Scratch another one off the list

On Saturday, we didn't have a lot energy to work on the boat so we picked up the bridge enclosure sections from Dan at Frank's Auto Tops and Seat Covers, did some errands and dropped off the bridge ladder on the boat. Long story concerning the ladder but it's finally back on the boat and this time it fits to mounting brackets.

On Sunday, the task was to run coax cable from the salon-mounted TV to the cockpit so that we wouldn't have to run the cable TV wire through a window, as we did last summer.  We thought this would be an ideal one-day project and that's about the way it turned out.

We had a 50-ft. length of coax and once unwrapped, cable like this had a mind of its own, coiling and snarling at every opportunity.  We began behind the lower steering station, where we drilled a hole in the wall behind the steering station.  That allowed us to push one end of the cable into a closet that is located next to the upper berth.  We drilled another hole that allowed us to pull the cable through the closet and out into the shelf area next to the upper berth.  We connected the new cable to a coaxial switch, just in case we ever need to also connect an external TV antenna.

The new cable is the one on the right. The cable on the left is connected to our TV.

Next we fished the cable from behind the steering console down to the compartment under the floor (where we mounted the inverter).  That compartment has an access plate that, when removed, gives access to the bilge area next to the fuel tank.  We used a six-foot length of molding with the coax cable taped to the end of it, to push the coax cable all the way through the bilge into the engine space, right in front of the starboard engine.  We were able to reach the cable (just barely) and pull it into the engine area.  Then it was a  matter of pulling and routing the cable across the boat in front of the engines to a spot behind the water heater on the port side.

Then we mounted the utility box (not marine, but who cares?) below the shore cord inlets and using our high-tech snake, pulled the coax cable up.

 

Once we had the cable up and through the hole. we smeared the connections with electrical grease. The open access plate seen above allowed us to reach down and guide the connector at the end of the cable through the hole.

We vacuumed up the work areas and, with the rain drumming down on the roof of the shed, took one last  picture of the completed installation. Elapsed time?  About five hours, which means that we should never try to make a living doing stuff like this.