J/30 Class Association Forums J/30 Forum The Boat, Sails and Equipment The Rewire of Ananda

Hi all!

Over Christmas break I decided to rewire the whole boat. I didn't quite make it, and the project is still in progress. I thought you might enjoy some pictures though!

All my supplies staged and ready to go:



The mess of old wiring after the old batteries were removed:



My new batteries are much bigger (200 amp hours each) and will be going under the quarterberths towards the stern. They're slim AGM batteries that are perfect for this space:







I epoxied wood blocks to the hull to mount the tiedown straps. I'll go over these with glass when I'm done:



Battery nicely strapped in place:



I started by installing proper fuses for the battery. The old system didn't have any fuses except for the panel - not even for 24 hour circuits like the bilge pump:



All battery cabling is made out of 1/0 gauge wire with crimped and heatshrink-wrapped connections:

This is starting to look better! That's a battery switch in the center, with its signal wires broken out on a terminal block. The fuse block above to the right provides fusing for 24 hour loads as well as the 30 amp fuse for the main panel.



The runs to the main panel go around the icebox refrigeration compressor in cable raceway - this stuff is amazing.



Here's the aftmost starboard cabinet, converted to house the AIS/autopilot systems and the fusing for all house loads:



These fuses will be fed from the house panel using 12 gauge leads with similar connections, each with a label printed on heat shrink for easy identification:



Cables are then joined in a bundle in flame retardant nylon sleeving:



All connections made:



The return bundle was made similarly:



Feeding it through...



Nice and tidy!



Connectors in progress for the other end:

Behind the house panel, these terminal blocks accept the returns from the fuses and will distribute power to all house loads:



The AIS system boots up to prove that the new wiring works!



The house panel has a Blue Sea VSM422, a Vessel System Monitor that keeps track of battery voltage, state of charge of the house battery, current draw, AC voltage and draw, fuel and water tank levels, and the bilge pump operation. Its connector is here:



House circuits that need to cross to the other side of the boat dive back under the quarterberth to this terminal block, where another segment will cross in front of the engine:



The panel is getting pretty busy!



I figured this wall would be a good spot for the ICOM M802 Single Sideband radio control box:



As I finish running circuits I can close up some of the raceway:





Next, I wanted to mount a chartplotter by my chart table for indoor navigation and planning. I decided to put it on a swivel arm so it can be adjusted to suit whoever's using it, either standing over the table or sitting on the quarterberth. I think it came out looking rather nice:

Even though it's early, I couldn't resist mounting the rest of the radio equipment to give the nav station its command-center look:



So far things are going well! I still need to hook up the house circuits with longer, cross-engine runs, the engine side battery and associated fusing, and the engine itself. I ran out of time over the holidays so it looks like finishing this will be a weekend(s) project!

That is an awesome wiring job you are doing. Very professional looking.

Finally, a weekend where I had time to do some wiring!

I decided to tackle the engine battery side today, which I hadn't touched since removing the old batteries. So this old picture is what greeted me this morning:



I removed all the old wires that I could and cleaned up the rest. Unfortunately, the bilge hoses run along the inboard wall and the battery box is also in the way, so I couldn't really mount the hardware I need to have on this side in the same fashion as on starboard. I decided to mount a 1/4" piece of FRP atop the old battery box. This will serve as a panel on which I can install all the components I need.



Next, I just started laying out components to get an idea of where they'd be going:



I spent the rest of the day screwing things into the FRP (not easy, every screw needs to be drilled out). I also grabbed the amplifier for the sound system from under the sink and mounted it outboard of the battery box - this is a much better place for it. Closer to its power supply, the speakers, and less chance of being dripped on.

When I hung up my hat this evening, here's what I had:

Very impressive!

so pretty I could cry. crazy alx