Cabin Wire Location, CD27

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Warren Kaplan

Cabin Wire Location, CD27

Post by Warren Kaplan »

This coming weekend I'll start installing a cabin top winch. A deck organizer and a triple rope clutch. It means drilling though the deck and also taking out sections of the cabin headliner for access to those areas that are to be through bolted and backing plates installed. I don't like drilling and sawing "blindly". I'd hate to cut through any wiring on its way to fixtures throughout the cabin. There are light fixtures in the headliner near the companionway. I removed the fixture and the wires go "up" and disappear. Does anyone know if most of the wiring leaving the distribution panel goes along side the headliner to port and starboard or do many wires run overhead, between the headliner and the inside of the cabin top decking. I feel like the guy who is supposed to call the gas company to find out where the gas lines are buried before he he lets the backhoe loose in front of his house! I've got enough projects without making new electrical ones!

Thanks,
Warren Kaplan
Sine Qua Non
CD27
Oyster Bay Harbor, New York



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Andy Denmark

Re: Cabin Wire Location, CD27

Post by Andy Denmark »

Hi Warren,

When I mounted winches, rope clutch, and turning block on Rhiannon's cabin top I saw no wires whatsoever in the overhead. As far as I can tell, the cabin lights are parallel fed from bus wires that are run just under the liner flanges on each side, thus the cabin lights are fed UP from underneath not DOWN from above.

I did not use backing plates under anything but used 3/4" dia. washers and Nylok nuts for the winch mountings. (These winches have held the working jib under the heaviest of loads and not shown the least inclination to loosen, nor has the other hardware) The holes in the liner were then filled with snap-in plastic plugs (from any cabinet shop for $.25 ea) that matched the color of the liner. The remainder of the hardware was mounted using the Gougeon drill-and-fill method that did not penetrate the liner.

Good luck on your project. Hope this input helps.

Andy Denmark
CD-27 #270, "Rhiannon"
Oriental, NC



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Scott Ritchey

Re: Cabin Wire Location, CD27

Post by Scott Ritchey »

On my CD27, the wire runs closely follow the diagrams in the owner's manual (elsewhere on this site). The main runs are along the gunnels, fiberglass-taped to the top of the ceiling liner (1-2 inches from the outbboard edge). But as you note, there are individual wires that run inboard to the cabin lights. A small mirror and flashlight are a great help to see these.
Warren Kaplan wrote: This coming weekend I'll start installing a cabin top winch. A deck organizer and a triple rope clutch. It means drilling though the deck and also taking out sections of the cabin headliner for access to those areas that are to be through bolted and backing plates installed. I don't like drilling and sawing "blindly". I'd hate to cut through any wiring on its way to fixtures throughout the cabin. There are light fixtures in the headliner near the companionway. I removed the fixture and the wires go "up" and disappear. Does anyone know if most of the wiring leaving the distribution panel goes along side the headliner to port and starboard or do many wires run overhead, between the headliner and the inside of the cabin top decking. I feel like the guy who is supposed to call the gas company to find out where the gas lines are buried before he he lets the backhoe loose in front of his house! I've got enough projects without making new electrical ones!

Thanks,
Warren Kaplan
Sine Qua Non
CD27
Oyster Bay Harbor, New York
Warren Kaplan

Re: Cabin Wire Location, CD27

Post by Warren Kaplan »

Andy Denmark wrote: Hi Warren,

When I mounted winches, rope clutch, and turning block on Rhiannon's cabin top I saw no wires whatsoever in the overhead. As far as I can tell, the cabin lights are parallel fed from bus wires that are run just under the liner flanges on each side, thus the cabin lights are fed UP from underneath not DOWN from above.

I did not use backing plates under anything but used 3/4" dia. washers and Nylok nuts for the winch mountings. (These winches have held the working jib under the heaviest of loads and not shown the least inclination to loosen, nor has the other hardware) The holes in the liner were then filled with snap-in plastic plugs (from any cabinet shop for $.25 ea) that matched the color of the liner. The remainder of the hardware was mounted using the Gougeon drill-and-fill method that did not penetrate the liner.

Good luck on your project. Hope this input helps.

Andy Denmark
CD-27 #270, "Rhiannon"
Oriental, NC
Andy & Scott,
Thanks for the information. I'll just be very careful however I do it.

Warren Kaplan
Sine Qua Non
CD27 #166
Oyster Bay Harbor, New York



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