Our camp has a C-22 that we have enjoyed using to teach sailing to kids and for great thrills rides. Our male staff love to take it out at night, but our electrical system is not fully operational. Does anyone know of a wiring diagram or any other helpful information to rewire and get our radio back into operation?
Thanks.
C-22 Electrical Diagram
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chad@bluewater
- Posts: 1
- Joined: Tue Aug 29, 2006 6:58 pm
- Location: Grand Rapids, MN
- Contact:
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rjbranch
wiring
Chad
Getting the radio back into operation is the easiest thing you'll wind up with on rewiring. It should not go thru anything. It should only be wired DIRECTLY to the battery. There should be a fuse inline with the positive wire, check the radio manual or radio case itself for the size. Usually a 2 1/2 amp or if its an older radio a 5 amp will do it. The reason the radio should never go thru any switch panel is that you want it available in the event of a fire in the panel, or loss of multiple circuits in the panel. For emergency use you always want the vhf radio available and that is why it should be wired directly to the battery. Use decent size wire, 16 guage should be fine in a boat this size.
As to the rest of the boat, having owned over 40 boats in my lifetime you can do it the easy way or the hard way. The easy way is to just cut everything out and start over. The hard way is to try to figure it all out, try to repair it, then realize its impossible and then cut it all out and start over. Boats of this vintage.. and sailboats in particular, though power boats back then were just as bad, just had the wires thrown in, often inside layers of fiberglass, like headliner and deck, and just birdnested to switches and a few fuses. If you want to see the difference of what can be and what you have, just find a sea ray powerboat dealer, go in an ask to be allowed to raise an engine hatch on oh, a 26 ft or bigger boat. Just look at the wiring you see and compare. Everything is labled, all the wires are bundled, and run in parellel runs supported every 6 inches or so. I can already hear everyone pausing in awe. Its an experience we should all have. This is how it should be done.
Its easy to do. Figure out the number of circuits you will need on your 12 volt system, one for each switch. You'll also want a voltmeter and a master switch and at least one and preferably 2 more circuits than you think you will ever need. Buy 12 v switch pannels that give that many. Also buy a battery master switch... in case of the previously mentioned panel fire. If you want to do it in prewired stuff West has an inhouse 3 circuit panel with the voltmeter (lets you know if you need to charge the battery... ie can anyone hear your radio and can anyone actually see your running lights) for about $44. You can run a second panel off one of the first panel's circuits to get more, they have a 6 circuit panel for about $34. The instructions in the packages show you how to wire all of it. The battery switch (a one battery switch is about $25 to $30). Just draw out the circuits on a piece of paper and plan it ahead of time. Pull out all the old wires if you can, if not, just run new ones. The old ones will be so corroded that even if they are intact, you will get such high resistance in them most things will not work as they should. Run the wires (not in the bilge, water will get thru em and kill em in short order) either along undersides of seats or along the hull deck joint area and have the wires tied every 6 inches and supported every 6 to 12 inches. Get a krimp fitting kit for the wire ends and use proper terminals, don't try to bend wires together or wrap em around a terminal screw. Use a crimp connector. Label the ends with a tag identifying the circuit. (I color code them too, but have learned you forget color codes or can get confused. There are heat shrink lables you can get and its worth it.... specially in the dark and 4 foot seas... but also at the dock 4 years from now, after your code diagram has mildewed).
Yea, its a project, but when you are done you will know your system and everything will be right and work for many years. Wanna really be good? Add an amp meter to the line going from the battery to the panels. If a switch is left on, or if there is a short, this will show it up faster than anything... it tells you what is coming out of the battery. Remember though, the vhf radio will not show on it cause its wired outside the system. The amp meter will also show if you have cross currents on a circuit. Only when it says zero with everything off do you know you truely are not drawing current. It also lets you know how long your battery is going to last with all that electronic stuff hummin. Finished more than one Pt Huron to Mackinac race on boats with no juice left. ... other follks boats of course. Mine had an amp meter.
Good luck. It is fun and really nice when you know that in fact your lights are bright enough for that idiot going 40 knots in the dark with a windshield full of reflected instruments lights to see.
bob branch
Moby Turtle
Harsens Island, MI
Getting the radio back into operation is the easiest thing you'll wind up with on rewiring. It should not go thru anything. It should only be wired DIRECTLY to the battery. There should be a fuse inline with the positive wire, check the radio manual or radio case itself for the size. Usually a 2 1/2 amp or if its an older radio a 5 amp will do it. The reason the radio should never go thru any switch panel is that you want it available in the event of a fire in the panel, or loss of multiple circuits in the panel. For emergency use you always want the vhf radio available and that is why it should be wired directly to the battery. Use decent size wire, 16 guage should be fine in a boat this size.
As to the rest of the boat, having owned over 40 boats in my lifetime you can do it the easy way or the hard way. The easy way is to just cut everything out and start over. The hard way is to try to figure it all out, try to repair it, then realize its impossible and then cut it all out and start over. Boats of this vintage.. and sailboats in particular, though power boats back then were just as bad, just had the wires thrown in, often inside layers of fiberglass, like headliner and deck, and just birdnested to switches and a few fuses. If you want to see the difference of what can be and what you have, just find a sea ray powerboat dealer, go in an ask to be allowed to raise an engine hatch on oh, a 26 ft or bigger boat. Just look at the wiring you see and compare. Everything is labled, all the wires are bundled, and run in parellel runs supported every 6 inches or so. I can already hear everyone pausing in awe. Its an experience we should all have. This is how it should be done.
Its easy to do. Figure out the number of circuits you will need on your 12 volt system, one for each switch. You'll also want a voltmeter and a master switch and at least one and preferably 2 more circuits than you think you will ever need. Buy 12 v switch pannels that give that many. Also buy a battery master switch... in case of the previously mentioned panel fire. If you want to do it in prewired stuff West has an inhouse 3 circuit panel with the voltmeter (lets you know if you need to charge the battery... ie can anyone hear your radio and can anyone actually see your running lights) for about $44. You can run a second panel off one of the first panel's circuits to get more, they have a 6 circuit panel for about $34. The instructions in the packages show you how to wire all of it. The battery switch (a one battery switch is about $25 to $30). Just draw out the circuits on a piece of paper and plan it ahead of time. Pull out all the old wires if you can, if not, just run new ones. The old ones will be so corroded that even if they are intact, you will get such high resistance in them most things will not work as they should. Run the wires (not in the bilge, water will get thru em and kill em in short order) either along undersides of seats or along the hull deck joint area and have the wires tied every 6 inches and supported every 6 to 12 inches. Get a krimp fitting kit for the wire ends and use proper terminals, don't try to bend wires together or wrap em around a terminal screw. Use a crimp connector. Label the ends with a tag identifying the circuit. (I color code them too, but have learned you forget color codes or can get confused. There are heat shrink lables you can get and its worth it.... specially in the dark and 4 foot seas... but also at the dock 4 years from now, after your code diagram has mildewed).
Yea, its a project, but when you are done you will know your system and everything will be right and work for many years. Wanna really be good? Add an amp meter to the line going from the battery to the panels. If a switch is left on, or if there is a short, this will show it up faster than anything... it tells you what is coming out of the battery. Remember though, the vhf radio will not show on it cause its wired outside the system. The amp meter will also show if you have cross currents on a circuit. Only when it says zero with everything off do you know you truely are not drawing current. It also lets you know how long your battery is going to last with all that electronic stuff hummin. Finished more than one Pt Huron to Mackinac race on boats with no juice left. ... other follks boats of course. Mine had an amp meter.
Good luck. It is fun and really nice when you know that in fact your lights are bright enough for that idiot going 40 knots in the dark with a windshield full of reflected instruments lights to see.
bob branch
Moby Turtle
Harsens Island, MI
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rjbranch
wiring
Robbie
Of course the answer is no you don't have to. 18 guage would be fine for the lights wiring, except the running lights. Those are longer runs and remember the wire length is both ways so at rouchly a 20 ft run from the battter to a bow light its acutally 40 plus feet. Then the 16 guage starts to be the better choice. But the real reason is economic. Is 18 cheaper? Yup, bout 50 cents a spool. Hmmm. The reason I like 16 is it comes in more colors. WEST has it in minispools which work out under $10 for each color, and you don't wind up paying another $10 for another color in 18 G. I've always found it just cheaper to deal with buying one size and using the size that is not going to be a current drain issue. For mast head steaming light you might even consider a 4 conductor wire if you put an anchoring light at the masthead or a windex light. If you never use either of those, then opt not to run the extra weight u the mast. A two conductor wire though is alot easier to feed and by the time you tape wrap two single wires it weighs more than double conductor in the first place. Always have a strain release at each end in the spar though so the load of the wire doesn't grind thru the insulation . I also wrap the wire with plastic electric tape at the entrance and exits for the same reason.
bob branch
Moby Turtle
Of course the answer is no you don't have to. 18 guage would be fine for the lights wiring, except the running lights. Those are longer runs and remember the wire length is both ways so at rouchly a 20 ft run from the battter to a bow light its acutally 40 plus feet. Then the 16 guage starts to be the better choice. But the real reason is economic. Is 18 cheaper? Yup, bout 50 cents a spool. Hmmm. The reason I like 16 is it comes in more colors. WEST has it in minispools which work out under $10 for each color, and you don't wind up paying another $10 for another color in 18 G. I've always found it just cheaper to deal with buying one size and using the size that is not going to be a current drain issue. For mast head steaming light you might even consider a 4 conductor wire if you put an anchoring light at the masthead or a windex light. If you never use either of those, then opt not to run the extra weight u the mast. A two conductor wire though is alot easier to feed and by the time you tape wrap two single wires it weighs more than double conductor in the first place. Always have a strain release at each end in the spar though so the load of the wire doesn't grind thru the insulation . I also wrap the wire with plastic electric tape at the entrance and exits for the same reason.
bob branch
Moby Turtle