Our mystery AVIT Engineer hunts for a technological solution to cable mayhem onboard

Left to their own devices (and they really do seem to have minds of their own), cables can completely take over. Not only does this ruin the beautiful aesthetic of a superyacht, it can cause unnecessary downtime for the electronics on board and is potentially dangerous, with faulty wires a clear fire-hazard. None of this pleases an owner.

How the cables will be organised should be a major part of the thought process behind all installations. This is because simple considerations, in the beginning, can prevent big problems further down the line, such as losing continuity or damaging insulation. However, when the time is at a premium cabling is often given the back seat, leaving us engineers with a big, wirey mess.

Most solutions to this problem seem to involve getting an external company to come in and sort out your cables for you. I am not necessarily against this, I just want to know if with all this recent technological innovation there has been any innovation into better ways to keep technology’s by-product, the wiring, in order.

hose coupling power cable strange black

Wires onboard essentially need to be neat, organised and properly secured. The traditional way to do this is to manually trace each wire from its power source to the thing it is powering, and then use cable ties to neatly tie it down to a sturdy surface at roughly measured intervals along the way. But if there is any way that this process can be improved or automated, that would be a real time-saver for ETOs and AVIT Engineers industry-wide.

I also am not sure how advancements such as modern cable carriers, which can withstand longer travels, faster speeds, and heavier loads than ever before, affect the traditional rules of cable storage. Some things are still clear- for example that using separators is a good way to keep wires from becoming entangled, or that cables with incompatible outer jacket materials should be separated so that the harder material doesn’t wear down the softer. But more guidance on any rules which can now be disregarded would be good.

I’m aware that there are now companies who use special software to build a virtual 3D-cable routing model of a yacht, mapping out all cabling before it is executed. This software means that the installer can be clear of exactly where cables need to go and has no excuse to not abide by this. It sounds like the ideal solution, but would surely only be possible on a new build, and at what I imagine to be a great cost.

Hose, wire, and cable management and protection is also always a problem when in the marinas, as bulky wire bundles from the yacht often need to reach out to the marina’s power box. Laying these wires across the dock can create a tripping hazard, and thus possibly increase the boat owner’s liability. Therefore I am also interested to hear about the current best-practice for laying out wires at the marina.

 

 

 

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