I'm a former sailboat guy and just bought a Mainship Pilot 34. Needless to say, there are many more thru-hull fittings and moving parts than my previous boat. I'd like to go through it and put some sort of labels or tags on everything. I'm thinking like a piece of vinyl with a sharpie and a wire tie? Any suggestions?
Hello JackD.
Aboard Seaweed I label everything with whatever is at hand. Usually I tie (small pieces of twine) the tag to whatever is close by.
The Ship's log also has notes on what's what:
Color of wiring (standard, but written nonetheless) for engine gauges
AC and DC panel fuse sizes (and what's what) from top to bottom
Permanent marker works well on scraps of fiberglass; the vinyl labels fell off the bulkhead (found in bilge after purchase)
Those snazzy plastic ones did too. (Dampness didn't help the situation)
You can not have too many labels.
On long runs of wire I tag things where visible. It's not necessary but if someone sees some #4 I want them to know it's for my windlass. Especially when wires reappear.
The duplex, I just write on the white cover. It's not fancy, but it works.
Recently I was aboard a Thompson44 (lovely engine room) and was quite impressed. The owner "knows his stuff" and has it labeled too. No one could mistake anything down there and in a panic situation... well, I was impressed.
The article on Lily Maria is here:
Janice142 article Life onboard Lily Maria (Thompson44 M/V)
Good luck. And even if YOU know what it is, label anyway. Some day a worker will be aboard your boat and you don't want him doing something stupid. What was easy and so simple in five years might not be so. Labels are your friend.
In my opinion.