Getting antenna cables from the roof through to the interior cabin

[thingsweregood]

Hi all,

 

I have one of the popular Poynting antennas to help boost my internet signal from my mobile router. It works great!

 

What doesn't work great is that I currently have no entry point for the two cables coming down from the roof and into the main cabin, to be connected to the router.

 

There is currently a TV aerial that is fed down beside the exterior bow doors, and in through a small hole drilled in the steel cabin. I want to do the same thing for the antenna, as they are both attached to the same pole and it makes sense for both cables to follow the same path.

 

However, the ends are quite thick, approx 12mm at their widest, and there's two of them. The cable itself is 0.5mm x 2.

 

I was thinking of drilling 1 x ~15mm hole through the cabin and feeding each cable through one at a time, but likely I'd need to strip the SMA plug ends off first to get both cables through then reattach.

 

Has anyone stripped the ends off a cable similar to this and reattached it? I am concerned that if I pull it off, I won't be able to get it back on and have it function as well as it does now. I've changed plug fittings on lamps and things before, but I feel like that's more forgiving. Don't want to screw it up and have to spend another £80 getting a replacement!

 

[Alan de Enfield]

Waterproof Deck Glands.

 

The rubber insert is split so wraps around your cables so you don't need worry about the plugs - as long os the hole in your roof is sufficient to feed the plugs thru.

 

 

 

[Idle Days]

I would also use a gland box, but cut a hole large enough for the connectors to pass through, perhaps a 20 or 22mm hole. It will be no more difficult to cover than a 15mm hole.

[GUMPY]

CBA to fit a gland as I need to be able to move it to the caravan. Mine comes in through a mushroom vent with a drip loop,  cable tied to the vent and  then across the ceiling and then cable tied along the curtain rail dropping down to the router on a shelf  at the end of the curtains.

Edited June 17, 2021 by Loddon

[matty40s]

1 hour ago, Loddon said:

. Mine comes in through a mushroom vent with a drip loop,  cable tied....

I cant find drip loops on Midland Chandlers website.....?

[Phoenix_V]

41 minutes ago, matty40s said:

I cant find drip loops on Midland Chandlers website.....?

aren't they next to the round tuits

[Alan de Enfield]

3 minutes ago, Phoenix_V said:

aren't they next to the round tuits

 

 

Maybe they were but I bought the last one so you won't now know where to look

 

 

 

[Richard10002]

My cables come through a horizontal hole in the wooden cratch, and a further horizontal hole in the steel bulkhead at the front of the saloon. For the Poynting I drilled holes big enough to get the cables with terminals through, one at a time. They ended up being a bit bigger than the two wires going through them, but it hasnt been an issue. In several years, (5+?), no ingress of water through the hole in the cratch, and no chance of any water getting near the hole in the bulkhead.

[thingsweregood]

54 minutes ago, Richard10002 said:

My cables come through a horizontal hole in the wooden cratch, and a further horizontal hole in the steel bulkhead at the front of the saloon. For the Poynting I drilled holes big enough to get the cables with terminals through, one at a time. They ended up being a bit bigger than the two wires going through them, but it hasnt been an issue. In several years, (5+?), no ingress of water through the hole in the cratch, and no chance of any water getting near the hole in the bulkhead.

This is the exact situation that the boat currently has for the TV aerial so I figured I'd just do the same for the new poynting cables right next to it.

[ditchcrawler]

3 hours ago, Loddon said:

CBA to fit a gland as I need to be able to move it to the caravan. Mine comes in through a mushroom vent with a drip loop,  cable tied to the vent and  then across the ceiling and then cable tied along the curtain rail dropping down to the router on a shelf  at the end of the curtains.

That sounds like how we use to wire up the production lines when I worked for Birds Eye. We used miles of galvanised wire supporting SWA across the factory roofs beams and dropping down to the equipment

 

[robtheplod]

Ours comes in through the hole used for the TV aerial on the front of the boat. Not a fan of holes in the roof so this worked well.....

[MHS]

Do you have mushroom vents?
You could bring the cables in through the roof via a vent, then through the liner and above the ceiling.