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" <RandyG@cite.nic.edu> Subject: RE: M_Boats: M15 Electrical System To: "For and about Montgomery Sailboats" <montgomery_boats@mailman.xmission.com> Message-ID: <81FBC76D3DB65A439B1BE673340C71BA019E20@flynn.cite.nic.edu> 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: IDCLLC@aol.com Subject: Re: M_Boats: M15 Electrical System To: montgomery_boats@mailman.xmission.com Message-ID: <99.54ff43c8.2f0b2c8c@aol.com> 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"