When i was a kid my dad had an inboard Chris craft about 25 ft. With a 283 inboard. It was an easy boat to maintain. Handled real good accept at slow speeds. The rudder was kind of dinky.
Deck fittings are installed before the cap is fastend to the hull. So that length of wire was probably run from the bow pulpit when the stations were mounted, my guess is it runs down from the nearest stantion to the light on the starboard side.
You seem to have a good grasp on what is needed. You mentioned a piece of aluminum plate welded to the skin. I'm not a welder but I suspect that the various thickness between the two may be problematic.
