Run new electrical wire under carpeted wall

[workmaster2n]

My boat was built in 1996 and has some fabulous, depending on the observer, grey carpet on all the walls and ceiling. It's actually installed really well and I can't easily find seams and there is no peeling to be seen. I think technically the carpet is a "liner", but I call it carpet because that is what the admiral calls it.

I had a couple leaks near windows and had to pull back the carpet to repair the problems, and I can see that behind the carpet is unfinished fiberglass. I had to make some cuts in the carpet in order to pull it back from the windows. When I reglued the carpet to the wall, the seams were obvious and my stretching of the carpet was less than ideal, so the job looks ticky tacky at best.

The other day, my internal lights stopped working. I traced it to what looks to be a corroded wire in one of the forward births. I cut out the corroded section as best I could, but unfortunately, the wire goes into a channel in the fiberglas of the coach roof. The channel does not appear to be accessible (I think it was glassed in after the wires were installed). The lights still don't work after my repair, so I think I'll need to rewire the internal lights.

Does anybody have any tricks for running wires behind carpeted walls? I'm thinking I could pull back carpet near edges (floors, doors, etc) and run the wires there, rather than cutting the carpet and running the wires across the middle of the walls.

Will heating of the wire be an issue? There are 6 small LED flight fixtures, so shouldn't be a huge amount of amperage, but it feels like having warm wires running behind carpet might not be the best idea.

Or is it possible that if I look in the right spot, I might find channels that the wires run through? The boat is not a production boat, so no guarantees the builder didn't get a little crazy with their wire runs.

[tkeithlu]

Running wire directly behind carpet is OK as long as 1) you are not stepping on it, and 2) the wire gauge is correct, such that it does not get hot. Be very careful.

[goboatingnow]

It’s not a great idea in the scheme of things but sometimes you have few options.

Carpet liners are very problematic for the reasons you’ve outlined

[coopec43]

"I think technically the carpet is a "liner", but I call it carpet because that is what the admiral calls it."

It would be helpful to know what sort of "hull liner" you have. Any chance of a photo?

I have used gray hull liner over light electrical cabling and you can barely notice the cables. The red line indicates where the cables (X3) are located and the green line indicates where two pieces of liner abut (You can barely see the join)

I have to add another cable for the rudder indicator. I'll probably just peel the hull liner back, position the new cable with a few dabs of contact cement then replace the hull liner using a pressure pack of Kwik Grip spray