With one day of plus 50deg this past weekend, my thoughts moved to the wiring project I want to do for my new to me C16.
She is a 1980 model and my thoughts are to mount the switch panel up by the compression post, the battery in a box in the bow, add nav lights and anchor lights. My question is: does anyone have a really cosmetically appealing way to hide the wires? I don't really think running them under the fiberglass is possible so they would have to be run visibly in the cabin. Other than loom or those paintable cable channels with adhesive backing, is there another way to hide them?
Thanks in advance.
i made a new square compression post and cut a slot up the back of it that holds the vhf antenna wires and masthead light wires.
you could do the same with the control panel wires.
also, wires can be run behind the thin teak ply near the cabin roof.
i have a depth sounder, vhf, chartplotter, and lights installed with no visible wires.
carl
During the rewiring of my 23 when I had to cross from one side to the other, I wanted to keep the wires as high as possible but didn't want to see wires crossing over the shelf under the bridge deck. I used PVC pipe as a chase. I removed all the lettering with Acetone. I don't have any photos, sorry. Using small diameter worked great.
Bob23
I mounted my battery on the cabin sole, just forward of the styrofoam supporting tthe cockpit floor. The edges of the plywood bases for myb bunks were in real bad shape,so I finished these edges with wood strips. Then my wiring was run under the bunk-base plywood edges, hidden by the wood strips. Holes were cut in the vertical bulkhead just aft of the mast compression post above the cabin sole, and just forward of the post on the horizontal shelf. I ran the wiring through these holes, to electronict mounted on a shelf just forward of the compression post, other wiring up the backside of the post. Having explained now, I wish I had waited for the snow to melt off the cover so I could send a photo. Anyhow the installation looks nice and you see no wires.
Hi everyone,
My battery is in a battery box in the bow, marine grade wiring runs in a flexible plastic conduit down the port side which is held in place with brackets screwed into the hull deck joint with small screws. All cabin appliances, in my case a fan and light, are mounted near the main wires on the port side, so no wires need to run across to the middle or to starboard side. Switch and fuse panel and 12v outlet are in a custom box which is bolted just to port of the companionway entrance. I Used inline fuses inside the box, so its a bit of a tangle in the box , but works well. Bow light is mounted on the bow pulpit, drilled a hole through the deck to align with the id of the pulpit tubing and fished the wire up through the pulpit tube. To run wires to the stern ,for lights and depth finder transducer, I got two lengths of coarse plastic foam from the hardware store. The foam is about 4-6ft long and is triangular in section maybe about 3"w x 4"t x 4'l. It was built as a product to keep leaves out of gutters. It compressed perfectly in the gap running down to the stern up inside the gunwhale. The wires are held up by the compressed foam with no fastners needed. Foam won't trap moisture, it is coarse, drainable foam and can be pulled out if needed. I use a battery powered mast top light, so I don't have wiring up the mast.
Happy sailing,
Jason
In places where you can't avoid having wires, I put some white duct tape over them. It was a good match for the white interior of my boat.