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Q1: how is the electrical wiring routed to the bi-color navigation lamp at the bow of a STRIPER 15 of unspecified model year?

ASIDE
I am completely new to this forum and I am looking for advice on the electrical wiring for the bi-color navigation lamp at the bow of my recently purchased STRIPER 15, seen below.



I bought this STRIPER 15 last October in Italy and brought it home to Germany. Currently I am fixing little things here and there. Unfortunately I had to find out, that underneath the bow light bulb the wiring is missing. Normally not a big problem, but I have absolutely no clue where the cable channel ends and entering something stiff, but elastic enough from the front end seems to be impossible.

Is there someone out there who can give me any idea, where to find the "rear" end of this cable channel?


Greeting from Frankfurt, Germany
--Olaf

Olaf--typically the hull and inner liner were molded long before the particular model of the boat was determined by subsequent modifications. Typically the electrical wiring for the bi-color navigation lamp at the bow was routed under the boat's rub rail.

The wiring at the bow was typically led forward to exit below the deck in the part of the hull where the rub railing would cover this hole.

Then the wiring was led in the plastic track of the rub rail that will eventually be covered by the black vinyl flexible insert.

The wiring was led around the bow and toward the stern, sometimes on the Starboard side and sometimes on the Port side. What usually determined which side was where the white all-round pole lamp would be mounted.

If the white all-round pole lamp was on the Port side, the wiring would be led around the bow on the Port side and carried aft under the rub rail insert.

If the white all-round pole lamp was on the Starboard side, the wiring would be led around the bow on the Starboard side and carried aft under the rub rail insert on that side.

When near the transom, about approximately a foot away, a hole was drilled through the hull from the exterior toward the interior, and the wire was placed through this hole.

The wire was typically terminated onto a small terminal strip of two or perhaps three conductors.

The wiring for the white all-round pole lamp was also brought to this terminal strip.

To power the lamps, a switched power circuit from the helm console was brought to the transom and then routed to the terminal post. The path for this was usually via the rigging tunnel below the deck.

In the simpler version, only one switched power circuit was installed, and both the bi-color lamp at the bow and the white all-round lamp at the transom were wired in parallel and powered by that single circuit. If a fancier arrangement was desired, two switched power circuit were installed and run from the console to the terminal strip, permitting separate powering of the bi-color lamp and the white all-round lamp.

The terminal strip was typically concealed under a plastic cover. The cover plastic material matched the hull color.

If it happens that there is no sign of a two-conductor wire (usually with gray insulation and black insulation) emerging from the hull inwale near the transom, then there is a possibility that during molding of the boat a wire was encapsulated in the foam interior and ran from the bow to the area where the helm console would later be located. But this typically was done much earlier than the production epoch of a STRIPER 15.

The clue to the navigation lamp circuit is that the wiring is a flat two-circuit cable with one conductor gray and the other conductor black.

Look for the presence of a terminal strip in the area of the hull inwales at the transom, about one foot or so forward of the transom itself.

A similar answer is given in the FAQ at Q4:

https://continuouswave.com/whaler/reference/FAQ/#Q4

Figure 1, below, shows the wiring for the navigation lamps as found on a 1976 SPORT 15 (that I used to own).



On this particular boat I did NOT have a molded plastic cover to provide weather protection for the terminal strip. As far as I could tell there wasn't one used on that boat because there was no sign of some means of attaching the plastic cover and fastening it in place. The green vinyl electrical tape serves as a splash shield to help keep water off the terminal connections.

The pole lamp circuit connected to the terminals using push-on lugs. This temporary type connection permitted the pole lamp to be removed.

Overall the wiring is a bit of what would be called these days as a "kluge" (or haphazard or makeshift), but it worked. And because the boat was only used in fresh water, and stored indoors when not in use, there was not too much concern about water getting into the connections.

A better name for the cover is a "terminal block cover." A company called SSI makes several sizes. There website is located at

https://ssicustomplastics.com/


Fig. 2. A listing from SSI showing three sizes of molded plastic covers available from stock. Size 20100000 seems appropriate for the usual Boston Whaler terminal block.

Of course, in the original OEM version, the plastic color was matched to the cockpit gel coat color, Desert Tan.