Tower Wire Hole Diameter

[hrwboarder]

I have been working on installing some tower speakers on my 2001 SAN and for the wire I have some double insulated 12 gauge wire. The tower was wired by the previous owner for a light bar and for some other speakers that were on there before so there are two holes side by side where the wire shows for the tower to fold down.

I have been searching the forum and looking at earmark's website at some of the sizes of holes on the tower but it is really hard to judge how big they actually are. My concern is, with these two holes about 3/4 of an inch apart is it going to hurt the integrity of the tower at this point if I have to drill a hole say .25 inch or so for the bigger speaker wire to go through?

And also, if anyone could give me an actual size of the holes that you're speaker wires are run through that would be great.

[EarmarkMarine]

Its normal to use a 1/2-inch hole so that a 1/2-inch O.D. chassis grommet will lock in and protect against wire chafing.

This I.D. easily supports four conductors of a 12-gauge tower harness.

But you need to use wire that has an outer slick jacket that is easy to pull and allows the outer jacket to be removed for a more compact pass-through at the service loops.

Typically speaker wiring is routed down the port side because the amplifiers are usually on the port side. Any halogen, LED and pylon light wiring is generally routed down the starboard side.

This means minimal penetrations on each side which will preserve the tower's structural integrity.

David
Earmark Marine

[hrwboarder]

Thanks for the reply. Yes our amps will be mounted on the port side but the pervious owner had drilled two holes side by side like I said before so we can't do much about that. But these holes are definitely not a .5 inch in size.

I have the appropriate wire I was just a little concerned about making the holes much bigger. But I believe that I will just enlarge the hole on the port side and pull all the wire through there. That makes a lot more sense.

Again thanks.