New wiring upgraded panel, what do you think?

[Wetcoast Noel]

I wanted to put up a post about my newest upgrade on my 24 offshore Grady. she is my baby and I keep doing little upgrades and such. I do some chartering with the boat here on the west coast of Canada, I was not happy with the original wiring panel as I had pulled off the panel and the back of all the switches had lots of corrosion , the connections were looking like they all should be sanded down and new ends put on.


I was concerned that with a couple of the fuses that would blow on a reg basis as I was told by the previous owner. I was worried about electrical issues, fire and being stranded on the open ocean with either family or clients. the main panel looked "OK" from the front but clearly very dated and needing and upgrade .


I had seen a couple of threads on Great Grady with electrical upgrades and I tracked down the guys at http://www.newwiremarine.com
we talked over probably 10 emails to make sure what I wanted and I took him up on the option for custom lettering and wished I had done the back lighting in the logo , but that can be next
I do not work for them or anything , dont want to have people think Im just blowing sunshine up their.... but I was very impressed with what they sent me. the wiring was Very impressive, very top shelf work and I was happy that nothing was cheaped out on every wire was labeled at the end, and I now have pop out breakers that make me very happy. since I put the new panel in and got rid of the old panel I have not had any electrical issues and many compliments from other charter guys. They did ship it to Canada with no issues, super well packaged and more bubble wrap than I was expecting.
so let me know what you think, does it look good? does it not look good?
If your looking to upgrade any of the panels on your boat, give them a call or email. I know I feel alot better having the old panel with such alot of faults in it off my boat.
Noel

 

[derx2]

The top 2 pictures look too familiar to me.

The new set up looks great!

 

[Parthery]

Glad to hear you had a good experience with New Wire...I'm about to pull the trigger on an order with them to replace my panels....

 

[gw204]

I like the use of the breakers and labeled rocker switches, but the switches appear to be poorly fit/misaligned and the large finish washers really take away from the clean look of the panel itself.

Still a nice improvement though.

 

[The_Chain]

Do you mind if I ask what they charged, id love to do this on my 92 explorer.

 

[Action_Jackson]

I think it looks good. I have the same panel in mine and had a look behind the panel and it looked similar to yours, I haven't had any shorts or blown fuses yet but I like the look of this. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Wetcoast Noel]

Hi, the panel is level on the bottom and the rockers are all level, might be the angle I took it at to make it look a bit offset, maybe the flash making shadows? but its level and straight. the stainless fittings and cups are personal preference, if you dont like them, dont use them, but thats what all the other fittings on my boat have (from Grady) so I think with the other ones on the boat it looks sharp . but you can easily put in what ever you choose.

For the cost, I'm guessing its different for each as they ask how much draw will be on each breaker like my headlights and docking ones, I have 4, 4" HID lights on the bow for pre dawn heading out for the salmon and catching proper tides for Halibut, that are tied into my headlight switch, and 4 lights for my docking lights, I had the 24 offshore logo put in so that was a bit more money also, but I don't have the invoice in front of me right now to break it down, best to give Eric an email over there. when I added the logo it made the background material taller, but still fit the hole in the dash, the flat section is just on the dash. the original panel was a perfect fit and strange as it might sound the bottom holes were perfectly lined up for the new panel. I was worried I would have to drill new holes that might be just slightly off the stock holes for the screws/nut bolts.... So unless you order my exact panel it wont be the same price, but I can say it was less money than going to my local marine shop and getting a set of rockers with stickers and such. looks a heck of a lot better also. "IMO"

I am picking up a used Arima boat this weekend to add for smaller group charters and am allready talking to Newwire about upgrading the panel and putting in some other options, like the HDS9 into a dash set up and power . Just looks so much more professional and I wake up at night thinking about insurance issues with old electric panels on older boats with salt water spray and pop , coffee, anything previous owners could have spilled over the panel to build up sticky crap in the switches. :hmm

 

[Bob's Cay]

if you go to the New Wire website they have a project estimate page. Just provide some basic information and it will give you a ball park estimate.

 

[192]

Did you replace all the wires in the boat or did you just cut and butt or solder them together? I have some new switches that i bought last year to do this project but still haven't got to it... :bang Hopfully it will be next winters project.

 

[Pez Vela]

Very nice! I'd like to see a picture of the backside of the new panel if you have one. Thanks.

 

[Wetcoast Noel]

when I got the panel it came with all the wires labeled at the end for the positives and had eye terminals on it and shrinktubed . with mine I put on a conection block and did run many new wires but not all. but you could cut them off and solder it, please dont use butt connectors,take the extra 2 min and solder it and shrink tube it, its 100 conected then and will never have enough corosion to give you a fault that you have to chase down in the future or get shaken from rough rides ect and come loose.
If you Cut and connect the wires make sure you label the wires as they all look the same, but do come labeled with a section of extra tubing over the wires to tell you what is what. I did not take a pic of the back of the panel but my panel is featured on the http://newwiremarine.com/calculator/ so there is a pic of the back of my panel showing how it came but here is a pic

Ive had a few people here on the island look at it and yes we all agree we could do a panel ourselves, but to get the wiring this well done, get the circut breakers and no mistakes, just would not happen and when you see how perfect its all wires and the lengths of the wires ect.

 

[192]

Done right for sure... sorry Grady, but it looks much better then your factory rats nest in my boat. :bang

 

[The_Chain]

I ordered a panel about two weeks ago from Erik at New Wire Marine, he was very easy to work with and I had a tight deadline. He was able to get the exact replica that I needed and met my deadline. Over the weekend I got a chance to get it in the boat. It worked flawlessly and I could not be happier, he was very reasonable in his pricing as well.






Shawn Goss

 

[NOTHING ELSE MATTERS]

Nice work on the panel but no heat shrink connectors and color coded wires?

 

[The_Chain]

No they were all coded with heat shrink lables on each wire, and he will put whatever connectors you want on them. It was as simple as strip old wires, connect and heat shrink connect them together, I just didnt take a picture of the cable ends. The panel fit the exact holes from the origional which I gave him the measurements, all said and done, 45mins to take out the old, connect and put back into the boat. Easy job.

 

[Wetcoast Noel]

Very nice, Hard to imagine keeping the old panel and trusting it to be out on the sea after getting the new panel and knowing how great the update works. :hmm

 

[The_Chain]

I agree when I had it all hooked up finally I realized that it solved my fwd bildge pump issue that I had for a while. Its just nice have the peace of mind knowing everything is now working as it should. Ive actually have been wanting to do this for a while and had been looking at ones that I would have to change my dash setup, and it was gonna be a big job. Eric actually had it made to spec and it fit right where the old one went so it was very easy, also it was cheaper then buying one that was already in a kit like you see at some local shops or west marine for example.

 

[NOTHING ELSE MATTERS]

Found some pictures of the panel i did for my Formula restoration.

 

[192]

vary nice wiring job sir... that's how I plan to redo mine.

 

[Strikezone]

That looks great!