Advertisement

Chafe Protection For Onboard Systems Please

I spent a bit of time over the past weekend looking over some of the many photos I take whenever I serve as a Boat Of The Year judge for Cruising World Magazine. Sometimes I wonder why I take the hundreds of photos I always manage to shoot during our boat inspections. Primarily the photos I take are to either illustrate really good and innovative things I see being done with on board systems installations; or, sometimes the photos are to illustrate things that absolutely drive me crazy when ...

chafe protection_001_3926.jpg

__

I spent a bit of time over the past weekend looking over some of the many photos I take whenever I serve as a Boat Of The Year judge for Cruising World Magazine. Sometimes I wonder why I take the hundreds of photos I always manage to shoot during our boat inspections. Primarily the photos I take are to either illustrate really good and innovative things I see being done with on board systems installations; or, sometimes the photos are to illustrate things that absolutely drive me crazy when I consider either the engineering or workmanship side of things.

Anyhow, the photo below is one from the “It Makes Me Crazy” collection. What you are seeing is a collection of hoses and a wiring loom routed behind some cabinetry. I can’t remember who’s boat this was taken on, but the careful attention to detail this builder exhibited I’m certain did not get them into the winner’s circle among the boats we tested and inspected that particular year. Check it out:

![](http://www.edsboattips.com/images/stories/chafe protection_001.jpg)

Advertisement

If you look carefully you’ll notice the red and black hoses as they travel downward through the molded in opening in the lower center of the picture. If you look carefully you will see a bunch of brownish “fuzz” along the top edge of the cutout. What you are looking at are razor sharp fiberglass strands that are resinated and quite stiff, rubbing directly against the hoses. This view not only looks a bit messy, it is a spot where chafe on the hoses will occur over not too much time. Its a workmanship issue. Really sloppy workmanship. I don’t know what runs through those hoses, and don’t really care either. All I do know is that the hoses will fail long before their normal life expectency is reached because of chafe against this really sharp fiberglass edge.

So boat builders, please, take the extra 60 seconds you might need to trim and fair this edge so you don’t send me to the crazy house! Much appreciated.

Advertisement
Advertisement