and through the conduit I’d installed earlier into the space beneath the galley. (The conduit is there, but slid forward since it wasn’t yet secured.)  I left the other two circuits unsecured at their very ends pending final leads and connections to the galley 12-volt outlet and galley lights, which installations would come soon.

To accommodate the requirements of the fresh water flush toilet the owner selected, I chose a hefty water pump with more than ample capacity.  After preparing the hose fittings on the bench, I brought the pump up to install it in the galley.  However, I found that the size of the pump, including its end fittings, made it an awkward fit anywhere on the shelf beneath the sink, which is where I’d imagined installing it, and after trying various locations I finally settled on the bulkhead at the back of the space, not where I’d hoped to install it, but workable for wiring, hose runs, and maintenance access while keeping the rest of the compartment more or less free for storage.

With the pump finally secured to the bulkhead, I finished up the wiring and hose runs, incorporating a tee fitting to service the galley faucet above, and with the discharge line continuing back aft and through into the engine room where it would ultimately service the cockpit shower and fresh water toilet.  I led in the supply line from the water tank and secured all the hoses and wiring as needed to complete the installation.  There was access to the pump and the intake filter through the drawer openings, though for installation I removed the cooktop from the countertop, which provided good access.  I’d continue the hose runs in the engine room soon, but required another hose fitting that I didn’t have on hand.

That whole process took up the entire morning, so in the afternoon I turned to the electrical panel area, where I needed to install some fittings in the aft side:  two bilge pump switches and a 110-volt outlet.  I wanted to do this now before I got started on any of the final wiring inside the locker.  It might have been nice to cut these openings before the little bulkhead was permanently installed, but that was a different phase of the project many months before.  Since I only had one chance to make the cutouts right in this finished bulkhead, I chose to make a layout template to ensure I got the holes cut just so, so working from an initial paper template I made a template from some scrap 1/4″ plywood that served my purpose to replicate the size and shape of the bulkhead.

After making some templates of the cutouts required for the bilge pump switches and outlet box, I laid out the plywood template accordingly, taking into account various constrictions on the space, and cut the openings as a mockup.

After covering the bulkhead with tape, I transferred the holes from the template onto the tape, then cut out the openings as needed, which allowed me to install the switches and the 110-volt outlet, to which I connected a short length of 12/3 cable that I’d presently lead back to the AC service panel when I got to that stage of the wiring project.

After straightening up the boat and my tools and supplies, I called it quits for the day, and for the week.

Total time billed on this job today:  7.5 hours

0600 Weather Observation:  21°, partly clear. Forecast for the day:  Mostly cloudy, chance of drizzle late in the afternoon, 41°

Thursday

After an early morning commitment elsewhere, I got back to the shop in time to finish up the installation of the solar vent in the companionway before lunchtime.  This was a straightforward installation with sealant and three screws.  Because of the lack of clearance beneath the hatch when it was installed, I couldn’t use the provided trim ring at the underside of the hole, so later I planned to come back and touch up the paint a bit.

Now that the vent was installed, I could install the hatch for good by reinstalling the two stainless steel tabs that held it in place by sliding in grooves in the companionway rails.

I spent the rest of the day working on the electrical system, starting again with the transducer.  I wanted to give the epoxy some additional cure time before I filled the reservoir with the required liquid, but to help me run the transducer cable I temporarily installed the transducer with a couple of its screws to hold it in place.

Before beginning the cable run, I drilled another set of holes as needed in the settee back and holding tank area to accommodate this and additional cable runs alongside the full run of cables from a few days earlier.  I was pretty sure from the getgo that the supplied length of transducer cable wasn’t going to be enough to travel the convoluted distance between the transducer and the display, and I soon confirmed this as I led the cable loosely through the new conduits leading to the starboard settee and wiring area, then aft into the holding tank compartment, which was as far as the cable would reach (allowing ample slack in order to be able to later secure it properly).  I ordered an extension cable that would allow me to lead the cable the rest of the way to the location of the display, but I’d have to wait a few days for its arrival.

Meanwhile, I led a series of additional cables aft along the starboard side, as I’d decided that it made the most sense to string the wires needed for the galley lights, galley-mounted 12-volt outlet, and the potable water pump through this route instead of through the forward/port route.  Since I already needed another conduit opening along the starboard side to accommodate the transducer cable and some large wires to power the electric head, there was plenty of room to run some of the other wires which, upon reflection, seemed the best route after all.   I strung these wires leaving ample slack that would allow me to clean them up and secure them in place once all the new wires were in place.  I also ran the power cables for the second electric bilge pump, which I planned to mount in the bilge beneath the galley/head area, which was accessible through a hatch in the galley.

With all these new wires leading into the starboard side of the engine room, I thought my cable runs on this side were now complete, and at the end of the afternoon I finished up by beginning to secure these cables inside the engine room, using the cable run I’d already installed during the earlier wiring session.  There were still a few wires from the first runs that weren’t yet made up, including a large triplex for the eventual 48-volt battery charger, plus wires for the diaphragm bilge pump I planned to install on a platform in the engine room, but for now I left those alone for later attention.  To accommodate the new wires running across to the port side, I removed the existing wire clamps as I went and replaced them with larger ones as needed to hold the larger bundles, and by the end of the day I’d secured and cleaned up the new wiring in the engine room as far to port as I could reach easily from the access door, leaving just the final couple feet to take care of later from the port cockpit locker.

I also drilled a hole into the galley sink compartment to accommodate the 12/2 wire for the electric water pump, and this new opening would also allow passage of the water hose later.  For the new bilge pump, which would be a larger pump designed more as an emergency, larger-capacity pump to kick in only if the water level got high enough, I led the wire in to the upper reaches of the cooler storage compartment beneath the galley, leaving lots of loose wire there for eventual routing to the bilge and the pump once I had it on hand.

Total time billed on this job today:  5.75 hours

0600 Weather Observation:  21°, clear.  Forecast for the day:  Sunny, windy, 26°

Wednesday

Things that take a long time:

1.  Working in boats with molded liners
2.  Doing anything with a hole saw
3.  Hose

Any project combining this holy trinity is bound to take inordinate amounts of time, and so it proved to be once again as I continued where I left off with the water tank fill and vent runs.  Finishing up the installation of the new water deck fill was straightforward enough to start though.  With the epoxy cured in the new opening and around the screw locations, it didn’t take long to prepare the fastener holes (drill and tap for #10 fasteners, then mill the countersink at deck level) and install the fitting in a heavy bed of sealant.

Inside the boat I found that the molded liner hid most of the fill neck, so I expanded the opening that I’d drilled previously, ultimately cutting out a large section of the liner inside the locker above the port settee, which was hidden from view so the liner didn’t make any difference.  I actually cut the liner in several increments, enlarging each time, to finally provide better access to the after chainplate, the tank fill neck, and room for the water tank vent.  I’d have to touch up the gray paint in the newly-exposed area.

In preparing the hole for the vent (requiring frequent stops to dismantle completely and clean out the small hole saw I was using), I discovered the hull here was substantially thicker than I expected, undoubtedly because of the long-previous repairs that had been done in this area in the boat’s distant past.  Those repairers had definitely been of the “never use one nail where 12 will do” school of construction, but even so it never occurred to me that I’d find 1-1/4″ of solid fiberglass when I knew the working thickness of the hull elsewhere was about 3/8″ or perhaps 1/2.  Unfortunately, this meant that the vent fitting I had on hand was not long enough to work here, but I found and ordered another one that I thought would have long enough threads to pass through the hull and be secured properly.

While I was frustrated at the delay, installing the new vent fitting later would be (he said hopefully) straightforward enough, so I continued with the hose runs from the tank, through the lockers, and up to the new fill fitting.  The hose I used, a new type I was trying out (hoses for water systems seem either to be flexible yet weak and cheap, or strong yet impossible to work with), turned out to be stiff and difficult to work with in the confining spaces available, but at some length I managed to successfully lead the hose more or less how I wanted it, and made the connections at both ends.  I ran the smaller vent hose without issue, and left sufficient extra at the top for final connection to the vent fitting once it arrived.

Moving on, I turned to the new depth transducer, an in-hull type designed to use one of a series of differently-angled housings, or “tanks” to secure it to the inside of the hull.  The best and most logical location for the transducer was in the hull forward of the keel, somewhere in that semi-accessible area beneath the aft part of the forward cabin.  After determining the deadrise angle and choosing the correct tank (20°), I picked the mounting spot on the starboard side, nearly as far aft as I could comfortable reach and safely out of the way of whatever else might be going on in the forward lockers.  I removed the paint from a section of the hull, and otherwise prepared it as dictated in the installation instructions.  Then, I installed the tank in a bead of epoxy, smoothing the adhesive inside and out to ensure a good bond and seal, and left this to cure overnight.

Meanwhile, I prepared several more openings for future wiring runs, leading from the starboard settee into the forward utility space, and a similar hole on the port side for return wiring there.  I also drilled holes between the areas beneath the settees and the settee back lockers, where the wiring would need to run to and from the service panel to starboard and similarly on the port side for the wiring runs leading aft.  I sealed the new raw wood in the bulkhead cutouts with epoxy leftover from the transducer installation, then installed short lengths of hose as conduit and chafe gear through the various openings, using more of the epoxy on hand to secure them.

With just a little time left before I had to leave for the day, I decided to give the solar vent in the companionway another try.  I’d returned the original one I’d purchased, which turned out to be much too large and deep for this application, and exchanged it for a smaller, more logically-scaled version that would work in the under 1″ thickness of the companionway hatch.  I taped over the center of the hatch and made a center mark, then drilled the 3-3/4″ hole required for the fitting, starting from the top and finishing from the bottom for a clean cut.

A test fit showed that no portion of the vent–neither the trim ring nor the vent housing itself–protruded below, or in fact even very near, the underside of the hatch, which is what this application required since the hatch had virtually no clearance above its coamings when installed, so I proceeded with final installation steps and coated the inside of the new hole with epoxy to protect the raw plywood within.  Once that cured overnight, I could easily finish up the vent installation and then permanently reinstall the sliding hatch.

Total time billed on this job today:  5.5 hours

0600 Weather Observation:  32°, cloudy. Forecast for the day:  Cloudy, then gradual clearing, 28°

Tuesday

Early in the day, I prepared another order for some of the specific wiring I needed to complete the runs on the starboard side, mainly for the marine head, along with other needs of the moment.

In the boat, I started back in the engine room again, where I finished up the wiring and installation for the second of the two engine room light fixtures, this one just off center on the starboard side, where it would light that side of the engine space yet still be reachable from the engine room doorway or the cockpit locker.  I also continued and secured the wire run leading to the eventual AC outlet in the galley.

In the head, since I had the fixture on hand, I went ahead and installed the overhead light dome that the owner had chosen and purchased.  To allow the wires to come out the side of the fixture as needed for this installation, I drilled a hole in the housing to accept the wiring, and protected the wires where they ran through with some additional heat shrink.  After making the wiring connections and securing the fixture to the overhead, I dressed up the short run of exposed wiring with some flexible conduit to complete the installation.

I reviewed my wiring notes, and also the documentation that came with the depth transducer the owner had sent, and, with the next wiring runs on the mind, I climbed into the locker beneath the v-berth to contemplate the wire runs.  Because of the specifics of the construction and the interior setup, the only way to run wires between the wiring panel in the main cabin and the forward cabin would be to exit the bottom of the panel, through the settee, then forward through the bottom of the main bulkhead below the level of the sole.  But further complicating the wire run was the fact that the molded v-berth and storage lockers, and forward cabin floor unit, protruded deeply into the space, leaving visual access but not personal access to much of the space, including obviating reaching far enough back to touch the bulkheads, or essentially anything further aft than where I stopped the gray paint.  While I was in there, I was also considering locations for the in-hull transducer, which I wanted to install soon so I could run its cable back to the electronics space.

All along I’d known this, and I’d planned to run the wires more or less as shown in the photo above (I’d previously installed wire tie mounts on both sides of the v-berth footwell area for this purpose), but as I considered it now in the cold light of reality, I wondered if it was the best way.  Running the minimal wiring needed in the bow of the boat posed no issue, but I had also intended to run the wires needed on the port side (port side lighting, bilge pump, galley, etc.) through this route as well, which meant leading them forward through the bulkhead, then aft through the port side and into the settee there.  And then there were the numerous wires required for the mast lighting, wind instruments, and a couple interior fixtures that would lead off the compression post.  These wires would have to run into, and then out of, the unreachable forward space as well.

Running the wires aft through the previously-established route and through the engine room was another possibility, but this was a long and convoluted run in its own right, and then getting through the galley area posed its own set of problems.  It was all do-able one way or the other, but I hoped to make it as efficient and straightforward as possible.  As I continued planning the wire run, this led me to the port settee and the port locker above, and as I considered these spaces I decided I really ought to install the large hose required for the water tank fill first, as in order to hide this hose it needed to run through the locker above the settee back.

To this end, I decided upon the route this hose needed to take, then drilled holes through the bottom of the storage area behind the settee (forward side), and through the top of the settee into the locker above, then marked the underside of the deck (the liner, really, in this case) where I wanted to locate the deck fitting.  I drilled up through the liner and then the deck above (the liner was lower than the deck in this area by at least two inches), which gave me a mark from which to drill the larger hole required for the deck fill.

I’d ordered the deck fitting, and I expected it this day, but at the moment the courier hadn’t arrived yet, so I turned to the galley sink and installed the drain hose there, which took great effort (as always) to coax the hose over the barbs, but eventually the job was done.

By now, it was getting late in the afternoon, and I discovered that my shipment had been delivered to my house and not the shop (non-regular seasonal delivery employees), so after I walked up to retrieve the needed parts, I proceeded with installation steps.  I drilled through the deck and liner beneath with the appropriate size hole saw, then overbored the screw locations and reamed out the core from around the openings as needed before filling the voids with a thickened epoxy mixture.  I left this to cure overnight before continuing.

Total time billed on this job today:  9 hours

0600 Weather Observation:  52°, cloudy. Forecast for the day:  Chance of rain, cloudy, 54°

Monday

I got started with the electrical system on the starboard side, where I planned to run various circuits aft from the electrical panel to the engine room, after parts of the boat, and the head.  The only route available for these runs was through the locker outside of the head, where I’d previously installed the holding tank, and naturally space was tight, but there was sufficient room to drill the large holes required for wire passage.  I lined the new holes with sections of hose to act as chafe gear for the wiring.  Much earlier in the project, I’d pre-installed wire tie mounts in as many areas as I could conceive at the time, but above the holding tank I added a few more to eventually support the new wiring.

With the route planned out and the basics of its path now in place, I spent most of the rest of the day pulling wires through.  In addition to the main shore power feed from the new receptacle, I led another length of the same 10/3 cable (larger than probably needed, but I had extra on hand and didn’t know yet the operating amperage of the new charger) from the engine room to the panel area to service the engine bank’s 48-volt battery charger, and some additional AC wiring to eventually service an outlet in the galley.  Other circuits running this course included wiring for the electronics, compass light, stern light, engine room lights, head overhead light, bilge pump, and another overhead light to be located to starboard of the companionway.

I left ample slack in the cables as I made each run, and once I had finished what I thought I needed to run there (and stuffed the conduits to near capacity), I cleaned up the wiring and secured it as needed along the way, in the holding tank locker and in the starboard settee back.

There were a few additional wire runs I’d need to make through the same route, specifically for the much larger power-supply wiring required for the fresh water-flush toilet and a transducer cable for a depthsounder, but I needed to order the larger wires required for the toilet, and hadn’t yet determined the final depth location.  Since the original conduits were full, however, I prepared an adjacent round of holes to accept the additional wiring when I was ready.  Wiring to other parts of the boat would take different routes, and I’d install that in the coming days as well.

With the bulk cable runs in this area cleaned up and secured, I moved into the engine room and after parts of the boat, where I secured the stern light wiring as far aft as the transom, leaving ample extra to lead to wherever the stern light ended up, and began routing, securing, and even connecting some of the remaining new wiring in the engine room, running wires up and out the access hatch to the back of the electronics area (where eventually a GPS multifunction display would be installed), through the hole in the bridgedeck for a flush-mount compass (light), and across the forward part of the engine room towards the galley.  I prepared the route for the head overhead light, which I could install permanently soon, and routed the cable for the companionway light up and around through some exposed gaps in the interior liner, for eventual final routing to the light fixture that I’d install in the small overhead panel there.  Finally, I installed and connected one of two utility light fixtures in the engine room before I ran out of time for the day.

Total time billed on this job today:  8.25 hours

0600 Weather Observation:  40°, cloudy.  Forecast for the day:  Clouds and rain, 50°

Friday

With rigging work and new sails consultations underway, I realized I had better think about refinishing the mast sooner than later, so that it could be ready to accept the new rigging and thus be available for the sail loft to measure accurately, so with this in mind I set to work disassembling the mast.  During the recent holiday break, I’d moved the mast indoors to the second shop bay, so it was ready and awaiting my attention.  With the old rigging stripped off (it had been removed a month or so ago for replacement), the mast looked more forlorn than ever, and revealed just how badly it required the cosmetic makeover.

The rigger had reeved messenger lines for all the internal halyards, and to start I noted how each ran, particularly over the masthead sheave plates, so that I could properly reinstall them later on, since I’d need to at least temporarily move them so I could remove the various hardware.  For no reason in particular, I started removing the mast hardware at the masthead, beginning with the halyard exit plate for the spinnaker halyard, on the front of the mast.  One of the four screws broke off in place, leaving me a small stud that I hoped I could remove after soaking in penetrating solvent for a while, but otherwise I had hope that perhaps removing the hardware wouldn’t prove too onerous.  To hold the halyard’s messenger in place, I used a temporary screw to tie the messenger around.

Next, I turned to the masthead casting, which held two halyards, the boom topping lift, and incorporated risers for a masthead light and large tricolor.  As I began to remove the masthead, I realized that all the mast wiring–which was also slated for full replacement–was causing issues, so down at the base of the mast I removed–destroyed is more like it–an ancient aluminum junction box where the wiring connections had been made, ostentibly to allow easy disconnection for mast unstepping, but clearly this box had corroded shut years ago and hadn’t been opened since then.  There was no way the old screws were coming out, so I bashed out the cover with a hammer, then found the four screws securing the box to the mast itself, hidden inside the box,  were actually easy to remove, and in short order I’d freed up the old wiring.

Inside the mast (which I already knew since this mast didn’t have a base casting) was a fair bit of birds nest debris, plus the discombobulated and stiff old wiring.  The wires were secured in two covered bundles–a large one running to the masthead and containing all the wires and cables there, and another one on the opposite side leading to the steaming light further down the mast.

At this point it was clear that I wouldn’t be using any of the old wires for anything, including possibly using them to messenger new wires in, so with that decision made I could go ahead and cut the wires that were still holding on the masthead, after which I could remove it to expose the upper end of the spar, where the old wiring was a tangled mess.  I installed another temporary screw in one of the fastener holes to secure all the masthead halyard messengers.

Continuing the hardware removal, I worked my way down, removing the cap shroud tangs, VHF antenna holder, and then, further down, the staysail tangs and halyard exit plate.  I’d already removed, in a previous session, the spreader bases and lower shroud tangs.

I approached the spinnaker pole track with trepidation, as these tracks tend to have extra ways to make fasteners immobile, but the first few screws I tried came out without complaint, so I continued removing them, from top to bottom, till I ran into the expected corrosion with about six screws remaining near the bottom of the track.  I could afford a bit of uncharacteristic patience with these, so I doused them in penetrating oil and planned to keep treating them and waiting for a few days in the hopes that I’d later be able to remove them easily and without destruction.  While I was down that way, I also removed the steaming light housing (heavily gooped in silicone), halyard exit plates, and the gooseneck, more or less wrapping up the hardware removal.

I removed the short wire bundle leading to the steaming light without issue, but the masthead bundle was secured within the mast to an internal track, and though it was supposed to slide I found I could only budge it a foot or so by hand in either direction.  It had to go, so I tied the masthead to a block I installed on the wall of the shop, and after knotting up the exposed wires at the lower end used a tractor to pull the wiring out of the mast.  This worked well, but I’m not sure whatever little slides held the wires to the track within the mast came out with the wire bundle.

This left only the halyard messengers and a whole lot of old debris–mainly birds nests–inside the mast.  With the extrusion now completely open within, I decided there was no reason, nor benefit, to leaving the messenger lines in plate (and a significant downside, as they would be be fussy and difficult to work around), so I pulled them out, using the opportunity to string in a bit of line through the mast, which I then used to pull through a chimney-sweep-like bundle of rags that cleaned out the remaining detritus.  (I thought I had some pictures of the resulting pile, but alas.)

I’d come back over the coming days and keep trying to remove the rest of the screws securing the mast track, but for now the disassembly was complete–and with only two broken screws (on halyard exit plates) left behind.  Overall, the hardware removal had been pleasingly straightforward.  After cleaning up from the day’s and the week’s efforts, I called it a day.

Total time billed on this job today:  6.5 hours

0600 Weather Observation:  24°, clear. Forecast for the day:  Mostly sunny, chance of snow late in the day, 31°