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I have one of our team members Eric  who's a real electrician because believe  I'm not an electrician I taught myself  all of this believe it or not I'm an  engineer but I didn't know any of this  stuff at all through pain and  disappointment I actually learned this  stuff through necessity and just wanting  to have a reliable electrical system and  yeah I bought my boat on April Fool's  Day by the way all right it's in 1990 I  love her I know it's weird but I do  really love her she's the one thing that  makes me happier I literally go on that  boat and I'm a different person it  changes me I go from being so intense to  the person I was when I was probably in  high school and I didn't think about my  future and I was living in the moment  and yeah she's awesome  which is amazing absolutely amazing but  so what I meant to say is Eric's coming  here today  and he's gonna be joining us and he's  gonna be showing you because Eric and a  lot of my team members well most of them  there this is what they do for a living  like I've stopped making crimps for a  living in 2010 and now I just talk and I  come up with ideas and luckily my team  members actually execute on those ideas  and they make it happen so there's a  really big difference between thinking  about something and doing it and that's  why electricians make a living because  they're used to making things happen so  first thing I want to emphasize when  you're ever going to be working on your  boat electrically and this is something  that everyone should want to do I don't  think it's too daunting to do electrical  on your boat that being said you also  want to respect it right respect is  important give you an example I've come  across many boats where the owner was  very technical and engineer  might have even been me an electrical  engineer and it were complete disasters  complete disasters and I've been on  other boats where the owners an  accountant has no technical background  and the boat was perfect it doesn't  matter what you did in school it doesn't  matter what you do for a living doesn't  matter all of those those met doesn't  matter if you care about doing something  properly there's enough information out  there for you to do it right the  challenge that we all face because we  don't have enough time is to do bravado  and MacGyver and just get it done that  is our enemy and when you're gonna be  working electrically don't ever feel  rush because you only need one mistake  with electrical and it's one mistake too  many right it's a perfection business if  you're not in the perfection business  you can't be it's like being in software  if you're writing software code and you  don't care about details you're not  gonna be a software coder it's just not  going to compile it's being an  accountant and not caring where the  decimal points are you know oh it's a  little bit to the left a little bit to  the right of the same numbers I just  moved the decimal I just it's just  really order of magnitude in matters so  electrical is about details so with that  in mind we're gonna be talking about  safety so it's very very important when  you're attacking electrical to care  about the details these are example of  some one of them is actually was done by  an optical engineer the one on the left  I asked permission we never say his name  we resembled by it said I even it wasn't  really going in there really well he's  giving me a lot of grief notice the  white wire how bunched up it is he was  trying to fit it in the plug and it  wasn't going in so he didn't give up and  it starts becoming stubby and he counted  in and it went in slightly and he's like  oh look my panels lit up I did it and  then about a month later it stopped  working he's lucky he could have had a  fire because his neutrals off and he was  running everything on his ground so his  three wire system was down to two wire  and he was using his AC grounding wire  as his return path very very serious he  noticed because the neutral polarity  light on his panel was always lit but he  thought he was unlucky  - it was just a coincidence notice  simple as a 12-volt cigarette lighter  notice on the right hand side how the  insulator right is actually not in  between the metal it's on the side can  you see that look at this right here you  see how the the connector is actually  not inside he actually put it in between  the metal and the plastic because  sometimes it's hard to see right you  just want to get it done so the point I  was talking about is there's a high  standard you know you're not measured  with how many things you get right in  electrical you're measured how many  things you get wrong it's unfair but  that's what it is it doesn't matter that  you got a thousand connections right you  get one wrong that's one too many so  you've got to be okay with that and that  means that you have to believe and come  to grips with the fact that perfection  is the name of the game with marine  electrical some of it means it might not  work and you don't care but sometimes  certain things on our boats are really  required like for example a navigation  light you might get stuck one day coming  late into port and if your navigation  light runs out you know not all the  boats have radar and they might not see  you that might be a life-and-death  situation as simple as the light bulb  not working life-and-death situation and  it could go as bad as a wire dead short  in a fire which is sort of extreme but  it could be you lose your chartplotter  because the seas are bumping and every  time your boat is going up and down a  face of a wave your chart plotter goes  in and out that could happen that could  also be pretty stressful so you really  want to make sure that you don't create  these unreliable situations on your boat  because most of us find boating  challenging enough as it is in a perfect  boat it's pretty humbling to own a boat  we all get it we all know what it is it  doesn't matter how successful you're on  land you're gonna find out that boating  is a very humbling activity pastime and  you don't need to make it worse than it  needs to be you want to offset issues  with corrosion and we're gonna be  talking about insulation and how  important that is  and the other thing too that's very  disconcerning and it's a reality is that  a connection under no-load is probably  gonna work but under load as soon as the  actually the connection loads up and you  start using that loan and it becomes a  bigger load you might have crazy voltage  drop I've had situations where you  measure the voltage at the fridge is 12  and as soon as the fridge turns on it's  2 volts because it was a really bad  crimp under no-load you can measure 12  volts no problem but as soon as there  was a load the connection the voltage  drop really down so that's a big issue  and sometimes your breaker might not rip  but you might have a fire that's why  those short power plugs on the boats  where is the number one cause of boat  fires they've got a 30 amp breaker on  the pedestal and a 30 amp breaker on the  boat and your shower and your pedestal  like wherever it is on your bow that 30  amp receptacle could literally catch on  fire and your breaker on both the dock  and the boat will never trip so breakers  don't always trip the only trip for over  current if you have too much resistance  in a circuit that's not gonna trip the  breaker so that's also reality right so  don't think you know it's not because I  have a seat belt in my car that I Drive  like a maniac right I mean you see  people that have kind of a seat belt you  can have airbags you can still pre get  pretty hurt so don't think because you  have a breaker on your boat that you're  like oh well it doesn't matter what I do  I'm good  because boats you can have an electrical  fire without actually tripping a breaker  this is I took this and this was  unbelievable doing an electrical audit  and I noticed the fuse block was really  corroded and I actually touched the wire  and the wire fell off and I was like I  always ask do you mind if I take a  picture this is too awesome I'll I have  a folder of this stuff hundreds hundreds  of bad pictures I call them great  pictures so that's why it's really  important when you're doing a marine  connection that you think about you're  on the water in a salt environment and  salt is corrosive so you want to take  the time to make sure that your  insulation is down properly so what's  the formula for success you want to make  sure you have a good marine wire  you've got proper terminals right that  you're gonna have if the terminal  doesn't come with heat shrink you  actually have heat shrink with it maybe  a lug you have the right tools and Eric  is gonna show you the right technique  because he knows what he's doing like I  said I just do a lot of talking these  are examples notice here this is crazy  and I see this all the time by the way  like you would not believe people are  buying heat-shrink terminals and they're  not applying heat to shrink the terminal  and therefore they're thinking and that  they're buying a $2 connector instead of  a $0.10 connector and they think that it  actually the name is descriptive it  tells you what to do there's not very  few things in life that come in the name  the action that's required to make it  useful heat shrink Terminal apply heat  to shrink so that your terminal becomes  protected I mean it's amazing but that's  not enough I would say you cannot  believe the number of terminals I find  on boats that have heat shrink terminals  that are 2 dollars a pop verse that are  never applied heat and therefore it's as  good as a 10 cents terminal because it's  opened there and opened air means it's  gonna corrode so if you and this is a  big thing too if you're gonna do marine  grade wiring you're gonna want to make  sure that you use standardized colors  that it's able to withstand vibration  that it's easy to install it's not rigid  like a coat hanger and that you're use  the right cable for the right  application if you're actually going  outside for solar wiring we're actually  using wiring that's made for outdoors so  that it can handle the Sun and if we're  inside a boat we're gonna use maybe  wiring that's meant to go through an  engine room alright so you got to make  sure that do not buy the least expensive  wine you can find and think you've got a  deal you got the less expensive wire and  it is what it is buy the rewiring is a  very commodity based business okay it's  not like someone's gonna find a deal out  there there is no deals the least  expensive stuff is the worst stuff the  most expensive stuff is the best stuff  it is what it is it's a very even  playing field there are no deals to be  found found and so don't cheap out  and the reason I say that because the  most valued thing we have its time and  as a boat owner if you're a diligent  there's a long list of things to do in  your boat and the last thing you want to  do is repeat what you did five years ago  because you bought a wire that's not  good quality right here's an example of  someone that had a lot of persistence he  was a true believer by the way this is a  20 amp breaker  look at this wire this is a gauge eight  wire this is a gauge ten 12 no looks  notice the number of strands he put in  there he put two strands cuz it didn't  fit this is not definitely not a marine  grade wiring you can see the strands are  way too big he cut them all with pair of  pliers so he did a good job  he didn't leave them hanging he got two  strands in bingo he was like I did it  unrelated though unrelated his ice box  conversion was not running properly and  was cutting out very too soon related to  a bad connection and that's how I saw  that I was like well I found your  problem  somebody who installed your fridge put a  gauge aid wire which was great to offset  voltage drop awesome that's what I would  have done didn't have the right terminal  decided to come in MacGyver got it done  put the wrong ring turn them all there  and now under load when it's low voltage  your fridge cuts out so welcome to the  world of pain so the other thing - and  what what I always emphasize is you know  on our all or boats we should have a set  of like on my boat I mean it's almost a  mobile shop  I have everything now okay of course  it's too much and I have someone who's  understanding who doesn't mind giving  away a lot of drawers for a lot of tools  but that being said we should have a  bunch of different ring terminals on our  boats of different sizes so that if you  ever are going to do electrical work you  open a little you know sort of like a  bait and tackle right little plastic  container with little separation like I  literally have about 15 of those on my  boat every fastener size every terminal  size like everything because I never  want to do something twice if I'm gonna  do it I want to do it right and I want  to use the right equipment but barring  that extreme end where I am at  having a small little tool kit on your  boat with a bunch of marine connectors  so that if you're gonna tackle it'll  work when you're up in desolation sound  or Gulf Islands and you're changing your  water pump that you have the right butt  connector or right wing to an actor is  really really useful by the way a bad  crimp over time causes heat this is a  look at that connector that was a bad  crimp look what happened I've seen on  some wires even like inverter whine  where the the insulation of the wire has  melted like 2 3 4 inches back literally  like a cigar all charred bad connection  make sure that you eat shrink all your  connections and eric is going to be  showing that make sure that you use  teacher ink that follows the code don't  confuse and by black everything because  some people are using black they'll wire  their whole boat in black cable and  they're gonna put either red or black  heat shrink as a way to start reminding  themselves that a black wire is actually  positive if it's got red heat shrink on  it there's no shortcuts people shouldn't  take shortcuts in our shop we actually  use literally red for positive yellow  for a negative yellow heat shrink right  we use the right heat shrink for the  right application we're consistent  because I want to make easy for the next  person that comes on board to just not  have to think it doesn't want to be  context driven it just  oh yeah red is red and yellow is DC  negative other example of crazy bad  crimps that I've seen by the way I've  seen a boat once and I got a call is  about four years ago Chris around this  time owners from California came on  board his boat started the heaters he  was a surgeon from San Fran  he had an act IVA 52 beautiful boat  brand new boat  I don't two million 1 million  was awesome those ridiculous he calls me  says you know Jeffy says I don't smell  burning but my wife has got a really  good sense of smell and she's smelling  burning but I I don't see any fire and I  was I remember I was in Cold Harbor and  one of our staff Scott was actually in  Cold Harbor as well I said oh my god you  got a disconnect your short power cord  he's like what I don't smell fire I'm  like no no no you you you you got it do  it like now so you went out disconnect  show power cord we came on board he was  drawing so much current through a short  power cord to run the AC heaters on  board to keep the boat warm right in  January and there had been a bad crimped  brand-new boat by the way but in the  summer he's never drawing that much  power right was he running there's  nothing much to run in the wintertime  first time this is a brand-new boat that  crimp was the back crimp it actually  melted and these are huge like 50 am  breakers side by side on the panel and  the panels like this big three of the  breakers had melted in the back there  was so much heat being generated the  breakers never tripped  there's never over current he kind of  lost his boat there's only because his  wife smelled it he can smell it and so  you can actually have a bad crimp cause  a breaker to melt at a breaker and yet  you don't trip the breaker so if you're  gonna tackle all of this what you want  to do is you want to have the right  tools right you don't want to have pair  of pliers to try to do a crimp first  thing you want to do is you're going to  want to have some sort of wire stripper  which is really important we only use  the one on the left I've never used sort  of the gadget one on the right Eric have  you ever use that no I've only used the  one on the left and then you're gonna  want to have a good crimper I think we  have both right you're gonna want it  what's called a double crimp ratcheting  tool and what's really nice about the  one on the left is actually going to  crimp on one side deeper and stronger  than the other so the insulation is not  going to be over crimped you're gonna  have one side of their barrel that's  going to be crimp really well which is  the metal and then the insulation on the  other one's gonna be  little bit less or you can use this  single crimp ratcheting tool for heat  shrink terminals so that you don't break  the insulation and Eric's got both so  when we do work I only do heat shrink I  figure the most important thing is time  you never want to redo anything on a  boat and my boats 1990 and I don't think  she's old at all I met an owner  yesterday he said he had a 2008 boat I'm  like oh that's a brand new boat 10 year  old boat is a brand new boat clearly its  brand new like none of us buys a brand  new boat maybe but that's beyond brand  new 20 year old boat it's not an old  boat 30 year old boats on an old boat 40  year old boats on an old boat a no boat  is a 1938 Chris Craft and she's awesome  and people love them they don't stop  loving boats so a boat that's pre war is  still out there so if you're doing  something on your boat I've worked on  boats out from 1918 and those are  awesome boats I've never called the boat  an old boat  it's sort of like you know and so when  you think about what people are willing  to do on land and people say well it's  good enough for a truck Jeff I'm like  how many big rigs are you seeing that  are from 1954 pushing loads on the roads  big rig is five years ten years they all  look new they got the miles they go some  graveyard somewhere but our boats are  lasting way more than five ten years so  what's good for a truck isn't good for a  boat because your boat is gonna last way  more than five 10 years a 20 year old  boat is not old so whatever you do on  your boat do it well so this is  basically the technique and eric is  gonna be showing that and this is really  probably the most important thing unless  you're an absolute Pro and I don't know  maybe Eric does always a pull test but  there's no such thing as pulling on a  connector to a cable especially if it's  a gauge 10 or 12 I mean if it's a gauge  20 to a tiny little wire okay maybe but  on a gauge 16 14 12 you gotta be willing  to pull really hard make sure that that  connection is good because remember  practice makes perfect so you don't want  to go I'm not gonna attach it and I'm  just gonna hope it works because  remember it might work under no-load but  as soon  you put a lot of current through that  connection it might be a fire problem  and that's what beautiful looks like  this is not a Catalina we did a I think  it was a 36 we wired a boat Catalina 36  simple easy clean you know by the way  the easiest way to know if you've got  problems with your electrical system  without knowing anything and this is  almost a universal truth if it's not  beautiful it's probably a problem with  it that's beautiful  I've only ever seen one boat in my life  that something was done perfectly  aesthetically and there was a problem  now how many boats have I been on where  it looked like a mess and it was a mess  all the time people that are take  there's some seriously and I'm not  talking about having a technical  background it doesn't matter remember it  doesn't matter what your technical  background is anybody who takes the time  to do something neatly and well is very  detail-oriented  and that skill translate to doing every  single crimp perfectly the person who  does a rats nests on your boat probably  doesn't care about details and that  means that some of the crimps are sort  of like well I think it's sort of good  enough so I can tell you without being  an expert you can look at a panel you're  gonna look at anything if it looks bad  and most likely is if it looks great it  looks pretty it's organized that means  that someone took the care to take the  time to do it properly so with that I'm  going to pass the floor to Eric so here  we have a 14 gauge wire  it's gonna strip the end off I'll  normally leave about a quarter inch to  around a half inch half inch kind of  generous  I'll take our heap string connector I  always want to make sure 14 to 16 gauge  14 gauge wire slip it on  I always like to twist with the strands  I noticed that there's a little bit of a  area between the connector and the  installation on the wire I believe that  so I know that it's bottomed out on the  end don't take our crimpers start at the  very end of one side crimp it down and  one more on this side to be safe and do  the old pull test now I know it's good  connection because I can't pull it out  the next we're gonna heat shrink  and I always like to twist around so you  don't keep it on one side too long and  you risk burning the insulation off okay  pull test again and that is good  connection