Mainship 34 Hard Top Trawler wire chase in roof?

[Yourtruenorth1]

Does anybody know what MS did to leave room for wiring that has to go from roof of hardtop, floor of fly bridge models to get it to helm or column that goes down to engine space?
I’m trying not to ruin or have to redo entire headliner to get radar and a few other wires run from forward center of roof across to column aft of helm.
Anyone have an idea where chase or conduit may be?

Steve
M/V Mahalo
2007 MS 34 HT

 

[DavidM]

There should be a screwed hatch in the middle of the roof about two feet behind the windows. You access any roof electrical through it. Usually any wire is spliced at that point so you can remove anything above for shipping. Then it is run over to the front starboard support for the windows where there is a much smaller, similar hatch and then down the support and then through a hole to the small compartment behind the tilt out helm. Some wiring continues back towards the engine room or behind the AC/DC panel.

It sounds awckward and it is. I have never run new cable through that route but have disconnected the radar, GPS sensor and a spot light using the center hatch.

David

 

[Yourtruenorth1]

Wire run from forward roof

Hi David, and thank you for reply! When you say there’s a screwed hatch, is it under the headliner? We have nothing but headliner that’s in great condition if you look up. We have found the channel down to helm in front corner, but still need to get there.
Thanks in advance!
Steve

 

[Bacchus]

There should be a screwed hatch in the middle of the roof about two feet behind the windows. You access any roof electrical through it. Usually any wire is spliced at that point so you can remove anything above for shipping. Then it is run over to the front starboard support for the windows where there is a much smaller, similar hatch and then down the support and then through a hole to the small compartment behind the tilt out helm. Some wiring continues back towards the engine room or behind the AC/DC panel.

It sounds awckward and it is. I have never run new cable through that route but have disconnected the radar, GPS sensor and a spot light using the center hatch.

David

David
On the 34T Was the vertical chase fwd or aft of the helm door?
On my/ 34HT there is what appears (from the inside) to be a vertical wire chase aft of the helm door. Fwd of the helm door is the trapezoid shaped side window and no evidence of a chase that I have seen.
The chase aft definitely ends up in the ER as I have been into it when trying to find a path fwd from ER to under helm. From the ER end of that chase I had to get over/around the fuel tank and through a bulkhead to get to the bilge area under the galley steps that has EZ access up to the removable panel the (lower/only) helm wheel is mounted to.
Most difficult area I think would be making the horizontal to vertical transition at top of the chase mentioned once into the roof - headliner space w/o removing the headliner. Mine & others I've seen have no access plate in that area? Although the horn and GPS antenna are both close by which leads me to think thats the intended chase for stuff on the fwd roof area.

Come to think of it.... just trying to write this from memory, as I'm home and Bacchus is on the hard on blocks... I think in my saloon area up near the headliner on that chase there is a removable panel / cover plate matching the "cherry" colored paneling that looks to be an after thought and maybe after factory addition. That could be the way to catch a snake fed from the mast mounting on the roof centerline?

 

[Bacchus]

Steve
Where is the channel you mentioned? Fwd or aft of the helm door?

Check around the area I described to see if there is anything that might be a cover plate at top of chase aft of helm door.
Have you had your mast off to see how large the access hole is?
I'm guessing that could be more than just a wire sized hole as the mast base is nearly the size of the flat circle...correct?
In my ER I found many pull strings left from previous wire runs that could prove very helpful if you locate the right one(s).
As I recall the bottom of that chase in the ER is close to where the gen batty is (at least of my 34HT). If you find that area are there any strings tied off to maybe thru hull valve handles?
Another clue would be to trace your VHF and or GPS antenna cables from the under helm area to see which direction they head... directly toward stb side and up vs down behind helm wheel to the bilge compartment under the galley stairs?

 

[DavidM]

Sorry guys, I didn't read the headline correctly of the OP. I was speaking about the Pilot 34, not the 34T or the hardtop version of the 34T.

I did own a 34T in years past, but my memory is foggy about where the upper deck wiring was routed. There was no hatch as described in my post above. Wiring underneath the flybridge helm was routed to starboard and down a chase on the forward starboard side. Some of it exited at the helm below and some continued aft into the engine room.

Can't help much more than that.

David

 

[Bacchus]

Steve
One other way to explore the space between roof ,& headliner is to pull one of the light fixtures. Like the one above the helm area. That will give you some visibility and an access to rske ssf ome pics w a phone or explore with an endoscope camera. The light are held in by springs and stiff to start but will pull down completely clear of thr headliner.

 

[Lollygag1]

Do you have a small panel between the two hatches below where your radar is? The wiring should go down both sides corners as we had after market fans installed.

What are you trying to do? Send pics