new electrical survey

[anon]

I found a well recommended marine electrician who owns a business in teh marina. He is visiting my boat for a survey on Saturday. I have asked him to look at all the wiring on the boat.
Can people remind me of some of the questions I might ask?
So far I am going to ask for inspections of and quotes for:
1) replacing engine harness
2) replacing all 110V wiring and adding additional GFCI outlets
3) replacing batteries with golf cart bank
4) adding wiring for second bilge pump
5) ensuring that all navigation lights are ABYC

There are many tasks that I feel able to tackle myself when I am not working 60 hours per week and when I am living on my boat. These include most if not all of the above.
I am a long way from being in that position.

[Noah]

If you are seriously thinking about cruising, The 12 volt side of your electrical system will require more than just dropping in four golf cart batteries.  I would share your goals with the electrician and get his feedback. There are some good examples of full rewiring projects discussed on the forum, the most recent written up by Jon W. I did my boat a couple of years ago as well, with a lot of assistance (using both very skilled volunteers and paid professionals). I believe my wiring plan is on the site. If not, send me a PM and I will pass it on to you. The entire process needs to be well thought out, and warning, it can get expensive. 
Some things to consider:
1. Condition of existing 12 volt wiring: correct size, properly heat shrink connections, and fused?
2. How do you plan to switch/control, charge, and monitor your batteries to protect and sustain their lifespan?
3. A reserve or seperate starting battery?

Catalina, especially the older vintage boat (like yours and mine) do have some wiring issues to be aware of; funky bad "blue" spike-style crimp connectors to the house lights and nav lights that should be replaced. This is tucked up behind the teak trim running the full length of inside the boat on each side where the hull meets the deck and also some not so good wire used in places.

110v the circuit:
The A/C circuit wiring is a bit odd to figure out with a different circuit on each side of the boat??
You mentioned having him quote on changing the engine wiring harness; suggest he crimp and heat shrink/crimp connections to engine and to the instruments and bypass any plugs entirely. At the same time I would update check/fix any bad connections the the gauges the and update to the new combo over temp and low oil pressure modification. Not expensive from Catalina Direct.

How about a Smart Plug for your shore power cord?
How about a galvanic isolator?
How about an ELCI ground fault breaker?
Probably lots more I left out and others will chime in on. Good luck with you electrician visit.

[britinusa]

FWIW:

I removed the entire Engine Harness, a total mess, multiple butt joints in the wires, switching between wire size and colors, non-marine wire, so lots of corrosion, but I have 25 years experience in the Royal Navy working on Helicopter Radar, Sonar, Doppler and Communication systems. So I was very comfortable doing this.

BUT, it's not rocket science and the biggest value of DIY is getting to know my electrics, so if there is ever a problem, I'm very familiar with the system, I have very detailed schematics and I know where all of the cables, terminals, and connectors are located. AND that is a huge value!

The cost of the DIY project was thousands less than hiring an electrician (and some of the work done on the boat previously was supposedly by pros).

Whichever route you go, follow the install like a sleuth and get diagrams that you can review and physically locate the components.

Despite all of my work on the engine harness, it was not until I diagrammed the rest of the DC system that I understood the Battery Selector installation on our boat.

Paul

[Ron Hill]

Albion : While he is looking at your navigation lights also have him examine the cabin light (12V) wiring to get rid of the "blue" troublesome connectors. 

You might also look at the mast wiring and go for an LED anchor light (and a new fixture).

A few thoughts

[Stu Jackson]

Noah's advice is extremely important.  Whenever you hire a "consultant" it is actually critical that YOU understand either what you want or, absent that, investigate the OPTIONS available to you with your consultant.  I was a building systems engineer as my career.  My most important task for my clients was to explain their options to them.

In order to understand the switching on OEM boats, and the changes many of us have made to them, it might be helpful for you to read this, from the "Electrical Systems 101" topic:

OEM 1-2-B Switch Wiring History  http://c34.org/bbs/index.php/topic,4949.msg30101.html#msg30101

The posts right after that explain, in great detail, how optional switching arrangements are done.  And Noah's suggestions to read the electrical section of the C34 tech wiki will show you more details of how many of us did that work.

Good luck, read up, and ask away.