2007 40 Sundancer wire routing from engine room to main panel

crizz

crizz

Member
Apr 4, 2016
32
Fort Myers Beach, FL
Boat Info
2001 560 Sedan Bridge "Miss Olivia"
Engines
CAT 3406E 800HP
Hi all,

Boat is a 2007 Sundancer 40 with Cummins. Wondering if anyone has successfully run wires from your engine room to the cabin main panel. There is what appears to be an extra conduit with its own pull cord on the starboard side of the engine room just above the fuel tank, and I have found what also appears to be a matching empty conduit also with a pull cord located just behind the sidewall access near the helm. However, when pulling on either end of the pullcord I get absolutely no movement. It’s as if these two ends belong to different conduits and the other end of the pull cord is still secured. I have scoured the boat in all the obvious places that the conduit could possibly run with no success.

***EDIT*** When firmly pulling the helm side of the pull cable, it was seemingly starting to move, however suddenly became much easier to pull. Unfortunately, the other end in the engine room did not budge. I stopped pulling after about 18" convinced now that the cable I was pulling on goes elsewhere. The engine room side still will not budge.

Can anyone put me out of my misery with a clue, because I’m not sure my back can take much more contorting into tight places looking. Thanks in advance!
 
Last edited:
Does your 2007 have a removable storage cubby next to the helm seat? The two DA's I've owned have both had this cubby. Removing this is the best way to get access to fishing wires in my experience. You can go forward and aft from that location...
 
Yes, however that is above the rim of the boat and there is no pathway to the engine room from there. The conduit I mention comes out of the rim in that area and I assumed it went to the engine room, but when I pulled on it the engine room end didn't move.

Any 39/40 Sundancer owners have any insight?
 
It's possible the pull string is caught up... or there may be silicone plugging the engine room side. Look up into the tube or use your phone. Also, try some compressed air (or make a sound... your phone will work here, again) into the tube and have someone listen at the other end. It should be obvious if the you're both at the same tube or not.

I don't know how many tubes are used in your boat, but it's not like the tube is going to make a 180* turn.

FYI, ideally a pull string is 3 times as long as the tube so that the string is always available from both ends. You "could" just be pulling the slack at this point.
 
Lazy Daze said:
It's possible the pull string is caught up... or there may be silicone plugging the engine room side. Look up into the tube or use your phone. Also, try some compressed air (or make a sound... your phone will work here, again) into the tube and have someone listen at the other end. It should be obvious if the you're both at the same tube or not.

I don't know how many tubes are used in your boat, but it's not like the tube is going to make a 180* turn.

FYI, ideally a pull string is 3 times as long as the tube so that the string is always available from both ends. You "could" just be pulling the slack at this point.
Click to expand...

Good suggestions, thanks for taking the time to try and help! Unfortunately none of that worked. I pulled the cable a bit more, and the pull-cord came all the way out after about 3-4 more feet. Definitely not the same pull cable as in the engine room. The far end of it had black electrical tape goo, so I obviously just pulled it away from the other end of the conduit where it was taped - exactly as the other ends were.

Looks like the conduit from the engine room runs along the top of the fuel tank into the compartment behind the sidewall of the mid-cabin below the rim of the boat, and is inaccessible from the cavity next to the helm. It must terminate in there, and there must be a separate conduit running directly up to the cubby next to the helm station - which is the one I pulled straight thru.

Where they meet in the cavity behind the sidewall of the mid-cabin I have yet to be able to get to. I took the doors and cabinet face off, but behind was the cabinet box which has no apparent screws remaining but is still rock solid in place. It must be braced from behind. There is also another wood panel to the left of the cabinet box that has a couple screw heads visible, but sure doesn't look like it was meant to be disassembled.

I called Sea Ray tech support, but he wasn't very helpful and just sent me drawings of the electrical system similar to what is already in the owners manual.

I hate to haphazardly continue to unscrew because I dont want to accidentally disassemble something that cant be put back together, but Im so far into this project I cant just give up.

Sea Ray had to anticipate an owner would need to eventually run a wire out of the engine room, right??

Would love any other suggestions, but it seems like I'm on my own here. Thanks again to all who have replied.
 
Try fishing an electrician’s type snake through there.
I find that’s usually the easiest way to go.
 
On my 410, I had a similar issue when running new stereo wires from the helm forward. I used a 20ft camera score connected to my phone. Taped it to the fish and could see what I was up against as I pushed through the conduit. The camera has led lights built in so that gave off light.
Amazon and cheap.
 
I have used this for several other projects.

Inspecting inside manifolds
Looking under engines
Inside bellhousing
Checked the zincs on the shafts with a pole attached.
Anyplace I cant see but need too.

Get one with bright leds.
 
I have run MANY cables fromt he helm to the bilge area on my 390/40..
i had the same problem witht he tube that does go to the engine room, problem is that someone screwed it in at one place it needs to bend to the engine room, that kinks the loom and prevents any cables from going through..
here is what you do, the EASY way of running cables there...

pull the starboard side storage panel out..
look at the wall facing the stern.. you will see i doesnt go all the way up.. run your cables up and over they will literally drop into the engine area near the starboard side fuel tank..

yes its that easy..
 
Pony Racer said:
I have run MANY cables fromt he helm to the bilge area on my 390/40..
i had the same problem witht he tube that does go to the engine room, problem is that someone screwed it in at one place it needs to bend to the engine room, that kinks the loom and prevents any cables from going through..
here is what you do, the EASY way of running cables there...

pull the starboard side storage panel out..
look at the wall facing the stern.. you will see i doesnt go all the way up.. run your cables up and over they will literally drop into the engine area near the starboard side fuel tank..

yes its that easy..
Click to expand...


Wow!

If that’s all true, then I hope we meet someday so I can buy a round! I’ve spent hours and hours trying to find a path and have stared at that bulkhead numerous times wondering if I should just bore a hole through it. I’m traveling all week, but will try it out this weekend when I’m home.

Thanks for sharing!
 
Update:

The 40 must be slightly different than the 390, based on your description. The compartment behind the storage panel has no opening at the rear. The aft wall is totally sealed. However, the top of the compartment is open to the base of the hardtop arch. I pulled the upholstery panels off the side of the boat near the base of the arch and figured out that you can, in fact, get from the side compartment to the bilge by snaking wires through the space where the hardtop arch meets the side of the boat. It makes for a slightly longer run than I was expecting, so some of the cables I'm running are shorter than expected, but I can make it all work.

Thanks for all the suggestions!
 
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