[C38] Questions, questions

[Charles B. Finn]

I finally am going to do the right thing and set up separate wiring for 
my 2500 watt inverter.  My plan is to split the existing outlets so the 
top receptacle is for the inverter circuit and the lower is shore 
power.  I will do this simply by running separate wires to the outlets 
and removing the jumper to separate upper outlets.  But I have two 
questions.

1.  What type of wire was used on the AC side of our boats?  Are they 
stranded wire?  What gauge?
2.  I would like to use the common ground that is already wired in, 
which will save running a third wire.  I don't think this is a problem, 
but sure would like to hear if it is!

On another topic, the forward in my transmission went away three weeks 
ago just before I had to leave for two weeks of business in California.  
This meant I had to pay folks to remove it and repair it.... something I 
hate to do!   But, I will shortly be able to report on shop times and 
costs for a repair like this!  I also have researched parts costs and 
even found additional manuals on our transmissions, which I will shortly 
be posting to our website.   But for now, I can report that the HBW-5 
(50) is another part of our boat (like the heat exchanger) that is at 
the outer design limit for our powertrain.....  We should expect to see 
an increasing number of failures and it is forward gear that wears out.

Happy Sailing!
Chuck Finn
Mighty Quinn #114
Great Lakes