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Marine-Grade Cable Design Choices for Vehicle Decks
By Engineering — Hardware · January 25, 2026 · 5 min read
Twenty meters of cable damaged by a tire is not a sensor problem — it is a cable problem. Here is what we learned about specifying for the environment.
In v1 we under-spec'd the cable. Standard CAT 6A in conduit looked fine in the lab and survived 11 days of sea trials before the first run was crushed by a wheel arch during loading. The replacement program was educational.
What ended up working
- Stranded conductors over solid — flex cycles matter more than peak attenuation.
- PUR jacket over PVC — survives diesel, hydraulic fluid, and salt spray.
- Aramid braid for crush resistance in unconduited runs.
- IP67 connectors at every node — not a strain reliever, an actual seal.
The jacket spec changed our BOM cost by a few cents per meter and our service-life expectations by years.