Replacing Lenco Activators on 25' Cruiser

S

sjhantzis

New member
After ten years of salt water, my Lencos have locked up. I need to replace them, but I have no idea how I'm going to reconnect the new units. The wiring is not accessible from outside the hull, and the wires run somewhere under the deck, I guess. Has anyone done this before?
 
You should be able to access the wires under the splash well. In the 25 there is one hatch on each side. You have several options: one is to use the old wiring, and crimp in new connections, with waterproof shrink wrap for the connections .

There will be wiring to the accentuators You have to remove the accentuates first. Then cut off the wiring as close to the accentuator as you can. Solder the new wire to the old. Pull the old thru the transom sealant, pulling the new wires with it. Then make a good crimp connection. I don't know how long the wiring is for the new accentuator but hopefully it is going to be long enough to work with easily--then do the crimp, and adhesive lined shrink wrap.

There is the second possibility--to run all new wiring--that should not be necessary, unless the issue is with the relays. Are you sure that the failure is with the accentuators?
 
Thanks, Bob. I pulled on the frozen units once they were unattached but couldn't budge the wiring from inside the hull. I'll check out the problem a bit further when the weather is nicer.
 
A sharp knife such as an # 11 X-acto blade can be used to cut carefully around all of the sealant. Cut with the sharp edge toward the fiberglass, and rotate it around the wire. Good chance that sealant is just near the outside, and once you get it cut, you can pull the internal wires out thru the holes in the transom. I have some small wood carving gouges I use for this--about 3/16 diameter gouge works well for this. But the #11 blade is fine.

Be sure and check out the wires under the splash well first. Then you can loosen them up to the point that they will not cause resistance to being pulled out thru the transom. There should be plenty of slack, if not, then undo the connectors, and that should give you plenty of wire to work with.
 
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