Wire/hose pull question R-25

[rrobson1977]

Hi all,
I will be installing autopilot in my newly acquired R25. I will be pulling power and the reservoir hose back up from under the cockpit stbd side (near water tank) up to the helm area. Anyone have any tips and tricks to make this pull easy.

thanks!

 

[baz]

Well.... I'm sure a 2nd person would be handy. There are panels at back of the under counter storage units that can be removed to facilitate pulling wiring and hoses etc.

I threaded wiring from my R25's head all the way up to the helm's wiring cubby to get power and to fuse the circuit with a 30 amp breaker when replacing the manual head with an electric flush head. A 2nd pair of hands came in very handy. 🙂

 

[Automaticman865]

If you are installing a Garmin autopilot they have a shadow drive unit that needs to be installed horizontal and lower then the steering, and not on the transom side of the autopilot pump. The shadow drive failed on my cutwater and it was like a scavenger hunt just trying to locate the device. It was actually buried in a wire harness and behind the panel holding the pump. Make it as accessible as possible.

Stuart

 

[trailertrawlerkismet]

Ivan at the Ranger Tug factory in Kent installed a Garmin autopilot on our R27 2 years after the boat was built and did a great job. I'd suggest giving Ivan a call to get his thoughts on what might help you.

Jim

 

[River Bank]

Hello

Well, fishing line from cockpit to helm is a difficult job at best and I had to do it several times earlier this year.

I ended up fishing a loop of cordage from cockpit to helm (a cloths line affair) and left it in the wall for any future projects.

Another idea I had during my fishing struggle was to feed a hose (garden or irrigation hose) from cockpit to helm and leave that in the wall for future projects.

Pushing a wire along the inside of a hose is a lot easier than with a regular wire probe, which always wants to curl itself up in some dark and inaccessible place.

 

[knotflying]

If I were going to run a hose or conduit for future projects, I would also run a few drag lines through it in advance so you can just tie your wire to one of the lines and then just pull the wires through.

 

[River Bank]

That's almost what I've done here. I've have a closed loop from cockpit to the helm and I simply cloth-line it with a wire attached. Anyway, it's all done here, cant think of anything else I need to do.

Cheers, Bob

 

[rrobson1977]

Thanks everyone for the comments! This helps a lot. i will be sure to take some how to photos to post in case anyone wants to do the same thing.