Rick, Will do. Will take some pictures of our electrical system and post them. Should have our digital camera back in a day or so. The Styrofoam, and battery box w/battery, are the only things in our under the v-berth storage area. The battery box is not mounted to anything but is held in place by all the Styrofoam surrounding it. The wood access cover into this area is secured with 4 screws, one in each corner. So in effect the battery is secure. Yes, we have a 4-wire electrical connector at the base of the mast, and also a coax connector. The coax is a barrel connector through the deck, accepting a PL-259 coax connector both on the inside and on the outside. Both the coax and a 4-wire cable feed up inside the mast. I have not noticed or experienced the wires slapping inside the mast as some have reported. Not sure why, it makes since that loose wires would slap around inside the mast with boat motion. Yes, once when backing up the trailer I broke the mast head navigational light. The replacement lens was a bit pricy! The mast sticks out past the end of our boat on the stern (mast even with the tongue on the front) and the light was the first thing to make contact when backing up. I used to remove the VHF antenna whip each time when trailering but have since left if connected. The whip is very flexible and now is what sticks out furthest when backing up. If it does touch something is bends easily and usually makes some kind of noise. The good thing is that it springs right back without damage. Other than backing up when trailering I see no disadvantage to having the nav lights on the mast and several advantages with respect to wiring. The factory 4-wire electrical connector is not mounted to the hull. There is a pig-tail that sticks trough the hull with about 6 inches of wire and then the connector. Also several inches of wire and then the connector at the mast end of the connection; same with mast-end of VHF cable. I can leave the wires connected when raising or lowering the mast. Maybe some wind drag from the light at the top of the mast? I'm not skilled enough of a sailor to notice. Having the mast head VHF antenna sure give you some good transmit and receive range! I did have a Windex on top the mast and broke it a couple of times. I've tried other wind indicator methods but plan to go back to a mast head indicator again this season. I think I am going to try one of those red arrow looking wind vanes, I think they may be more rugged than the windex. Randy Graves M-15 # 407
________________________________ From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] on behalf of Rick Langer Sent: Tue 1/4/2005 6:30 AM To: [email protected] Subject: M_Boats: M15 Electrical System Randy and Steve, thanks for the replies. Randy, a picture would be great, if you get a chance. So in your boat, you don't store anything in the v-berth locker other than the battery? Is the battery box attached to the hull? I was planning on not wiring the mast to keep it's stepping light and simple. However, if one considers the wiring required to connect red and green nav, steaming and stern lights, running a few wires up the mast would be far less complicated. So, it sounds like you have at least three electrical wires and a coaxial cable going up your mast? Is the hardware at the top of the mast any problem when stepping it? I'm concerned with weight, but also I have concerns about damaging the components if I bump them. At one point I was thinking of putting a windex on top of the mast, but nixed it because I know I would end up bending it out of shape when if got bumped. I've done it before. If you do take some pictures, would you give me a shot of the on deck connectors for electrical and coax? Thanks, Rick Langer > Date: Mon, 3 Jan 2005 14:22:04 -0800 > From: "RandyG" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Subject: RE: M_Boats: M15 Electrical System > To: "For and about Montgomery Sailboats" > <[email protected]> > Message-ID: > <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" > > Rick, > > Our M-15 #407 came new with the electrical package. The battery is a group 24 and is mounted in a battery box directly below the opening hatch under the V-berth. Our below V-berth cavity still has the Styrofoam floatation, the battery box is surrounded by the Styrofoam and is literally directly below the wood access cover. > > The electrical panel contains several switches mounted vertically in a row (5 switches I believe) and is mounted on the flat vertical surface of the exterior of the port interior locker. If you were sitting on the porta-potty, you could kick the switch panel with your right foot. The switches have teak trim and a piece of Plexiglas that slides down in front of them to protect them. Not all the switches are used, and several are labeled with white on black engraved labels. > > The wiring from the battery to the switch panel runs from under the V-berth, through a hole drilled into the port interior locker, to the switch panel. The wiring from the switch panel to the mast head lights runs up the interior port-side - angles across near the port window - then across the cabin top over to under the mast tabernacle - exits the interior just in front of the mast. The wires are held in place with a series of plastic wire/cable clamps, secured to the bottom side of deck hardware. We added spiral wrapping around the wires to keep them bundled nicely. > > A picture would be worth a thousand words. Our digital camera will be home later this week and I could send pictures if they would help. > > On our M-15 there are no interior lights. The only thing powered by the battery is our mast head Navigational lights, the internal compass light, and we added a VHF radio. We also added a cigarette lighter type plug for other accessories. > > Randy Graves > Date: Mon, 3 Jan 2005 18:17:32 EST > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Subject: Re: M_Boats: M15 Electrical System > To: [email protected] > Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" > > . > Rick, I've been using a U-1 West Marine AGM battery on our Potter for the > last three years. It's been great, 30 amps for 30# of weight. We use it with > our trolling motor, mostly for launching and retrieval, very convenient. Our > setup is also useful for motorsailing in light air at low power, such as 3 on a > scale of 1-5. In calm water it yields about 2 knots. > > Cheers > > Steve Tyree > P-15 #2098 "Amy Ann" > Piragua "Twig" > Thimble "Thimble" _______________________________________________ http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/montgomery_boats
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