Cut wire - any ideas?

[rkohl44]

This white wire behind my instrument panel looks to be heavy gauge (same as red wire to ammeter) and obviously serves no purpose other than to pose existential questions. Why is it there?

This is a '82 Catalina 30. Instruments are: Oil, Fuel, Ammeter, Water temp. (No tach, no voltage.)

Was it originally connected to something? Could it have been for either a tach or voltage meter? I wouldn't think either of those would need such a heavy gauge wire.

[joe_db]

Can you figure out where the other end is?

[ronstory]

In my 1974 C&C there was an extra wire is the factory run that was no connection on either end. Sometime they seem to use a standard bundle and unneeded wires were just left unconnected.

[ndutton]

The 10 gauge white wire is the glow plug circuit and I can imagine two different scenarios on how it got on your boat:

1. By 1982 the sailboat industry had made the shift to diesel engines and I suspect with it, altered their engine harness to accommodate diesel installations. Rather than purchase and stock two different engine harnesses (gas and diesel) with the added risk of useless stock on hand within a couple of years, diesel harnesses were used with the unneeded glow plug wiring not connected.
2. Same as above but at the hands of a previous owner doing an engine harness upgrade/replacement. Such replacements were commonplace on Catalinas because of a known problem of failed trailer plugs in their engine harnesses.

[rkohl44]

1. Same as above but at the hands of a previous owner doing an engine harness upgrade/replacement. Such replacements were commonplace on Catalinas because of a known problem of failed trailer plugs in their engine harnesses.

I've never been able to find the mythical trailer plug on my boat. Would the existence of the glow plug wire indicate that Catalina installed a harness without the trailer plug apparatus? When did they stop using the trailer plug?

[ndutton]

I don't know for certain but at least for the era of our boats up to around 1984 when Universal ceased production of the A4 I don't think Catalina ever stopped using the trailer plugs. They were for Catalina's convenience, not ours. That your boat does not have them strongly suggests the harness has been replaced and by your picture with the unconnected glow plug circuit, probably with a commercially available pre-made, one size fits all harness kit.

All of this is conjecture however. It's worth what you paid ($0.00)