Electrical, AC Receptacle, Galley, Starboard Side, Part 2: Wiring

The AC receptacle, wired and ready for its final installation

Having decided where exactly I needed to install an AC receptacle on the starboard side of the galley, and having cut the hole and temporarily installed the electrical box, the receptacle, and the protective plate, it was now time for the more challenging part of this project - figuring out how to route the wires to this receptacle. How I did this on Oystercatcher, my Ericson 25, is the subject of this posting.

You'll recall that I had located the heart of the electrical system on the port side of the galley.

Likewise, you'll recall that the AC distribution panel allowed for three separate circuits.

The first circuit I devoted to a single receptacle, and this receptacle I placed on this port side of the galley.

The receptacle for circuit 1 was to serve one purpose only - powering the window unit style air conditioner that I would use in hot and humid weather.

The second circuit, as you'll recall, I devoted exclusively to the battery charger.

The single receptacle for this circuit I placed just to the inboard side of the charger. The hard part, as I said at the beginning of this article, was not deciding where exactly to locate this receptacle; rather it was deciding how to route the wire to it.

I knew that I had to route this wire downward through the lazarette. In the picture below, we see the gray conduit coming down from the cockpit locker. Within this conduit are the three-wire cables for circuits 2 and 3 of the AC electrical system. Circuit 2, of course is the subject of the present posting. Circuit 3, which would service the main salon and the V-berth I discuss in a separate article.

Up in the cockpit locker I had left the two cables for circuits 2 and 3 "stubbed out" as they often say in residential construction. I would later, of course, come back and join the wires in these cables to the AC distribution panel. The green 6 AWG (American Wire Gauge) cable in the black conduit is the grounding cable for the AC system.

Yes, as I said, I routed the cables for circuits 2 and 3 downward into the lazarette. This route was the only one that made sense. This was the most direct way to get to the starboard side of the boat.

One reason why I did not join the AC cables to the AC distribution panel at this point was because things were just a little too uncertain in the overall rewiring project. In the picture below, you see that I have left many a cable stubbed out, because I had to play around with different arrangements to see which one would produce the least cluttered and most efficient design.

In terms of the gray, AC conduit, I decided to route it as close as possible to the entrance of the lazarette. I knew I would have more conduits to route through here, and this first one had to be snug against the bulkhead at the entrance.

Here's a glimpse of what I'm talking about. I took the picture below a few weeks after I had routed the AC conduit.

There's the AC conduit, the conduits for the two different charger cables, and there's the conduit for the DC negative circuit. This picture does not include the final conduit I would install in this space, the one for the lazarette lights. The point is that I had to be conscious of the space limitations as I routed these, especially since they were close to the cockpit hatch.

At this point in the AC wiring process, I ended the gray conduit near the ANL fuse for the charger. The fuse has nothing to do with this decision. By necessity, I had to route one of the cables downward and the other one upward. The downward one was for the circuit 3 cable. It would go underneath the galley sink and through the settee lockers in the main salon. The upward one was the one for circuit 2. It, of course, would go to the receptacle near the charger. Pay no attention to the vertically oriented gray conduit. This conduit was for the wires leading upward to the GPS and VHF.

After I had successfully routed the AC cable upward and through the cut-out for the receptacle, I cut it and then left it in a stubbed-out condition. You'll notice that to the right of the cut-out there are two conduits. These are protecting the positive and negative cables for the charger. You'll also notice another hole that I've drilled for another conduit. I would later drill other holes for other conduits. I knew that I had to drill all of these holes and route all of these conduits. That's why I left the AC cable in a stubbed-out condition and did not join it to the AC receptacle at this time. Access to the cut-out for the receptacle made it easier for me to feed the other conduits upward and through the small holes.

It was only later, after I had routed all of these other conduits, that I finally joined the wires in the AC cable to the receptacle.

In the routing of all these other conduits, one thing that I had done was to go back and add a piece of gray conduit to the AC cable. I wanted it to be as protected as possible against chafing.

To join the wire within the cable to the receptacle, the first thing I did was to strip back the white, protective cover. Then, I stripped the individual 10 AWG wires to the appropriate length. Yes, I used 10 AWG wire for this receptacle, just as I had used 10 AWG for the circuit 1 receptacle that would power the air conditioner. This Iota 45 charger would draw as many as 11 amps, so I wanted there to be as little resistance (and thus heat) as possible in the wire.

To the end of each wire I crimped forked terminals. Forked terminals as opposed to ring terminals, as I have said elsewhere, are, in my experience, the way to go when wiring an AC receptacle on a boat. AC receptacles have screws that are not intended to be fully removed. If you try to remove them (for the purpose of installing a ring terminal), you'll strip the threads. Don't ask me how I know.

For this circuit (and for circuit 3) I used a Leviton brand GFCI receptacle. For some reason Leviton, unlike Pass & Seymour (the brand I used for circuit 1), designed their receptacles to have small plastic nubs near their screw terminals. It appeared to me that Leviton did this not in an effort to hinder a marine electrician from installing forked terminals underneath the screws, but in an effort to aid residential electricians route their bare wires around the screw terminals. To get around this, I decided that I would remove the plastic nubs with my Dremel.

In the close-up below, we see the stub of the nub that I have just removed. My removal of the nub was really quite easy, and took no more than about five seconds.

Now it was time for me to apply heat to these heat-shrink terminals. You might have noticed that in the first part of this article I installed a white electrical box, but that in this second part of the article I am working with a blue box. I ended up discarding the white box, because of the hole that I had cut in it on its bottom side. I had been under the assumption that I would route the AC cable directly up into the box, since I would be routing the cable upward from the lazarette. As it turned out, the 12 to 18 inches of extra cable that I had given myself when I stubbed out the receptacle, I decided to keep as a service loop. This service loop would allow me to remove and reinstall the receptacle easily. After feeling around inside the cavity behind the bulkhead, I decided that the best way to route the service loop was upward. This meant that I would need to rout the end of the cable downward into the box.

The tab on the back of the blue electrical box provided just enough space for this large AC cable with its three 10 AWG wires.

It was nice to have this service loop for this circuit. It made the final installation so much easier. You might recall that due to the cramped space on the port side, I was unable to have a service loop for circuit 1.

As I pushed the blue box into place, I made sure to push the service loop upward and to the right in the cavity behind the bulkhead. I wanted to keep the service loop from going leftward, because the pointed ends of the screws for the charger were protruding into the cavity on that side.

At this point it was simply a matter of screwing the box to the bulkhead with four pan head screws.

The stainless steel protective cover provided the finishing touch. Now I could, at last, route the cables for the charger up and over the AC receptacle.

This ends this posting on how I wired the AC receptacle for the battery charger on the starboard side of the galley in Oystercatcher, my Ericson 25.

Electrical, AC Receptacle, Galley, Starboard Side, Part 1: Analysis and Installation

The AC receptacle, temporarily installed in place

Alternating Current, or AC for short, provides many comforts on a cruising sailboat that Direct Current, or DC, cannot. I have already discussed this at length in two previous articles, "Electrical, AC Distribution Panel," and "Electrical, AC Receptacle, Galley, Port Side." For this reason, I will move directly to the subject of the present article - my reasons and my method for installing an AC receptacle on the starboard side of the galley of Oystercatcher, my Ericson 25.

Prior to this job, I had given a lot of attention to the port side of the galley, where I had installed many of the components of the AC and DC electrical systems.

The AC distribution panel that I installed in this area could support up to three separate circuits. I decided that the first circuit would be dedicated to a single receptacle, and that this single receptacle would be dedicated to the air-conditioner that would sit in the companionway during hot and humid weather.

I had built a special box to house the window-unit style air conditioner that I would use.

On the starboard side of the galley, I had decided to install a battery charger.

This single charger, manufactured by Iota Engineering, would serve both the house battery bank and the reserve battery bank. In the picture below, I am lifting the hinged cover that I built to protect the charger. For more on all of this, see my article, "Electrical, Battery Charger."

Above and below, you might notice that I have taped a white plastic AC receptacle plate to the bulkhead, adjacent to the charger. I did this to give myself a better idea of where exactly I needed to locate both the charger and the AC receptacle in this area. Yes, this Iota 45 charger would run on AC power, and given that it would draw over twice as much power (11 amps) as the air conditioner (5 amps), I decided to dedicate the second circuit of the AC distribution panel entirely to this receptacle.

I began carefully drilling holes in all four corners of the rectangle I had scribed on the bulkhead. I knew there was a cavity of some sort behind the bulkhead. It seemed, from what I could tell, that it might be empty. Nevertheless, I took my time.

Just as I had done before, I continued drilling holes around the perimeter of the rectangle.

This made it easier for me to cut as straight line as possible with the often unwieldy Dremel. The pointed bit that you see is one that is designed specifically for fiberglass-cutting. This bit was essential for many projects on this boat.

There was indeed an empty cavity behind the bulkhead. There was exactly three inches worth of space, just enough for a normal-sized electrical box. Please try to ignore the embarrassing mildew on the bulkhead. At this point in the refitting I had far more to focus on than surface appearances.

I used what is called an "old work" box as opposed to a "new work" box. Old work boxes are designed to slip into existing holes - normally existing holes in residential sheetrock, i.e., drywall partitions. Pay no attention to the wires in the pictures. These are remnants of the old electrical system. I allowed some sections of wire from the old system to remain here and there to give me an idea of how they had originally routed it.

Then I installed the GFCI receptacle into the box, just to see how it all fit together. Notice that I have screwed the box into the bulkhead with stainless steel pan-head screws. Notice also that on the top right and bottom left sides of the box there are empty holes. In these holes there had originally been screws. These screws held small plastic tabs, which normally help to hold old work boxes in place. Since I was dealing not with relatively weak residential drywall, but with a much tougher material - fiberglass - these tabs were unnecessary.

After this, I screwed the stainless steel face plate into place. Not bad looking, I thought, and well-balanced, since the other side of the companionway contained the same type of receptacle in essentially the same location.

This was the easy part. The more challenging part would come with the routing of the wires. That is the subject of the next part of this two-part article.

This ends this posting on the steps I took in the installation of an AC receptacle on the starboard side of the galley in Oystercatcher, my Ericson 25.

Electrical, Battery Charger, Part 2: Construction of Splash Shield

The splash shield for the Iota 45 charger

The Iota 45 battery charger draws a lot of power, and it puts out a lot of power. Accordingly, it needs a lot of ventilation to keep it cool while it is under operation. At the same time, it needs to be protected from the elements. In the first part of this three-part article, I described how I was driven, by necessity, to locate my Iota 45 charger on the starboard side of the galley, the same side where the sink is located. In that posting, I also described my concern about the proximity of the charger to the sink, and how a protective barrier of some sort would be needed. In the present posting, I address the construction of this protective barrier, which I, for lack of a better term, have called a "splash shield." In keeping with my guiding principles throughout my refitting of Oystercatcher, I strove to make this addition to my Ericson 25 not only useful, but also visually attractive.

The Iota 45 charger

The Iota 45, located as it was underneath the inset of the cabin trunk, was already in a semi-protected spot, one that also provided adequate ventilation. I was, though, concerned about water being able to splash from the sink into the slits that you see on the side of the charger. I therefore wanted to construct a protective barrier that would keep the water out. At the same time, I needed this protective barrier to allow for adequate ventilation. After a lot of thought, I came to the conclusion that a hinged partition of some sort would be the best solution. This partition would keep the water out, when it was closed, and it would allow the air into the charger, when it was open. Having figured this out, I next needed to figure out how to make this hinged partition correspond visually to the other parts of the galley.

On the port side of the galley, I had installed various electrical components, each with a trim piece of mahogany or Spanish cedar. I had also grouped these components to some degree in sequences of three. For instance, the three DC distribution panels mounted in Spanish cedar on the alcove box corresponded to the three compartments of the mahogany spice rack which sat beneath them. The spice rack itself had three rails, each with three stainless steel finish washers running vertically. You might have read my article, "Spice Racks, Custom Mahogany." If you did, then you might recall that at the time I constructed them, I only installed two rails on each of the racks. I later altered this design to include three rails, simply for the visual reasons I here describe. I think it was worth the time, and I think it made a big difference in terms of the visual appeal of all of these components.

In terms of the other sequences of three that are evident in this space, I should mention the AC distribution panel and the two bilge pump switches just above it.

Likewise, I should mention the three mahogany trim pieces that support the battery switch, the battery monitor, and DC breaker.

I could talk about other sequences of three that were already present in the boat, for instance, the three spaces in the companionway ladder, and the three drawers in the cabinet beneath the galley stove, but let's focus on those three mahogany trim pieces behind the battery switch, the battery monitor, and the DC breaker. These three trim pieces were located underneath the inset of the cabin trunk, just as the Iota 45 was located underneath the inset of the cabin trunk on the starboard side of the galley. I thought it would be good to mimic this sequence of three on the other side of the boat, so with this in mind, I began to design the protective barrier for the Iota 45 charger.

As is usually the case, I began by making a cardboard mock-up. The duct tape in the picture below represents the hinges. The first thing that I noticed upon installing the mock-up was that the splash shield could not be perfectly square, at least along the side where the hinges would be installed. Why? Because the cabin trunk inset, to which the hinges would be joined, was not perfectly square. This is understandable. Little if anything is square on a boat. If you take a close look at the picture below, you'll see what I'm talking about.

Once I had settled on the proper size and shape of the splash shield itself, I began to focus on the three decorative trim pieces that I planned to install along the face of the shield.

In terms of the shield itself, I decided that I would use Spanish cedar. If you're curious to know more about this cousin of mahogany, see my article, "Electrical, DC Distribution Panels." Why did I opt for Spanish cedar here, for this splash shield, other than the fact that I had some available? Well, I thought that since the three trim pieces would be of mahogany that the Spanish cedar, being slightly lighter in color, would make for a nice distinction.

When it came to marking the line and making the cut for the top side of the splash shield, I had to exercise caution to make sure that I got the angle just right. The mock-up, being of cardboard, was not that precise. Therefore, I made several marks and ended up making several cuts until I got the angle just right. Did this require several trips back and forth to the boat, up and down that ladder on the side of the boat. Yes, it did.

After I had settled on one of the cuts, I grabbed the large sanding block that I had used on the centerboard construction project, and I sanded out all of the slight irregularities that remained along the edge of the wood.

Next, I focused on the mahogany trim pieces.

One thing that I had to take into consideration in terms of the size of the mahogany trim pieces was the size of the stainless steel hinges. Below you see me dry-fitting the hinges.

I took care to orient the ribbon stripes of the mahogany in the most balanced and pleasing pattern possible.

I case you're wondering why I chose to orient the grain of the Spanish cedar horizontally instead of vertically, as I had the mahogany, I will say that I did this intentionally, so that it would correspond to the orientation of the grain of the mahogany and Spanish cedar on the alcove boxes on the port and starboard sides of the galley. As far as the coin is concerned in the picture below, I used it as reference for scribing an arc around the corners.

I used a dime as a reference for scribing the arcs on the mahogany trim pieces.

I thought it looked much better after all of the sharp edges had been altered to form gentle curves.

In keeping with the trim that was original to the boat, I used stainless steel screws with finish washers to join the mahogany to the Spanish cedar.

It took more time than it appears that it would have taken to screw these twelve pieces of hardware into place. I was patient, and I made sure that all lines were parallel and evenly spaced.

As far as the placement of the hinges was concerned, I centered each hinge between the finish washers on the two outside mahogany trim pieces.

One obstacle that I faced was the joining of the hinges to the fiberglass within the boat. I could not simply screw the hinges into the fiberglass underneath the cabin trunk inset. If I had done this, then the hinges would not have worked properly. There would have been no room for them to swing. What I needed was a shim or a stand-off of some sort that would enable the hinges to swing freely. Fortunately, I had plenty of scrap pieces of mahogany sitting around. Many of these scraps were about 1/4 inch thick, remnants of boards that I had ripped for other projects. I cut one of these scraps to the proper length, and it worked well as a stand-off.

Below, we see a nice view of the back of the splash shield and the small mahogany stand-off.

The next small challenge was the installation of the stand-off. It couldn't be too far back. Otherwise the shield would touch the charger. It couldn't be too far forward. Otherwise, it would impede access to the icebox. Likewise, it couldn't be too far to port or starboard. Otherwise, it would leave part of the charger exposed. Needless to say, I did numerous dry-fits with the charger and the shield in place, before I settled on the exact spot where the stand-off needed to be installed. When I had finally settled on this spot, I removed the stand-off from the splash shield and secured it to the fiberglass with duct tape. To screw the stand-off into place, I used my incredibly helpful Milwaukee Tools right angle attachment with a Stubby bit. If you'd like to know more about the virtues of this tool and these bits, just refer to the Labels section on the homepage of this website. In case you're wondering if I ran the risk of drilling all the way through the fiberglass into the cockpit itself, I can say that I did run that risk, but that I did not do it. How did I avoid it? The interior of the Ericson 25 is surrounded, of course, by a hull liner. This liner is relatively thick. As I drilled the hole, I made sure to pause as soon as I felt that I had penetrated the liner. In terms of the screws, I made sure that they were long enough to pass through the liner and into the dead space between the liner and the cabin trunk, but not so long that they would burrow into the fiberglass of the trunk itself.

After I had installed the stand-off, I grabbed the splash shield and screwed its hinges into place. Right away, I was happy with what I saw. The splash shield was not too close to the charger, nor was it too far. Moreover, the hinges worked well, and they allowed the shield to swing fully upward and out of the way of the charger when necessary.

One question that remained, was whether or not the splash shield would swing clear of the top of the ice box, when the lid of the icebox was in place.

Fortunately, there was just enough clearance for the splash shield to swing free. This was not of overriding concern to me, however, because I planed eventually to replace this icebox lid with one that was more fitting for this boat. This lid was simply a household cutting board that one of the previous owners had sloppily converted into an icebox cover. From a distance, it didn't look bad. Believe me, though. Close up, it was a real oddball.

Yes, everything fit together quite nicely. The question that remained, however, was how I would make use of this shield while the charger was in operation. My plan was to install a piece of line on one of the corners of the shield. This piece of line would run to small, stainless steel cleat above the shield. The line and the cleat would allow me to adjust the aperture, as it were, of the shield. When the charger was not in operation, the aperture of the shield would be closed. When the charger was in operation and when the galley was not in use, then the aperture would be fully opened. When, however, the charger was in operation and the galley was in use at the same time (as it might well be when at anchor in the early evening), then the aperture would be half-way opened and half-way closed. This would provide protection to the person in the galley, and it would provide protection to the charger at the same time. Additionally, I should point out that the primary source of ventilation would never be blocked regardless of the aperture setting of the shield. Do you see the black plastic box of sorts on the left side of the charger? That's the fan. It would remain unimpeded at all times.

All in all, this little project, like most of them on this boat, was not without its challenges; yet it was, at the same time, not without its rewards. This splash shield was not only a functional piece of equipment, but it was also one that contributed to the overall beauty of the vessel.

This ends this second of three postings on the battery charger that I installed in Oystercatcher, my Ericson 25.