Flying Bridge Wiring

[Tugboatdave]

Hello All... I am currently in the middle of re-wiring my Reinnel as I have taken a dislike to the Factory plugs that connect the stations together and the cheap fuse panel that are the source of many intermittent connections. The only things that work on the Flybridge are the horn button and two guages, now I have limited experience with pleasure boats and the setup where you have a separate ignition key switch up top seems kind of redundant, I usually start the boat down below and only use this switch if I need to see the guages when upstairs. Do all of these style boats have the same system? I would prefer to wire it without the key, possibly with just a push button in case of a stall. Any Ideas?
Thanks
Dave

 

[SS MAYFLOAT]

Re: Flying Bridge Wiring

I too have the same problems with my bridge Dave. Yep, every year it is get under the dash and clean the fuse block. I eventually plan to put in circuit breakers or the plug style fuse.

My suggestion is to keep it as close to original as you can. This is more for resale than anything. Buyers tend to sway away from things that have been modified.

For what your wanting to do with installing a push button should be okay. You should have a kill switch as well for emergency situations. I know on my boat to run from the bridge to the helm in the cabin is a bit of a distance and takes time. In that amount of time a lot can happen.

 

[Stumedic]

Re: Flying Bridge Wiring

Several years ago I got fed up with the gauges and all the wiring problems on my Chris Craft. I took a very clever idea from a commercial boat. I simply cut a hole in the flybridge floor and put in a clear plexiglas panel. The gauges from the lower station were easy to see and the only wiring to the flybridge were for 2 starter buttons and a horn. Worked great.

 

[Tugboatdave]

Re: Flying Bridge Wiring

Thanks for the comeback! I have purchased a new fuseblock with the plug-in fuses and am sure it will work great, the weird thing is that the upper and lower ignition key stations are in parralel so that if you start on the lower station you have to go down there to stop it, so you would have to choose the one you plan to be at the most in advace. I was thinking of having the ignition power on a two way switch like in a house (two switches controlling one light) with starter buttons at both stations but I think it might be confusing (I have seen this used in commercial boats for operating auxilary engines, usually they have a light to indicate if the system is hot). All in all I feel I should follow the KISS (keep it simple stupid) method and go with Stumedic's idea, I have also seen this used to watch a radar screen from the fybridge, good idea!
thanks
Dave