David - I have totally rewired my boat, and used sheathed duplex (or
triplex) throughout. I mean, there is not a single wire or connection
on this boat that I haven't replaced.
Trying to emulate original construction is context sensitive.
Many of our boats were built in phases, which means layers. The wires
were set down against the deck liner or hull and then a glop of resin
held them in place, every 18 inches per ABYC specs (or whatever ABYC
specs were back then.) It's all fine and dandy if you want to rip your
deck off and disassemble the liner and do it the way they did it
originally. So, pull single strand 16 gauge wires and see what happens.
Sometimes there's a right angle turn with only 1/4" clearance. That'll
stop you in your tracks. 'Go fish.'
The truth of the matter is that running wire through an old boat can
damage the wire even in the initial wire run. I've pulled wire through
places, trying to emulate the initial construction, and have actually
succeeded, then looked at the sheathed duplex and saw that I'd pulled
the sheath eight inches past the wire, due to friction in the run. Who
knows what happened to the strands inside the actual insulation ten feet
down? So I figured out a new wire run.
But to address the question below: I think buying low cost spools of
high quality sheathed duplex marine wire is a good idea, if you think
you'll be doing more wiring in the future. Yup, you can split it if you
need a piece of this or that. I've done it many times. I have a 'wire
bag' which I keep next to the 'hose bag.' If I could give you one piece
of advice, I'd say never buy any wire smaller than 14g. Frankly, if I
were to do it again, it would all be 12g everywhere, just so I could
minimize the collection of Ancor butt connectors.
Really, the RED Ancor connectors are like the RED shirt guys in Star
Trek. Disposable.
Go for the big wire, man, it's worth it.
Wal
David Knecht wrote:
Is there any
reason not to buy a spool of duplex and just split the enclosing shield for the
few times I need only one wire? Dave
--
s/v Stella Blue
www.wbryant.com
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