There are a few things on boats that really set me off, not in a good way, fenders tied with a knot that makes them unmovable, food left in fridges so that when you open the door, it walks out all by itself but, top of the list without doubt are badly done crimps.
Crimping an electrical terminal is not hard, quality terminals and a decent crimp tool do not break the bank, so why do I see time and time again this most basic and very import electrical connection made in a manner that is basically useless. Here is the thing, I am not going to point the finger at the well meaning do it yourselfer, I have seen too many decent jobs done by people who are not full time boatbuilders, they have taken the time to find out and have done it properly, better in fact than those I am going to aim my cannons at, professionals & boatbuilders.
I refuse to hear any excuses about pricing, supply chain issues, lack of staffing and so forth, how is it possible that others, both professionals and amateurs are able to easily overcome these issues? I am starting to feel like a broken record stuck on "quality control, quality control, quality control". The worst thing is, the parts being used are often of a very good quality just installed in a way that is unacceptable.
Fire safety
I think you can guess what is the number one cause of fires on boats, yes , electrical, don´t just take my word for it, read the article below, there are plenty more reports to demonstrate the fact.
An (unfortunately) perfect example
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| Image 1: MIDI fuse holder with 30A fuse |
Image 1: A high quality Blue Seas Systems MIDI fuse holder with a 30A fuse protecting a 1200W amplifier, a quality piece of kit, installed incorrectly. This fuse is located under the helm, the red positive cable comes all the way from battery switch which is installed at the back of the boat to the helm, so that long cable is not protected until where we see it fitted, there is no intermediate over current protection, so this is very bad practice, the items I would like you to concentrate on are the crimp terminals on either side, you can see a close up of these below in image 2.
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| Image 2: Look at the tool marks |
Most dealerships or owners would not notice this, especially on an almost brand new boat, I wouldn't have had I not been doing something else and happened to have that panel out.
There's more (unfortunately)
.JPG "Badly crimped heatshrink terminal")
Take a look at the above photo, this was from a brand new boat, fortunately it was found during the PDI process. Where do we begin, once again, quality components badly installed;
- The cold formed crimp does not look like it was fully made, I would not trust this to hold on for the long term. Not even sure what type of tool was used to crimp the terminal.
- The wrong size of terminal, there are so many strands of wire left out of the crimp.
- The wires have not been fully inserted into the crimp terminal, either the cable was stripped back to far and not trimmed to length or just not pushed in far enough.
- This is a heatshrink terminal, they are very common on boats, the idea is when the crimp has been formed, the heatshrink is heated, it contracts, gripping the cable offering support, the glue lining on the terminal then creates a moisture resistant barrier, stopping corrosion from forming. As you can see in the photo, this crimp is open to the elements and barely has any support.
Some better examples
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| Properly crimped and sealed terminals |
Take a look at the above photo, the terminals are reasonably well crimped, the heat shrink has been sealed and you can clearly see the adhesive coming out and sticking to the cable, this provides a long lasting and corrosion resistant solution. The interior wires of the cable have also been fully inserted into the terminal. This is not my first choice of terminal but at least it has been installed correctly.
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| Properly crimped heavy duty terminal |
The above photo of the large crimp terminal were taken during some tests of new crimpers, you can clearly see the difference between them and a pair of pliers or grips, the terminal is crimped evenly and securely. The bottom photo shows the terminal cut in half to see how well compressed the fine stranded copper wires inside are. This is a reliable, repeatable crimp made by a purpose made yet not expensive tool. A top of the line tool, a cordless electric hex crimper with interchangeable die sets for a factory production line is small potatoes, so why don´t they use it? From that point of view I do envy a little the tools available in the USA, more choice and more competitive pricing.
Product review, uninsulated terminal and copper lug crimper
Product review, heavy duty crimpers
Conclusion
So what can we draw from these observations? I don't believe the solution is difficult, boatbuilders should pull up their standards, with the price of new boats being at an all time high you would expect the installations to reflect this. I cannot point the finger at any one brand or country of manufacturer, its not related to economics either, some incredibly expensive yachts have average at best electrical installations and some very basic and "budget" (as boats go) really punch above their weight and seem to go that extra step to ensure things are installed well.
A lot of enthusiastic amateurs (I feel guilty for calling them that, I mean people who do not work full time in the boating industry) can create installations that would shame the greater majority of boatbuilders, admittedly they are probably not on the timelines that a boatbuilder is, they are also doing it for love or just because, not for money, more professionals should take note.
As consumers, buyers of boats and services, have a good look, get past the polished finish, flashing lights and the glamorous packaging, it doesn't take much to shatter the illusion when you see some installations completed with all the care of a hurricane. When companies realize they are losing sales, warranty claims go up, customer satisfaction goes down and dealers are complaining all the time, things will change.
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