Running wires from cockpit to helm

[nzfisher]

Yet another question about running wires- I am doing a lot of this right now upgrading electronics so apologies for repetition . After cracking open all of the access panels, ports and floorboards on the starboard side of the boat and trying to feed wires through there and realizing that even if I succeed I will be overlapping so many different kinds of hot wires I will be compromising my signal(s) from transducers, (pause for breath), I am wondering if anyone has simply run a pvc conduit up the port side? I am not averse to leaving a tidily installed conduit exposed in the cave. I probably will be attempting this but always appreciate the experience of those who might have traveled this trail before me.

Thanks

 

[dkoivu]

Kurt,
As you know we installed our Engel ref/freezer and you know how we went about it. I would imagine one could bore a conduit size hole in the aft bulkhead in the cave, follow along the bottom of the shelve, and then mold your conduit up and out of sight behind the downhanger trough that goes on the port side in the cave all the way to the back bulkhead along side the microwave boring a little hole in said bulkhead. I believe that will put you in your storage compartment and to your installed storage space underneath the glove compartment. Hope this helps
Dave

 

[Levitation]

I suspect boring holes and trying to put conduit in place is more misery than it is worth.
I ran wires forward along the starboard side from the water heater area to the helm (actually from the battery set around the stern and then forward as described).
Use a 'fish' to pull wires. You will have to do it in three steps. First segment is from the heater into the head under the sink, Then back up into the space between the liner and the hull forward to the 110 volt electrical panel. Then threaded up and around into the inside of the helm (a pita).
Also pull either a couple of spare wires at the same time or leave a pull cord for later changes.

As far as other hot wires and such, the hot wires are insulated and each wire is rated for 600v to ground.. The wires you run are insulated and assuming you don't go postal and yank on wires cutting through to the metal, any two adjacent wires are good for 1200 volts minimum across them - a figure you are unlikely to encounter..
Your transducer cables, etc. are designed to run along with bundles of other wires, so don't waste time worrying about their signals.

 

[nzfisher]

I suspect boring holes and trying to put conduit in place is more misery than it is worth.
I ran wires forward along the starboard side from the water heater area to the helm (actually from the battery set around the stern and then forward as described).
Use a 'fish' to pull wires. You will have to do it in three steps. First segment is from the heater into the head under the sink, Then back up into the space between the liner and the hull forward to the 110 volt electrical panel. Then threaded up and around into the inside of the helm (a pita).
Also pull either a couple of spare wires at the same time or leave a pull cord for later changes.

As far as other hot wires and such, the hot wires are insulated and each wire is rated for 600v to ground.. The wires you run are insulated and assuming you don't go postal and yank on wires cutting through to the metal, any two adjacent wires are good for 1200 volts minimum across them - a figure you are unlikely to encounter..
Your transducer cables, etc. are designed to run along with bundles of other wires, so don't waste time worrying about their signals.

Both Airmar and the guy (has his own marine electronics website) who sold me the transducer, admittedly a very finicky chirp multi band, said not to lay the transducer wires directly against hot wires. I guess some of the quality of the signal degrades the more issues there are. Supposedly this is especially true for the radio cables. Looking down the starboard side there are many, many hot wires that will intersect with transducer wires, both high and low voltage. This combined with the difficulty is pushing me towards the port side, which after some inspection looks much easier.

 

[Scuffy]

The 600 volt rating is a safety rating related to burn through. Laying data wires parallel to power can lead to inductance. The folks that rate the wire for 600 volts don't any idea what occurs from inductance and don't care if your electronics work or not. I'm not sure about this case but we encounter 120 volts or higher laid in with low voltage and it can induce electricity into the low voltage. The longer the parallel run the worse it can be. Much the same as different windings in transformers don't touch but transfer voltage.
D.D.