Chip & Debbie Willis on s\v Elegant'sea: New 120 volt wiring from dock to nav station

2012 - Marina Cortez San Diego, CA

It would be nice to be talking about sailing and napping but it is re-fitting time and the sailing time will come.

We installed one of our two new 30 amp shore power outlets and ran a 120 volt 10/3 wire from the outlet to the nav station.

Lets start at the 30 shore power inlet. We really needed to do this project as our inlet was badly worn and had smoked once before. It is a scary thought to have a fire destroy the boat.

As they say it was an anticipated motor out of the slip and I was really wanting to leave the slip. Debbie was at the helm and we had disconnected the shore power and the starboard stern line. I went over our usual procedure of letting go lines so we would be on the same page. We do this each time so we know what each other is doing. As we were inching out we heard the strain and the snaaaap of something! Ok forgot the cable TV cable. Nothing to do now but keep going. I went to the stern and pulled into the boat.

We went to the boat yard and got our mast.

We made a new check list of items to run through before leaving the dock!

Returned to our slip and plugged in shore power. Now we wanted to go out for dinner I think it was and were tired. Oh wait, as I sniffed around. Smells like smoke. As we search around we found it to be the shore power connection to the 30 amp shore power inlet in the lazerette. That’s a wakeup call. The TV cable had put strain on the 110 volt wiring as it was wire tied to it (not a good idea by the way). The wire connection on the back of the inlet was old and corroded some, it was now bad and at time hissing and smoking. We cut it and put a new terminal end on it and tested it out to be safe.

This 110 volt wiring was on the list to get replaced.

We bumped up the project.

Epoxyed a tab to the side for a wire tie where my hand is.

Will add some more wire tires and chafe protection.

Same orientation as last one and it covers the old screw holes nicely. The previous one was square.

The new 30 amp shore power inlet is nice as it is all white plastic and the lid stays open. It snaps close and is easy to open. It is quiet and does not bang on the wrist like the old one. It is new and modern and nice.

The back has a protective cover and a strain relief clamp so the same thing may not have happened.

The hole was not quite the same size. The hole was a bit smaller. Having no electricity as I removed the old inlet one and having an electric corded drill the rasp was the tool of choice. The hole was not that much smaller and with some rasping the new one fit in nicely. There is a bar on the new one to keep it from spinning I think. We used a small hack saw to cut a notch into the coming in the hole to accommodate it. Now there was the usual cleanup of the coming and the filling of the old holes. We just put in some 3M 4000 UV to keep the water out.

We later fastened the wires to the bulkhead and in behind the nav station so they do not move.

Along the way we re-installed the Galvanic Isolator. During this process I had a mental lapse and cut all three strands of wire. I only wanted to cut the green ground wire! This upset me and I did not want to proceed. I wanted to say take my tools and go home. Problem is I was home and it was not the end of the, well you know. This project of the day needed to be finished so we could have 120 volt power.

The wiring to the nav station was not easy. The small #10 screws in barley see-able places and not so easy to get at spots was difficult. Dropping them into the nav station from the top of the lazerette was common.

So the 120 volt power is done to the nav station.