For the Boat Wiring Guru..

[fishinick]

If you have seen my posts before, you may know I am a complete idiot when it comes to boats. I have taken on a big project with this flats boat and I need some serious help. I've done all the body work, painted, and installed tons of new parts, but I have no idea how to wire any of the 1000's of $$ in parts I bought. I made a diagram on paint of my boat. If you are a wiring guru, this could be the challenge of the week for you. I could use all the help I can get on how to wire this. You can show me a million diagrams of how to wire it, but until I know exactly what to do, this boat is never going to get finished.. Any help is appreciated...

Fishinick

 

[CaptainKickback]

Re: For the Boat Wiring Guru..

You've got all new equipment to be wired and it seems you feel overwhelmed by the enormity of the job. Take a breath, then break it down to small wiring tasks. By that i don't mean jump in and wire the first unit. I mean think through how each will be wired, then you can put your wiring plan together.

There is a current thread called "Boat Wiring". In it, there are some pics posted by seabob4 of his fantastic wiring work. Its what he does for a living so he should be able to help you get started. There are also a lot of threads on iBoats on electrical wiring.

Enjoy your research and your project.

 

[Silvertip]

Re: For the Boat Wiring Guru..

Study the "Generic Boat Wiring Diagram" in the stickies at the very top of this forum (not the top of this page". Understand that there are two electrical systems on a boat. The first is the "Engine Wiring". This wiring is covered in the service manual for your particular engine and consists of the big harness that runs from the engine to the helm. That harness powers the gauges and controls engine starting, choke/primer, and trim via the ignition switch. No accessories are powered via that harness. The tach, temp, and trim gauges would have the sender wires in it that originate at the engine.

The second system is a pair of #8 or #10 wires (red and black) that feeds the fuse panel at the helm. The accessories are powered from the fuse panel via the various switches that control them.

Your first job is to draw a "wiring diagram" for your exact configuration. Note that I said "wiring diagram" -- not a "schematic diagram" (there is a difference). A wiring diagram illustrates exact placement of the cables, harnesses and any breakers, fuses, switches, batteries etc. Your diagram shows the devices and their placement. Apply some logical thinking (drop the complete idiot label you've applied to yourself) and draw out the wires it takes to power this stuff. It really is not rocket science.

 

[sschefer]

Re: For the Boat Wiring Guru..

The advice you've been given so far is excellent but I'm pretty sure you're still scratching your head. Why don't you start by telling us what you bought and then we can get an idea of what might work best for you and go from there.

 

[fishrdan]

Re: For the Boat Wiring Guru..

Why don't you start by telling us what you bought and then we can get an idea of what might work best for you and go from there.

^^^ Yep! Hard to say how to do it, without knowing what you have. Also, you might need other components to make things easier. IE: a fuse panel with integrated ground buss will help keep things clean and organized.

ST's comment on drawing out a wiring diagram is spot on. With the wiring diagram you can figure out what gauge, color and length of wiring you'll need, then order to appropriate wiring. I'd suggest genuinedealz for buying the wire as they have good prices on "marine" wiring and quick shipping. They also have other items you'll need, lugs, crimps, wire tie clips, etc.

Do yourself a huge favor and get a quality set of crimping pliers before doing any wiring. If you wire the boat with a cheap set of set of crimp pliers, you'll have problems in the future...

 

[zopperman]

Re: For the Boat Wiring Guru..

yeah.. need a bigger pic or a list. Take a look at my resto thread on the last couple pages Ihave some electrical stuff. It's just a matter of staying organized.

 

[fishinick]

Re: For the Boat Wiring Guru..

Thanks for all the help so far. Every bit of advice is great. I really don't feel like I have a ton of electrical stuff for the boat based on all the diagrams I've seen online, but then again, I'm only running a few things electrically. I'll take a pic right now to show you guys what I have.

So, Since I'm too lazy to go outside and take a pic of the rest, I'll put pics from online to show you what else I have.

View attachment 118966View attachment 118967 View attachment 118968 View attachment 118969View attachment 118970

The far right is the back of the switch panel. Underneath the switchpanel in the pic is what I believe a fuse box.

 

[fucawi]

Re: For the Boat Wiring Guru..

Well IMHO your are not getting the kind of help you need. The so called good diagram is very difficult to follow has 12 and 24v and bad graphics..The top one by JB /Silvertip is fine

What you need to do is run a cable rated about 15A from battery neg around to all the items that need a ground...pumps dash lights etc . Then run a cable from the battery positive via a breaaker or fuse up to the dashboard where you have a switch panel ..this has one input and switches individually fused .. wires go from this to the items you want to power. Some switch panels have a ground or neg strip (buzz bar) for you to connect the grounds to.

Hope that get you started or rather finished on the job.

 

[zopperman]

Re: For the Boat Wiring Guru..

http://forums.iboats.com/showthread.php?t=448376

Very clean work (MUCH better than my mess...)

 

[fucawi]

Re: For the Boat Wiring Guru..

That is an excellent thread with very pro work

 

[chriscraft254]

Re: For the Boat Wiring Guru..

SEABOB, where is he?