How can I waterproof a wire bundle passing through the deck?

[keelbolt]

Hands down the best solution out there. They are not cheap, but if you're lucky you can find one on ebay that will work for your application. Mine is over 20years old and never a drop has penetrated it. Mine is at the base of my mast and all my mast wiring passes thru it without cutting cables. It comes apart easily when the mast comes down, and reassembles in minutes.

https://www.roxtec.com/us?gclid=CjwK...RoC4REQAvD_BwE

[Happ]

Look at Kato’s website. They make a piece that attaches to the deck with a 180 bend init. Much like your drain on your sink. Just turned upside down. Easy to install.

[deblen]

The UK has a nice SS gooseneck deck fitting availabke.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Stainless-S...-/302589881785


I have never been able to find a N.American source of these.


However,it is common for east coast fishing boats to use a PVC or ABS version gooseneck made from common electrical/plumbing fittings.
These "home made" versions can even be left with a joint that is not glued-only pushed together. This makes it easier to run new wires by pulling that joint apart. They can be painted with Krylon white for looks.

They do not need sealing around the wires for normal use. You would have to have 6" solid water on deck for leaking to occur.
Cheers/ Len

[IanTrail]

I have a whole bunch of wires coming out of the bottom of my mast and going through a stainless deck tube. I use a length of cycle inner tube clamped over the deck tube with a black cable tie and around the cable bunch with another black cable tie. I squirt in a good dollop of black RTV or Sikaflex into the top of the inner tube before I tighten up the cable tie. It's 100% watertight, takes a lot of rough treatment and easily opened up and replaced.
WARNING: One year I decided on a modification and connected the cycle inner tube from the stainless deck tube to the stainless tube exiting the mast. I thought that this would be even better since it would keep the cables dry. STUPID! Inside the mast is not a dry place; in fact in rain or rough weather it can be a very wet place. And all this water was neatly funnelled through the inner tube into my boat. This modification was rapidly reverted.

FLIGHTLEAD404: What's the problem with Acetic Acid in sealant?

[mporter]

Rox boxes -- rectangular or cylindrical -- available with many sizes of adjustable opening. I've used them for years with no leaks.

[sailorladd]

What I did to waterproof my light and antennae wires that passed through the top of my cabin and into my wooden mast (that had been included in a hollow through the middle of the spar) was to make an upside down "U" pipe from one inch stainless steel and a welded base plate that was screwed onto the cabin roof, this was obviously sealed with silicone or 5100 I forgot.. but it allows the wires to pass through the cabin roof and no rain water or ocean water has EVER leaked into my boat.. You may need to get this made by a metal shop....

[Robert Jansen]

Consider alternative solutions from industrial suppliers. If memory serves, there is a wide range of commercial and industrial products designed for applications needing waterproofing. The McMaster-Carr and Grainger catalogs may help. One generic term is liquitite.

[R Hutcheson]

I had very good luck sealing mast wires for a deck stepped mast by installing connectors for the wiring below deck. For the bundle connected to the mast I took a short section of PVC pipe (about and inch), waxed the interior of the pipe generously, ran the wire bundle through the section or pipe. Then I taped one end of the pipe thoroughly, and filled the pipe with west systems epoxy and allowed it to set. Once set I carefully removed the pvc pipe. I was left with a smooth surface around the wire bundle that would effectively seal going through a standard commercial deck gland. Stepping and unstepping the mast was easily accomplished and I never had a leak where the wire bundle passed through the deck.

Obviously, this method will pose a bit of a problem if you ever have to replace one of the wires later, but fortunately it was never necessary while I owned the boat.

[Dave9111]

Originally Posted by keelbolt

Hands down the best solution out there. They are not cheap, but if you're lucky you can find one on ebay that will work for your application. Mine is over 20years old and never a drop has penetrated it. Mine is at the base of my mast and all my mast wiring passes thru it without cutting cables. It comes apart easily when the mast comes down, and reassembles in minutes.

https://www.roxtec.com/us?gclid=CjwK...RoC4REQAvD_BwE

Roxtec:
I have used these for years on industrial machinery.
Zoro Tool has good prices on them.

There are other makes of these but these are some of the best.

The best part is that they can be taken apart and reassembled to add and remove cables.


I believe they are commonly used on Navy ships.

[PutSon IV]

Have you tried butyl caulk or tape?

[Mike Burch]

Just a quick heads-up for those who make their own antennas—a very experienced professional colleague tells me that neutral cure silicone gives measurably better results RF-wise when potting coax-to-dipole etc connections.

No, I don't know why and I can't prove it.


Oh, and +1 for the 180° gooseneck. Stainless, 1¼" (32mm) pipe minimum, TIG-welded bends, flared opening. No need for any sealant except of course for the base-flange-to-deck. Will not leak unless you roll the boat, when that leak will be the least of your problems. Wires easily removed or added to without any mucking around scraping off sealant.

[LargeMarge]

2003, for our ExpeditionVehicle we converted from a 1997 Ford CF8000 commercial truck, we used Vulcum 116 sealer/adhesive.

After nearly two decades of full-time live-aboard...
after twenty-four thousand miles around south America, Alaska, Panama, all over north and central America,
after trundling through swamps and across rivers and deserts at all kinds of elevations,
we have zero-zero-zero leaks... and the stuff is still soft and pliable.

After bashing errant tree limbs while backing up...

[CAVOK]

If it’s just temporary and there are small gaps around the wires, just use melted candle wax. Passed on to me recently and used until I can work out a better fix

[flightlead404]

Originally Posted by Jim Cate

Just curious: why are folks worried about acetic acid based silicone sealants? The acid is weak and the typically PVC insulation on the cables is not attacked by it, nor is FRP or PVC pipe nor most other marine construction materials.

Jim

In my case there was a connector in there and it ate into the copper wire

[ziva]

Good evening, did any of you found a solution to pass mc4 solar panel connector to be easily removed in the case of removable panels? I am looking for a;weather proof deck plug