Running a cable in tight areas of the boat can be complicated. Here are a few methods.

The quickest and easiest solution, when you have a cable that already runs in a tube, is to use the existing cable to run the new one:

So what do you do when the messenger breaks? When we had to change the power cable of our navigation light, we were ready to lose patience!

We've been looking for a long time at how to get it from the wet well to the balcony, before coming out at the fire. Here are a few solutions gleaned from our research that may help you.

Using an electrician's wire puller, with a spring loaded needle, is known to work in this type of situation. Start at the location of the light, take the desired angle and exit into the anchor locker. Hang your wire on the needle, then pull the wire puller out to run it through the balcony.

Connect a small steel element to a thin wire, then move the assembly inside the tube from the outside with a strong enough magnet. When the wire is through, use it as a messenger and finish installing the new cable.

Make a hole at the junction of the two tubes

Another, more extreme solution is to dismantle the balcony and drill a hole in the junction of the two tubes. Through the hole, you can then direct the cable in the right direction.

While this technique has the advantage of being able to be installed relatively quickly, drilling a stainless steel tube is complicated and may weaken your balcony.

The solution that turned out to be the best for us was to use a vacuum cleaner.