Rewiring

Posted By: Ryan Haley
Date: 1/18/08 6:03a.m.

Report: outside forum guidelines

In Response To: beginner's DC wiring questions (Buddy)

If anyone is interested, I have a few photos and a wiring diagram from a COMPLETE (ALL factory wiring removed) rewire of my 82 C27. Let me know, I'd be happy to share them. The electrical ground point on the outboard models (which is what I have) is the negative post(s) of the battery bank. Technically for 60A and 16ft run, 4AWG is the correct size for the recommended 3% voltage drop. Take stock of your circuits however, and ask yourself if you will really have all the loads running simultaneously. FWIW, I used 6 AWG in my install. ABSOLUTELY add a fuse as close to the batteries as possible. The fuse can be as high as the allowable current of the wire, but lower is okay as long as you don't size it so low that you blow the fuse when you turn on all your circuits. Remember that the fuse is there to protect the wire, not the circuit downstream. Again, FEW, I use a 60A fuse. My suggestion is to by a roll of 14 AWG and use it for every circuit. 16 AWG is a bit cheaper by the foot ($30 vs $36 per 100'), but if you go ahead and by the 14 AWG in bulk, you might save money and you'll be sure to have plenty of capacity for the existing circuits. Plus, when you decide to add something latter (and if you keep the boat long enough, you will, you won't have to worry about wire size. On all of the Catalinas that I have wired, the factory wiring has places where it is actually laid into the fiberglass lay-up or bonded where the interior liner was glued to the hull and deck, so it is not coming out. Personally, I pulled all the factory wire out that was possible, and cut the rest flush, and ran new. If anyone is interested, I measured and recorded the actually current draw for all the devices on my boat (including cabin lights, nav lights, etc) and can post them if they will help someone. Good luck and let me know if I can help. Ryan