RadarCable

[lubeckmaine]

A tale of woe I hope to turn into an opportunity: Decommissioning Diapensia last week, the plug to my radar, which is located above the nav station, jammed in the bilge as I was threading it forward to the base of the mast. As the mast was already lifted and supported by the electric hoist- and the tide was rising- in an agitated state of consternation and in horror I heard myself say, "cut the cable," and the deed was done. A week later I'm still bruising myself with self flagellation.

The big question, now, is how to get the plug from beneath the sole. Or should I just leave it there for posterity? The opportunity before me now is to relocate the dome on a mast at the stern. But I still wish I could turn back the clock. Any commiseration out there? Please, somebody, hold my hand! Jimmy Buehner

[Boyd]

Due to distance constraints and Raymarines lack of foresight, I was forced to cut the ends off of two radar cables and splice them. Its a bit futszy work but not all that difficult. The best part is it works.

You need a splicing buss and a small project box from Radio Shack. Make sure you splice the ground sheath to maintain continuity.

Boyd
s/v Tern
CD30 MkII
Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

[Steve Laume]

I installed my radar on the mast a couple of years ago.

I exited the mast and penetrated the deck with a Blue Seas, grommet. Once inside my cable is exposed from a small slot at the read of the teak mast base cover. It makes a genital curve and follows the bulkhead to a metal junction box high on the port side behind the head door. The box has a whole bunch of tiny connectors in it on a plastic buss bar. I make the splice in there and then the wire exits and tucks behind the lip of the head liner back to the helm station.

This is neat and easy to deal with. Routing wires through the boat is nothing I want to do more than once.

For added class the white cover on the box is just the right size for a Cape Dory sticker, Steve.

[Cathy Monaghan]

Hi Jimmy,

To make it easier to disconnect the wires, especially the radar's cable, that travel through the mast, my husband installed this connector:

<a href="http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c349/ ... 103980.jpg" target="_blank"><img width="600" src="http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c349/ ... 0.jpg"></a>

It's in the head. There's a terminal block inside that white electrical box for some of the wiring. Others have connectors. The electrical wiring and the VHF antenna are hidden inside the piece of teak trim and the radar cable runs up between that trim piece and the mast's compression post (it's wood on our boat). Anyway, something like this arrangement may work for you. Here's what things look like on deck:

<a href="http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c349/ ... G_0466.jpg" target="_blank"><img width="600" src="http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c349/ ... 6.jpg"></a>


Cathy
CD32 Realization, #3
Rahway, NJ
Raritan Bay

[John Danicic]

I just contacted Furuno about cutting a radar cable for mast removal.

He of course started off with a disclaimer but gave a helpful hint:

"I must start by saying that we never suggest cutting the cable. However, we understand that in circumstances like yours, it needs to be done. The best way is to cut the cable near where you want to disconnect it and use a waterproof junction box to connect the wires. One piece of advice for the video line is to solder on a piece of slightly larger gauge wire on each side where you connect it to the junction box to give a better connection."

A ten pin, waterproof box should do the trick.

Sail on

John Danicic
CD36 - Mariah - #124
Lake Superior - The Apostle Islands
CDSOA # 655

[Boyd]

Another option to soldering a bigger wire is to simply strip twice the length and then fold it back on itself by half, doubling the diameter of the wire when you put it under the terminal.

Raymarine has the same disclaimer but doesn't offer any method for extending a cable. They designed the length of their cables so that if you have a sailboat you have to purchase two and splice them. I suspect its a marketing strategy as you don't discover their devious plan till you have bought the thing.

Boyd
s/v Tern
CD30 MkII
Fort Lauderdale, Fl.

[bottomscraper]

A ten pin, waterproof box should do the trick.

Our older Raymarine has 13 conductors. Some are tiny, some normal and then there is the heavy shield.

I think the connector that Cathy & Bruce used is a better solution than the junction box I have.

I'm not sure if the current generation of Raymarine still has the same insane number of conductors.

[John Danicic]

I should have added that the 10 connection box I suggested was for a relatively simple Mono LCD Furuno 1715 radar unit. Yours may have more connections.

Sail on

John Danicic
CD36 - Mariah - #124
Lake Superior - The Apostle Islands
CDSOA # 655

[Matt Cawthorne]

Be careful with so called waterproof boxes. I bought one many years ago to connect my masthead instruments and power cables at the base of the mast. As some of you read, a few years ago we had a bit of a flooding incident. The inside of the box got very wet despite what seemed like a reasonable design. This year when I went to remove the mast the screws were totally rusted. In the end I just had to cut the wires anyway. I figured that if I have to cut the wires anyway, why not just use epoxy lined heat shrink, crimp connectors? So here is my suggestion.


Locate the waterproof box in a very dry location!


Matt

[Cathy Monaghan]

A ten pin, waterproof box should do the trick.

Our older Raymarine has 13 conductors. Some are tiny, some normal and then there is the heavy shield.

I think the connector that Cathy & Bruce used is a better solution than the junction box I have.

I'm not sure if the current generation of Raymarine still has the same insane number of conductors.

Ours has 13 pins. It's a Raymarine RL70RC which is no longer in production. We used to have it wired to a terminal block inside the junction box but it was too much trouble undoing all of those little screws so that we could unstep the mast (which we do every year). We have a friend who does electrical work (electronics) and he got the parts for us. Otherwise I'd provide the order information. I'll see if I can get that info from him. He has a CD10, maybe he'll read this.


Cathy
CD32 Realization, #3