T&T: Fw: sealing wire terminals against moisture

[Larry N. Brown]

I agree with Arild and Kevin as well. I bought the ratcheting crimpers from 
Terminal town and they have faithfully worked for over 3 years. I buy 
supplies for near wholesale from Best Boat Wire: http://bestboatwire.com/ 
They are reliable and have top notch stuff. Can't tell you how many feet of 
new wire I've installed in Cigano I have probably $5K in ring terminals, 
terminal strips and wire.

Another thing I learned is to use ring terminals and the correct length of 
wire. A but splice is a failure waiting to happen. I saw several scary ones 
and the results and that's why I stripped out all the old wire rewired the 
boat with new.

That's another reason I ain't cruising yet but soon, very soon.

Regards,

Larry and Teri
M/V Cigano, 47' Prairie Sundeck Cruiser
Lying: 64 Cypress Road
          Covington, LA

>> -----Original Message-----
>> ..... you could use the pre-made heat shrinkable terminals sold by West
>> Marina and others. They are expensive compared to the regular crimps but
>> they do have the front end completely sealed and once you crimp the
>> connector, the heat shrink sleeeve with heat activated sealant closes off
>> the rest of the connection.
>
> I couldn't agree more with Arild's advice. The vast majority of wiring 
> failures on a boat are
> due to corrosion at the terminals, so using the best connections, even 
> though a little more
> expensive, is the only way to go.
>
> The only connectors I will use on my boat are the adhesive lined heat 
> shrink connectors. When
> shrunk down, the combination of heat activated adhesive and the shrink 
> tubing provides a
> hermetic seal that keeps out all salt air - the bane of any connector.
>
> West Marine sells the overpriced Anchor heat shrink terminals for about 
> $1.50 EACH ($4.49 per 3
> pack). A far better buy is going to Terminal Town
> (http://www.terminaltown.com/Pages/Page14.html), where a ten pack comes in 
> at $0.45 each - one
> heck of a cost savings! These are identical to the overpriced Anchor 
> connectors, at a fraction
> of the cost.
>
> The other thing to remember when crimping electrical connectors is to stay 
> away from the
> el'cheapo crimpers that look like a pair of cheap pliers and only squeeze 
> from two sides (an
> example is the junk crimp set shown at http://tinyurl.com/9t85jq ). Spend 
> the extra money to buy
> a set of ratchet crimpers. West Marine seems to have dropped the ratchet 
> crimpers from their
> lineup, but Defender has them for $69.99 (see http://tinyurl.com/8uzpey). 
> While $69 may sound
> high, remember, you are buying the tool once, and it will last for a long 
> time. You want to make
> an electrical connection once and forget it, instead of having to 
> troubleshoot a corrosion
> problem every other year!
>
> Kevin