Maretron CG1-50 Micro Bulk Cable, 50 Meter Continuous, Gray

If you're building an NMEA 2000 network the right way, you buy the backbone by the meter and cut it to fit. That's exactly what the Maretron CG1-50 is for. It's a 50 meter continuous length of Micro bulk cable in a gray PVC jacket, ready to run as trunk or drop cable on any NMEA 2000 system you're wiring up.

Here's the idea. Pre-made cables come in fixed lengths, so you either end up with a coil of excess stuffed behind the dash or a run that's just a little too short. Bulk cable solves that. You measure the actual run on your boat, cut the cable to length, and terminate both ends with field-attachable Micro connectors. No wasted cable, no ugly service loops, no compromise on where your tees and devices sit. On a bigger boat with instruments spread bow to stern, that flexibility matters.

The cable carries a 6 ampere rating, which covers the power budget for small to medium NMEA 2000 networks running a typical mix of sensors, displays, and a GPS or two. It meets NMEA 2000 approval and also carries UL Listed, CSA Certified, and IEC-61162-3 marks. So it's legit for commercial and inspected installs, not just recreational rigs. The gray PVC jacket is the standard trunk color and handles sun exposure well, which is handy for runs that see daylight along a gunwale or up a hardtop.

One thing to be clear about up front. This is bare bulk cable. The field-attachable Micro connectors and any tees, terminators, or power taps you need are separate. That's the whole point of the bulk approach. You buy the connectors and network components to match your layout and assemble the runs yourself. If you're new to NMEA 2000 wiring, sketch your backbone first, count your device drops, and order connectors and tees to match before you start cutting.

We reach for bulk cable any time an install is even a little custom. Say you're running a backbone from a helm at the transom forward to a bow thruster controller and a masthead wind sensor. A 50 meter spool gives you room to lay the trunk exactly where the boat wants it, drop tees where each device lives, and still have cable left for a couple of custom drop runs. Cutting your own drops with right-angle connectors keeps things tidy behind a crowded panel.

A few honest install notes. Field-attachable connectors only stay watertight if you seat the o-ring and gland correctly and torque the body down, so take your time on assembly and don't rush the ends. Keep an eye on voltage drop too. Across a full 50 meter run with several power-hungry devices, you may want to feed network power near the middle of the backbone rather than at one end. And don't forget your terminators. Every NMEA 2000 backbone needs a 120 ohm terminator at each end, or you'll chase random device errors that have nothing to do with the cable.

PVC stiffens up in cold weather, so if you're doing a winter install in an unheated shed, let the cable warm up before you try tight bends around a stringer. Other than that, it's straightforward to work with. Strip, seat, terminate, test continuity, and you're done. Because this is the continuous 50 meter length rather than a non-continuous spool, you get one unbroken run to cut from, which is what you want when a single trunk needs to stretch a long way without a splice.

Who's this for? Riggers and boatbuilders wiring a network from scratch, anyone extending an existing backbone past what pre-made cables cover, and DIY owners who want their runs done right instead of coiled up behind a panel. If you only need a short jumper between two tees, a pre-made drop cable is simpler. But when the run is long or custom, bulk cable is the honest answer. And 50 meters is a lot of runway, enough for most single-boat backbones with drops to spare.