Panels.. oh so many panels...

I figured it'd be reasonably easy to run an antenna wire from the windshield valence on my Eastbay up to the flybridge, for a Sirius radio connection.

Yeah, not so much. So... many... panels... to unscrew...

And I'm still not close to the right location. From the flybridge the downward connection for other cables in the bundle is in behind the fridge up there (of which only 3 of the four screws were present holding in it) and that's aft of the side door. So where ever that comes down is above a panel that'll require removing the entire 6' tall piece next to the helm chair. Fortunately the fridge came out easily... I was not looking forward to crawling through that space again.

Behind a few panels there's a couple of pull-strings leading to other areas, so at least some poor bastard before me had the foresight to make it less trouble in the future. Just none leading up to the flybridge... at least none I've found... yet.

And before anyone suggests it, there's no easy run down from the valence to the helm, so using a splitter at the BBWX1 Sirius weather unit wouldn't be any easier. I will probably use one up under the flybridge, as that's got the same BNC style connector as the cable I already have on-hand for the radio. A splitter will at least save me from whacking another hole in the fiberglass.

No real question here, just ranting about pulling wires in a boat...

Well, the good news is once u get the first 20 feet figured out, the balance of the 22,000 miles is easy[emoji3]

Have you tried contacting the boat manufacturer for advice or a schematic? They are still in business.

Take the opportunity to run extra wire/cables that you may need for future plans so you won't go through this again

L

Lou_tribal said:

Take the opportunity to run extra wire/cables that you may need for future plans so you won't go through this again

Click to expand...

Agreed. A length of NMEA 2000 cable is going to get pulled at the same time. Eventually there's going to be a change to the radio (from the Clarion to a Fusion) and that'll use the NMEA2k bus for control. Definitely have "while you're at it" on my mind.

AND a pull string.

Success! The access hole was at the top of the panel aft of the starboard helm door. It too a bit of jimmying and some careful bending but I managed to get a clear shot up to the flybridge from there.

What I didn't have with my, to my dismay, was an extra length of NMEA2k cabling. But that access is direct enough to make it not too much trouble to add it later.

The next challenge will be in finding the most effective way to get that 2k cable down from the ceiling to the helm. More on that once I get to the next stage, which really won't be necessary until I get new 4" displays for the lower helm and/or a new Fusion radio setup.