ReWire the Boat

Yesterday, I began the total re-wire of the boat, starting with the DC system.  With the help of my friend, we accomplished quite a bit. Thanks Daniel!  

The biggest decision I had been toiling with was where to place the batteries.  When I bought the boat, I noticed the unused space in the stern.  I thought this would make a great place for the batteries, since there would not be any need to access them that often. However, two things got me to reconsider this location.  One, the extra weight aft was a concern, and Two, the longer distance away from all of the high usage items required higher gauge wire, especially if I decided to add a windlass.  I already bought all of the wire, so that was not as big of a concern, but it just made sense to put the batteries closer to the electrical panel, so............

In the cockpit lazzerette, they go!  I did also consider putting them in the storage area below the nav. table, but the batteries were just a bit to tall.  I will build a tray to put on top so I can still salvage some storage area and keep water off of the batteries.

As you can see, I am going with 2 - 6V Trojan deep cycle batteries combined in series for the 12V House and a Group 24 75Ah deep cycle battery for the Starter.

If I follow my previous boat, I will use the House to start the outboards as well and the Starter battery will just be used as emergency back up.

The cables run through the bulkhead to the inside of the cabin.

This will be built out to house the 1-2-Both battery switch.  My thought now is to place the inverter/charger to the right.  The ground wires go up to behind the cabinet.......

.....to the ground bus bar.

You can see from the ground bus bar that I went with yellow ground wire. Only the battery ground and the ground that goes to the fridge is black.

Here is the backside of my panel.  It is an 8 switch panel.  Wish I had one more switch! I only have one more wire to run and then the wires will get more tidy with zip ties.

Here is the panel from the front.  It looks lonely now, but it will be accompanied later by the battery monitors, inverter/charger monitor, LPG monitor, VHF radio, and stereo.

Here is the majority of the wiring leaving the panel.  The duplex wires are for the fridge and head.  They are 8 GA., which is now a bit over sized considering I moved the battery closer.

I may need to build up this area since I still need to run my VHF antennae, wind transducer, and radar. cable here as well.

Turning the corner.  Some wires have dropped off to feed the starboard side of the boat.  You can barely make out the starboard nav and cabin wiring in the below corner.

Here is a close up of that area.  I have left some wires loose so I can pigtail a cabin light in this area.  I was able to use the existing electrical chase in some cases.

Going to port, more wires drop off to go up the mast.  I will place a terminal strip in this enclosure for the wires going up the mast for the anchor, steaming, and deck lights.

Here is a shot from the other side.  I will likely place a puck light here to shine down on the settee table.














This next week, I hope to complete the DC and AC system, finish placing headliner material and start on the ceiling treatment.  After that, major projects left will be the plumbing and new floors.