This little Gib was a rescue mission after being abandoned in a farmers field for 2 years. Our mission to bring the primarily 12V systems up to 2005 ABYC spec and remove the old rats nest of wiring that had built up over the years.

Getting through the old nest was a much more major job than it looked as wires were wound around ever conceivable obstacle in their path making removal a slow and patient game to avoid trashing something one wanted to save or do other damage.

The wiring of the isolator and the main battery selector switch are exactly as per manufacturers recommendations. Perhaps more important is the documenting of the new wiring. The thumbnails here have large readable images linked for your inspection.

As the existing GibSEA fuse panel is a factory multi conductor wire harness and the fact that every wire is glued in place under upholstery the feed and ground have been rerouted inside a sleeve and are now fed from the house fuse at the main battery switch.

The worst removal centered around the engine and engine battery area where everything was intertwined with the Volvo harness. We did not touch the Volvo harness other than to shorten grossly over length cables and to move the engine starting (Volvo harness) battery lead to the NEW A-B batteries switch.

The compartment is now clean and wires routed cleanly and contained in spiral wrap. Care was taken to route Positive and Negative heavy leads separately when passing through bulkheads etc.

The AV Shore Power inlet was located on the aft transom as ther was no where in the cockpit or on the side decks you could gain access to the boat without stepping on it. From the conforming inlet the shore power is fed to the breaker / polarity indicator compartment via a 0.75" PVC chase with no 12 V in the same chase.

The most difficult part is the lack of anything to secure things to as the hull is fairly thin and the interior is very light and not conducive to fixing anything to.

I finally gave up on half way measures and moved adequate heat aboard and the wires softened up enough for me to get the first of the galley GFI's nestled in place. Works fine for me but it is probably not a good space for eomeone else as these heaters are hot and you have to be sensitized to work near them which I am from manay long years and more than one cooked pinky.

There is nothing really easy as everyhting inside was moulded in polace and they made very maximum use of space but all those bins extend downward. It is however quite a bit nicer to work as I leave the hatch open 4" which keeps the air fresh.

The angles in the corner are deceptive and I ended up going more by eye and what looked right which it finally does. Now that I have the climate control working things will go easier as I can get things warm before having to set them in place.

Battery Charger Install