Amphenol Connectors

[dgill]

Arild, I saw a motorsailor recently that had a plate at his mast base with bulkhead style Amphenol connectors for all wires going up the mast, including radar and radios. Most manufacturers recommend continuous runs without connectors. I asked the boat owner why he configured as he did. His response was simple: "Lightning Protection". He unplugs everything during a storm and also when the boat is left for a period of time unattended. I've also seen some atrocious installations with wires connected with wire nuts and electrical tape, or cheap terminal strips.

What do you recommend? If connectors, do you have a prefered brand or design.

Dan Gill

[elnav]

I did the same thing and used amphenol mainly because that was available in the shop misc.box
If I were to do it again i would look at what digikey had in the way of plastic bodied connectors.
My reason was for easy removal during winter layup where I had to remove the mast but eliminating kla lightning conductor to sensitive electronics is also good.Just be sier there is good #4 Ga grounded conductor betwen the mast head and the grounding plate ( lightning ) under the hull.
Manufacturers recommend continuous runs because many people do not know how to make proper terminations in connectors and the resultant mish mash can often cause problems.