Aqualine Canterbury wiring runs

[John Wetton]

Hi folks, 

 

Well, I've tried one of the Aqualine dealers to get hold of appendix g of the boat manual, the bit with the wiring and plumbing diagrams and they haven't been able to help ?

 

There must be someone out there with these plans, or even just the knowledge. Need to work out the cable run for the TV antenna in particular, and the access to the underside of it. 

 

If anyone knows their way around a Canterbury (version with the bedroom at front) do please get in touch. If you are in anywhere in the Huntingdon / St Ives area there could even be a beer in it for you..... 

 

All pointers welcome. 

 

Cheers for now, 

 

John 

 

[Alan de Enfield]

28 minutes ago, John Wetton said:

All pointers welcome. 

Sorry.

 

[Alan de Enfield]

I thought that the wiring diagram (and plumbing and gas) were a mandatory part of the RCD - you should have it in your manual, alternatively Aqualine are supposed (by law) to keep a copy the technical manual, surely they must have that ?

 

General :

The Technical Documentation is the key documentation required by the Directive. If challenged the builder must be able to show that a boat to which the documentation refers has been constructed to, and thereby complies with the Essential Requirements.  

The Technical Documentation shall be retained by the builder for at least ten years from the date of completion of the last boat of the model. 

 

Section 5:3 of the technical manual retained by the manufacturer :

 

"............The specification, materials, location mounting, jointing, capacity, power, voltage etc. and the operation of electrical fuse boxes, generators, isolating switches, cables, cable jointing, fittings etc. whether AC or DC shall be detailed together with circuit diagrams giving fuse values etc...…"
 
 

 

maybe its just easier to say "sorry - don't know !"

Edited August 14, 2018 by Alan de Enfield

[Sea Dog]

38 minutes ago, Alan de Enfield said:

I thought that the wiring diagram (and plumbing and gas) were a mandatory part of the RCD - you should have it in your manual, alternatively Aqualine are supposed (by law) to keep a copy the technical manual, surely they must have that ?

My boat has a manual written and assembled to comply with the RCD. This kind of detail simply isn't in there, whatever the intent - would that it was!  It's pretty useless actually, although it does at least mean I hold all of the manuals for each piece of fitted equipment.

 

It wouldn't be hard to include the drawings that must already exist in standard builds where the electrician/plumber has a plan to follow, but it also wouldn't be that hard to keep a record in bespoke builds... even if he makes it up as he goes along!  Same thing in houses really. Someone knew where all the pipes and wires were run - why wasn't it shared with the first owner? 

 

Aqualine might be one of the few so the OP might get lucky but, despite the RCD, it probably needs an experienced Canterbury owner to share his knowledge here.

 

 

 

[Alan de Enfield]

12 minutes ago, Sea Dog said:

Someone knew where all the pipes and wires were run - why wasn't it shared with the first owner? 

We had our house built for us - on hand over the 'manual' we were given included the drawings showing all the piping and waste piping routes and positions.

I had watched the electrician so knew the routes, but he used over 15000 metres of cables so I guess it was a bit hard to do a detailed schematic.

 

This was coming down to one of the distribution boards.

 

 

 

Edited August 14, 2018 by Alan de Enfield

[Lysander]

I don't know if this is relevant or not. We have an Aqualine Madison which is the reverse layout, narrowboat version. I have had a quick look at the manual and Appendix G merely lists the diagrams which are shown in the following appendices. None of the diagrams show the layout of the aerial wiring layout or even mention it!

[Sea Dog]

18 minutes ago, Alan de Enfield said:

We had our house built for us - on hand over the 'manual' we were given included the drawings showing all the piping and waste piping routes and positions.

I had watched the electrician so knew the routes, but he used over 15000 metres of cables so I guess it was a bit hard to do a detailed schematic.

 

This was coming down to one of the distribution boards.

 

 

 

 

I envy you that!

 

[cuthound]

5 hours ago, John Wetton said:

Hi folks, 

 

Well, I've tried one of the Aqualine dealers to get hold of appendix g of the boat manual, the bit with the wiring and plumbing diagrams and they haven't been able to help ?

 

There must be someone out there with these plans, or even just the knowledge. Need to work out the cable run for the TV antenna in particular, and the access to the underside of it. 

 

If anyone knows their way around a Canterbury (version with the bedroom at front) do please get in touch. If you are in anywhere in the Huntingdon / St Ives area there could even be a beer in it for you..... 

 

All pointers welcome. 

 

Cheers for now, 

 

John 

 

 

Wiring diagrams are usually schematic, showing what is connected to what, but not the route the wires take.

 

On my boat (Kingsground) all wires are numbered at the ends,  so you can refer to the diagram to see what the other end is connected to,  and be sure you have the correct one. 

[Flyboy]

4 hours ago, Alan de Enfield said:

We had our house built for us - on hand over the 'manual' we were given included the drawings showing all the piping and waste piping routes and positions.

I had watched the electrician so knew the routes, but he used over 15000 metres of cables so I guess it was a bit hard to do a detailed schematic.

 

This was coming down to one of the distribution boards.

 

 

 

 

I suspect you meant 1500 metres.

[Alan de Enfield]

24 minutes ago, Flyboy said:

I suspect you meant 1500 metres.

No I writ wot I ment

 

15 kilometres of cabling went into the 4000 sq foot building

 

We had the house wired for all permutations and possibilities. Every room has Emergency lighting (that come on when we get power cuts - the benefit of being in the 'wilds') hard-wired smoke detectors  and hard wired burglar alarm sensors going back to the central fire and burglar alarm boards -  it all adds up.

 

We have 4x distribution boards.

We had to pay for a new pole-mounted 200a transformer (the old one was only 90 amps) 3-phase supply to be installed and run our own new bigger cable 300 yards from a power pole

 

 

 

 

Edited August 14, 2018 by Alan de Enfield

[David Mack]

2 hours ago, cuthound said:

 

Wiring diagrams are usually schematic, showing what is connected to what, but not the route the wires take.

 

According to the bit of the RCD rules quoted above the technical manual is supposed to include details of the "location" of cables as well as a "circuit diagrams". The latter may be diagrammatic, but the former should surely cover the actual position (although it won't help you determine which wire is which in the situation shown in AdeE's house photo).

[matty40s]

Although the Aqualines are built to a standard sort of design with the RCD manual being a pretty much one size fits all except for the equipment fitted pages, there are usually lots of anomalies.

This can be where the owner has specified slightly different lighting or media requirements and the wiring is then changed specifically for that boat.

This does mean sometimes that things aren't wired as you would think ( eg under gunnel lights from a shower pump circuit and an aeriel booster from the bow thruster batteries, not the domestic bank.)

The only way of finding out usually is to power everything off and then methodically work your way through.

[Tony Brooks]

Unless the builders have done something silly like drilling cabin side or hull framing to run wiring through the frames there are only a few ways to run cables. Under the gunwales, down the joint between roof and cabin side panels, possibly down the centre of the roof under a "dropped" board or occasionally under removable match board panels on the roof. In the case of the last two you will usually see screws that secure the panels and likewise for the trims running down the roof to cabin side joint. Under the gunwales may be exposed or in clip top trunking if you look up under the gunwale or even just exposed and clipped into place

[Richard10002]

Are cables allowed to be run in the space between the steel roof and the wooden cabin ceiling? I ask because that’s where my solar cables run and where I plan to run some additional cable, (25 or 35mm2), to reduce voltage drop between the batteries and the lounge at the front of the boat.

[Tony Brooks]

As long as they are adequately supported and protected against damage.

[Sea Dog]

2 hours ago, David Mack said:

According to the bit of the RCD rules quoted above the technical manual is supposed to include details of the "location" of cables as well as a "circuit diagrams".

Someone signed my boat's RCD compliance off without it then! I suspect I am not alone.

[John Wetton]

Tony Brooks - you win the "most useful answer so far" award. Thanks for that. 

 

John

[Alan de Enfield]

43 minutes ago, Sea Dog said:

Someone signed my boat's RCD compliance off without it then! I suspect I am not alone.

That detail is to be retained by the manufacturer in the Technical Manual.

The owners manual doesn't give that detail - but I would have thought it would not be unreasonable to ask to view (or have a copy of the relevant page) of the technical manual.

[Sea Dog]

9 minutes ago, John Wetton said:

Tony Brooks - you win the "most useful answer so far" award. Thanks for that. 

 

John

Not an unusual occurrence.  Give the man a "Greenie"!

 

1 minute ago, Alan de Enfield said:

That detail is to be retained by the manufacturer in the Technical Manual.

The owners manual doesn't give that detail - but I would have thought it would not be unreasonable to ask to view (or have a copy of the relevant page) of the technical manual.

Interesting.  Thanks Alan, I'll give it some thought.

[David Mack]

1 hour ago, Tony Brooks said:

Unless the builders have done something silly like drilling cabin side or hull framing to run wiring through the frames there are only a few ways to run cables. Under the gunwales, down the joint between roof and cabin side panels, possibly down the centre of the roof under a "dropped" board or occasionally under removable match board panels on the roof. In the case of the last two you will usually see screws that secure the panels and likewise for the trims running down the roof to cabin side joint. Under the gunwales may be exposed or in clip top trunking if you look up under the gunwale or even just exposed and clipped into place

 

Indeed. A little time spent looking for the cable runs on the boat is likely to be much quicker and more fruitful than trying to get the information from the boatbuilder.

[matty40s]

8 minutes ago, David Mack said:

 

Indeed. A little time spent looking for the cable runs on the boat is likely to be much quicker and more fruitful than trying to get the information from the boatbuilder.

Indeed, as what should be installed in an Aqualine doesn't necessarily follow the prescribed route of the standard RCD book, as I have already pointed out. I have seen lots of examples. 

[Abroad]

Hi @John Wetton,

How did you get on?  I've just bought an Aqualine reverse layout boat, and need to try to sort out the TV aerial, so any advice or findings you can share would be massively appreciated.

Many thanks.

[WotEver]

3 minutes ago, Abroad said:

Hi @John Wetton,

How did you get on?  I've just bought an Aqualine reverse layout boat, and need to try to sort out the TV aerial, so any advice or findings you can share would be massively appreciated.

Many thanks.

John hasn’t visited this forum for over a year, unfortunately. What exactly is it that you wish to sort out?

[Abroad]

On 30/09/2020 at 22:42, WotEver said:

John hasn’t visited this forum for over a year, unfortunately. What exactly is it that you wish to sort out?

Hi, the plastic TV aerial on the roof (a fairly flat round disk, a bit starship enterprise like) has perished.  The TV wiring I inherited seems a bit jumbled, with some lose coax wires in the cupboard to the right of the stove, and a fuse box labelled 'TV amp fuse 2A'.  Before I start removing the existing aerial on the roof and leaving a hole; which will be above the middle of the bedroom ceiling, I'd love to know if it's easy to replace the coax so I have options around what replacement aerial to use.  Also interested in whether I could run some sort of 4G or MiFi aerial out the same hole.

Any advice or guidance appreciated.

[WotEver]

To see how easy it’ll be to replace the cable, give it a gentle tug from above and see if you can see it moving down below - this will be easier with two of you. If you can, then securely attach a piece of string to the end of the cable in the cabin and pull it up through and out of the roof. Once you’ve done that you can use that pull-string to pull through any new cables. 
 

The 2A 12V feed will just be for the aerial amplifier which you probably won’t require if you replace the broken flying saucer with a decent log periodic.