Securing wiring throughout a fiberglass innerhull?

Perithead · #1 (**permalink**) 01-01-2008

I have an '83 Mac 25 and I am getting it ready for some more serious and longer trips. One of the things I am doing is securing the wires that run thoughout the boat ever 12" or 17".

I have some small plastic piece that have a ring where you can put wire though it and it has a small flat surface with some doublesided sticky foam so you can "stick" them through out your boat wherever you need them. I dont think I want to trust these to hold up all my wires. Is there any other way I could attach them?

All the "wire secure'ers" will be attached to the inner hull shell so I could put small through fittings to hold them in place (the only backdraw I see is that when inside of the cabin you will notice various screw heads thoughout. Is this my only other option? Is putting small holes in my cabin floors, bullkheads, and such really a good idea?

I am looking for the simplest way out there and any opinions would be appreciated.

OR are the sticky things my best bet?
BUT can I trust them?

Idiens · #2 (**permalink**) 01-01-2008

I use the sticky pad approach, but the surface does need to be very flat and clean.

HoffaLives · #3 (**permalink**) 01-01-2008

i wouldn't use sticky pads; they aren't really a permanent approach. you need to find a way to permanently attach the wire straps. one way would be to epoxy a length of wood along the liner and attach to that.

Perithead · #4 (**permalink**) 01-01-2008

Hoffa, yes, that would probably be the best way to do it, but it would take ages it seems like. Just think, everywhere that you have wire ran you must epoxy a piece of wood that was thick enough to screw something too?

If I have a much larger boat then I would do that, maybe. I am the type of person who looks for an easier way than that.

But in an offshore voyage, I would rather be on your boat than mine!

Thanks for that reply.

Idiens, Do your sticky pads ever come off? Or are they rather secure?

I like that idea the best but I dont know how much I can trust it.

Idiens · #5 (**permalink**) 01-01-2008

Quote:

Originally Posted by Perithead

Idiens, Do your sticky pads ever come off? Or are they rather secure?

I like that idea the best but I dont know how much I can trust it.

Yes, some do occasionally come off. Usually where I didn't take enough trouble preparing the surface. Others really stick remarkably well, but of course, Hoffa's epoxy strip is best, but that needs good surface preparation too.

Perithead · #6 (**permalink**) 01-01-2008

Hoffa, if I were to epoxy something to the inner hull do you mean just put some epoxy on a block and then clean the fiberglass surface and put some epoxy on that then stick them together?

Or is it more complex than that?

Freesail99 · #7 (**permalink**) 01-01-2008

Quote:

Originally Posted by Perithead

Hoffa, if I were to epoxy something to the inner hull do you mean just put some epoxy on a block and then clean the fiberglass surface and put some epoxy on that then stick them together?

Or is it more complex than that?

Epoxy on the block of wood alone would work. It also be better if you were to thicken the epoxy, so it doesn't drip as easy.

retclt · #8 (**permalink**) 01-01-2008

Small sections of tubing epoxied to the hull would work. You could change and re-route wiring easily at any time.

deerenick · #9 (**permalink**) 01-01-2008

If I were to fix my wiring,I would get the flat plastic squares with the small slot on top that would accept a plastic tie wrap or tie.You can get them by the bag at the hardware,they also have the peal and stick on the back that I would not trust.Instead I would put a drop of gorilla glue on each pad then tape to the bulkhead until dry.Good luck.
Bill NC

poopdeckpappy · #10 (**permalink**) 01-01-2008

I had an '69 Islander 26 excaliber, one of the first things I did was strip all the wiring and redid it. Not having any subframing as I do now, I epoxied 3/4" x 1" PVC tubing every 16" and fed all the wires thought that, then I wrapped all the wires in some 1/2" black plastic flex jacket stuff I found at WM, the 1/2" flex stuff fit though the 3/4" PVC tubing, so when it was all done it was pretty clean.

The other thing I did was to flag each run with different colored tape every few feet so if I had to trace wire in the future it would be easier

That might have been over kill, but what the heck