“Electrical Connections” and Tinned Wire
Don Casey has put together an excellent overview of basic marine electrical common sense that is well worth checking out. His piece, Electrical Connections, serves as a good introduction to a number of boat wiring issues.
In the article, Mr. Casey makes a very strong case for the use of tinned wire…
The wire must be copper, but even copper corrodes in the marine environment, and corrosion is the primary cause of electrical failures on a boat.
Plating each strand of the wire with a thin coat of tin–called tinning–dramatically improves corrosion resistance. The additional cost of tinned wire is nominal, the benefits substantial. Under normal circumstances use only tinned wire.
A real-world endorsement of Casey’s advice can be found in the harnesses of several excellent boatbuilders. For the past several years, 100% tinned wire
has been the rule at Manitou Pontoons, Crest Pontoons, and Rinker Boats. In addition, this common sense upgrade can be found on select models from Starcraft, Sunchaser and Smokercraft.
As Mr. Casey points out, this is one of those all-too-rare cases where there is a negligible upfront cost increase for using the best material available. Given the long-term benefits to boat owners of using tinned wire, one wonders why this exceptional boatbuilding practice is just that – an exception.
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10 Responses to '“Electrical Connections” and Tinned Wire'
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I was interested in your comments about tinned stranded marine electrical wire. I’ve recently rewired my boat using exclusively tinned stranded copper wire from Ancor Products. The results have been marvelous to say the least. Not only is the wire corrosion resistant but it’s flexability makes for a much easier installation. As we all know re-wriing a boat can be an exercise in frustration due to limited space to not only run wire but to move around.
The wire was excellent and the results have been perfect. I also used the Ancor crimp on terminals and shrink tubing. It’s supposed to give me a water resistant seal, which is a big plus. All the products were easy to use and seem to be of the highest quality marine grade material.
The peace of mind from such good boat electrical products is worth every cent I paid.
Dan Eddy
10 Dec 07 at 11:42 am
I agree w/Dan Eddy on Ancor. Did a similar project 2 years ago. Went to local retailer. They had a neat section with all the Ancor stuff right in one place. I then called their company out in California. Nice people. I have not had one electrical issue since.
If you use anything but Ancor, you’re crazy.
John Tirelli
New York NY
John Tirelli
10 Dec 07 at 11:56 am
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