Why did I look.... What a mess!

[mxtommy]

I need to vent... Sorry!

We bought our boat (1985 Beneteau First 375) last year at the beginning of summer, had it surveyed and happily cruised the rest of the summer.

In preparation of adding solar for next summer, I decided to go ahead and "map" what was there already so I could plan how I was going to connect stuff... I literally got scared...

First, The windlass on our boat was replaced by a different model for who knows what reason. The previous owner (PO) ran new battery cables to the v-berth, with some cludgy mounting of the solenoid and down/up switch. I knew they weren't marine grade battery cables, but they looked in ok shape so I had added it to my "to-do-sometime-in-the-future" list along with properly installing the windlass gear.

Well while tracing wires today I noticed... the breaker for the windlass is in the v-berth.

Positive and negative wires run side-by-side directly from the battery in the aft cabin (not even from the battery disconnect switch) to the v-berth with no fuse/breaker until 2 inches before the solenoid in the v-berth.

I wish it ended there though.

I also noticed some welding wire. (the type used to connect the welding machine to the handle the welder has in his hand. not sure if there's a technical term for it) Turns out when the PO replaced the windlass, he left the old windlass's power cables under the anchor locker. The loose ends just coiled together in the bottom of the small storage space. Positive wire had a few rolls of electrical tape on the end. Negative wire nothing (ie, exposed). Oh, and no fuse/breaker either...

So not just one, but two pairs of 2 gauge battery cables going from battery to v-berth, both with 0 protection, one of the two pairs just loose with both ends within a foot of each other... To think, all it would have taken is those loose ends coming together, or the jacket of the wire failing (apparently welding wire's jacket is not oil proof?) and poof, no more boat, and maybe even no more life...

The distribution panel is also not perfect. But at least everything after that is fused (I hope!) Didn't have time to trace all the wires in there.

Granted I should have looked at all this earlier when we bought the boat, (and I honestly had planned on it) but we were already in the beginning of summer and itching to use our new to us boat. We already had a list a mile long of other things the surveyor had pointed out that we had to fix for insurance, so I never got around to it until today...

Lesson learned!

On the bright side, I now get to correct all that, and I love messing with stuff like this Will keep my winter busy

For anyone that's curious, the current 12v wiring diagram (in the engine room) looks like this:

https://www.gliffy.com/go/share/s8dwpu2fr7qu79kyvrsp

I'm starting to read up to see how I will connect the solar charger into this, as well as adding a shunt on the negative for a State-of-Charge Meter. I'd love to hear any recommendations!

Thanks!

[dlymn]

Our solenoid has a reverse polarity switch and overload cutout built in. It's mounted next to the battery. there are light(10a) wires from the bow and cockpit pushbuttons back to the solenoid that reverse polarity. Even though the cables back to the winch are red and black, the polarity is reversed when various buttons are pushed. The overload keeps the out side safe. If your solenoid is similar you might consider just shifting it back next to the battery and adding light wires from the control buttons to it.