What's so good about marine wire that I shouldn't just get it Home Depot?
 

On Sun, 22 Jan 2012 13:22:31 -0500 , BAR wrote:
In article ,
says...

wrote in message
...

On Thu, 19 Jan 2012 17:07:13 -0800 (PST), Tim

wrote:

On Jan 19, 3:43 pm, wrote:
On Thu, 19 Jan 2012 14:53:44 -0500, A boater
wrote:
On 1/19/2012 2:51 PM, A boater wrote:
On 1/18/2012 9:00 PM, jps wrote:
On Wed, 18 Jan 2012 16:44:47 -0500, "
wrote:

Actually I just bought 2 spools of 25' ANCOR 16 AWG wire
for
$28...the
dude talked me into it. I also bought a motor to replace
the one in
the bilge pump housing @ $34.

I found the bilge motor for 28 online and the marine wire
for, $32

Is marine wire worth paying the extra expence?

Is the wire you bought tinned?

JPS
All you want to know about Ancor marine grade wire.
Hope this helps

Oops, A link would help.
http://www.marinco.com/brand/ancor

I wired my running lights with garden variety #12 THWN but the
wire is
all in conduit, terminating in water proof boxes. 22 years
later it
still looks fine. The terminations were all coated with
silicone
grease in burial grade 3M wirenuts. I know it is not all that
nautical
sounding and I really did not expect it to hold up but it did.
This is a pontoon boat and they are pretty "wet".

I use regular 'ol wiring for my stuff. I dont' need top-dog wire
for
what I do. Now if my boat was going to sit in salt water for a
season
at a time or be exposed to the elements year around that would be
different. I look at my boat from an automotive stand point. I
take
it out, use it, pull it it out of the lake, drain it, trailer
it, and
put it back under roof on the hard until future use.

So I can't see justifying the extra expense to work with higher
tinned
wire etc.

Of course your situations may be different than mine. I'm just
saying
for my usage I have no problem with a roll of everyday 10 and 12#

The real trick is keeping all the terminations in a dry spot. I
have
exactly ZERO splices in any wire. They go from the switch
directly to
the load with no tapping along the way. You use a little more wire
that way but if I lose a light, I lose one and I know the two
places
where to start looking. Everything is in conduit. Again that is a
pontoon boat thing. The wires run under the deck so they are in a
sealed race


----------------------------------------

Must not really need tinned wire. Bilge pump came without tinned
wire, so I
guess it is not needed. :)


Planed obsolescence? Do these wires go into the bilge pump?
Right on.
Wires will outlast crappy pump.

--
2012, the end of an error:-) Yee Haw!

What's so good about marine wire that I shouldn't just get it Home Depot?
 

On Thu, 19 Jan 2012 23:53:24 -0500, Wayne.B
wrote:

On Wed, 18 Jan 2012 16:44:47 -0500, "
wrote:


Actually I just bought 2 spools of 25' ANCOR 16 AWG wire for $28...the
dude talked me into it. I also bought a motor to replace the one in
the bilge pump housing @ $34.

I found the bilge motor for 28 online and the marine wire for, $32

Is marine wire worth paying the extra expence?

===

Ancor wire is good stuff but expensive. Some would say overpriced
but worth the money. The problem with using solid household type
wire on a boat is vibration. The copper work hardens over time and
eventually will devekop cracks, just as it does if you bend it back
and forth in your hands. The solution to the vibration/work
hardening problem is to use finely stranded wire which has a great
deal more flexibility. Stranded wire is a great conduit for water
however and the water will wick along the entire length, eventually
corroding the wire into a green powder. The solution for that is to
use tin plated strands which is what Ancor is good at.

You can sometimes Ancor wire on EBAY for a good price. Some of the
marine discounters like Defender Industries also have it for less than
your local West Marine stores. ($7.49 for a 25 ft spool of 16 AWG)

http://www.defender.com/ancor-wire-c...Primary%20Wire

This is what I coulduh, shoulduh and woulduh if only...

http://www.defender.com/product.jsp?path=-1|328|49758|316475|579424&id=861281

Thanks for all your help.

I ended up replacing two of the three motors that run the fish well
pump and the primary bilge

I discovered corrosion in the wire which would no conduct so I
replaced the 12 year old wire that spent most of its time in salt
water.