Spoil the ship for a h'penny worth of tar

[malcb]

What is it about us boat owners.
I've seen round plenty of boats where we owners have kept various old bits of kit that have been replaced. Why keep them, if you've replaced them.

Recently, I was asked to rewire a Nav light on a RIB because the insulation on the wiring had abraded, showing the copper wire (potential short). I was given the wire to use for the replacement. It was identical to the old wire. A two core twisted cable, black and brown.

"Where has this come from", I asks, "Oh, 'C' has given us this, it's left over denonator cable" (I should add that in the Maritime Volunteer Service we do have some contacts in the RN).

"Is this going to be any good in a marine environment for a long time?" I asks
"Probably not" was the reply, "It only needs to work once" ;D

So I junked about 20 metres of Detonator Cable and rewired the Nav Light with proper marine grade wire.

Went to the other RIB we have, an ex Cutoms & Excise 6 metre RIB with twin 75hps on it, to install a new radio and discover that the 12volt supply cable is proper tinned marine grade cable.

[trevera25]

Not often that you find people using the proper cable for any job , let alone marine , I've seen entire boats wired up with domestic twin and earth , it just doesn't do the job

[Barr Avel]

Hmm... I'm conscious that I have used the wrong wire when I fitted my chartplotter. There seems to be a 0.5V drop from the connection to the plotter.

So here's the question, where do you buy wire that is marine-proof? Do Maplin's sell any?

Marc.

[NigeL]

trevera25 said:

Not often that you find people using the proper cable for any job , let alone marine , I've seen entire boats wired up with domestic twin and earth , it just doesn't do the job

Don't want to start an argument and I know Dave its your field ... not mine ...

But I've used Domestic T&E for loads of stuff on board for years ... on all boats I've had ... only time I've used "braided" cable and then not marine is when it is subject to movement / vibration etc. Never had a failure yet ...

So I think that it depends on what job you are asking it to do ... and if you look at average marine kit supplied - the leads are not what I would consider marine grade ...

[Badger Birch]

I would never use T&E on a boat in a marine enviroment. I know its cheap Nigel but look at the heading of this posting.......

The number of times I have had to change the stuff from other peoples boats....

Always use the correct grade of cable for the job. Bit more expensive but well worth it!

[trevera25]

and available quite freely , just google for tinned copper strand and it should be there , here's one from Maplins

www.maplin.co.uk/searchtemplate.asp?criteria=22%20SWG%20SINGLE-STRAND%20TINNED%20COPPER%20WIRE

[Badger Birch]

trevera25 said:

and available quite freely , just google for tinned copper strand and it should be there , here's one from Maplins

www.maplin.co.uk/searchtemplate.asp?criteria=22%20SWG%20SINGLE-STRAND%20TINNED%20COPPER%20WIRE

When you use the word "Freely" it is not in the way that Nigel thinks!!!

[trevera25]

ah , good point , Nigel , it's something worth paying for

[NigeL]

trevera25 said:

ah , good point , Nigel , it's something worth paying for

Never said I disagree ... and I do understand the difference between FREE and FREELY ... ;D

All I said was that I've used it for jobs that I felt were not subject to problems to warrant using "marine" grade etc.

My favourite cable in fact - when it comes to 12V useage is actually Heavy Duty Trailer cable ... which has anything up to 9 cores ... My reasoning being that if it can survive life under a trailer with all the crap thrown at it ... then it can survive my boat ! It also gives you the facility to colour code your items etc.

H'porth of tar ... I am quite well aware of the expression .. I am also well aware that being cheapskate has to have limits ... ;D

I was only commenting on experience I have had ... not to say another is wrong.

[trevera25]

Heavy duty trailer cable is better than T&E on boats