DaySailer.org Forum

I'd like to use an electric trolling motor and mount the battery in the cuddy. In order to do this and look neat I want to run the wires under the cockpit seating. There's no access to get under the benchs. I'd just run a fish tape if there's nothing in there. But if they're full of floatation that's a different story. Might have to put in a couple access ports to get the wires run.
Anybody else done this?

Did it today. I mounted the receptacle toward the aft end of the starboard seat. Ran 8 guage wire through the seat. I had a one inch hole in the seat, and a much smaller hole in the bulkhead to the cuddy. Tried a fishtape running from the cuddy into the seat, but couldn't get it. The previous owner had installed marine speakers in the middle of the seats already, so I ended up going from there to my one inch hole.....then again from the bulkhead to the speaker hole. No problems.
Everything looks and works great......and no more running 15 feet of jumper cables into the cuddy!
Duane

We just had a very productive discussion on outboards, trolling motors and wiring over on the "DS1 Only" section (see the last 10 entrees for wiring tips).
http://forum.daysailer.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=3549

I did it a while back in a 1980 DSII. There wasn't any flotation material in the coaming, or in the space between the cockpit wall (seatback) and the gunwale.

I driled a hole in the port cockpit wall, above the seat, for the wires' exit, and another hole in the forward seat bulkhead inside the cuddy.

I don't have a professional fish tape, so I taped a string to the end of a six-section shock cord loaded tent pole, then climbed into the cuddy with this rig, unfolded the tent pole a section at a time, and pushed it into the coaming together with the string. Once it got to the aft end, I taped the wire to the end of the string inside the cuddy, then snagged the string though the aft hole and pulled on it to pull the wire through the coaming.