mercruiser wiring mess

[bigskiohio]

why do they all look like this? Does any body have a clean looking one and what did they look like from the factory. this is not mine but mine looks the same. Show me what yours looks like.

 

[Don S]

Re: mercruiser wiring mess

That is what happens when "Boat Owners without a Clue" rewire things.

No boats ever come from the factory like that, and real marine techs do them right, or they don't stay marine techs for long.

If all you want is to see is everyone elses mess, then we can move this to the "Stupid Human Tricks" forum.

 

[JustJason]

Re: mercruiser wiring mess

That's not even that bad.... You should see some of the crap i see sometimes.
Bass boats with 3 batterys, 2 depthfinders, 2 gps's, all the lights and gizmos you can shake a stick at.... those are fun.
I did a pretty much complete rewire on a Basscat 2 years ago. Ended up costing the guy 2 grand. I had well over 30+ hours in the boat.

 

[bigskiohio]

Re: mercruiser wiring mess

I would like to know how they get that way and why most look like that . I would like to see a factory original to compare too . My boat doe not have any accesories and it looks like that.

 

[Don S]

Re: mercruiser wiring mess

I would like to know how they get that way and why most look like that .

Because people that have no clue on how to fix things properly make it look that way.
They use what ever is on hand and do it cheap. Usually solid core house wiring, or cheap electrical cords with wire nuts or twisted together wiring with duct tape coveing the twist (NOTE: Not electrical tape) is the preferred methods by most. And yes, you can trip of some of the wiring because it goes across the deck.

Personally, I wouldn't even buy a boat that looked like that.

 

[bigskiohio]

Re: mercruiser wiring mess

I almost hate to tell you this but if you look under my dash you will see 110 plugs and outlets .One of the many jobs to do this spring . I did not do it, it came that way when i bought it. I have about 5 projects going so wiring will have to wait .

 

[Don S]

Re: mercruiser wiring mess

When you finally get tired of having electrical problems every time you take the boat out, you will find it a lot less time consuming and expensive, to just rip all the old junk out and replace it with new. Then it will work every time.
Otherwise, all you are doing is patching patches. And that never works out in the long run.

 

[WizeOne]

Re: mercruiser wiring mess

Heck, the wiring around the trim/tilt pump in my '76 Beachcraft looks like that (minus the splices) and it is all original. It is apparent they just took the harness out of the box and coiled the excess in loops.

'Tis one of the first things on my list to tidy up once I get back to working on it.

 

[bigskiohio]

Re: mercruiser wiring mess

Kind of what i was thought. Mine does not have spilces back there either .
I dont see wire covering or anything that suggests it has ever been better.

 

[legoman67]

Re: mercruiser wiring mess

even just putting a wire wrap over it will make it look 100x better..... Also make sure there isnt any bare wire showing, if there is use electrical tape on it before you bunch them all together.

 

[wkb2460]

Re: mercruiser wiring mess

I've owned several boats and never saw any wiring like that.
That is definitely not factory

 

[fcawth]

Re: mercruiser wiring mess

I just had to fix a bunch wiring on mine - the previous owner "installed" a new radio and made a mess. Wires were just twisted together with electrical tape covering, and there was even a wire nut in there (!). They even cut the main power to the fuseblock to twist it back together with the wire for the radio. There was a nice connector block a few inches away that they could have used - what a mess.

I have some nice crimp tools because I do lots of industrial electronics work, and I really like the crimp splices that have heat shrink sleeves and integrated glue in them. They make a nice sealed secure connection in areas exposed to high humidity/salt/etc. You can get them at Home Depot (3-4$ for 10 or so), along with cable management stuff like spiral wrap, etc.

Anyway, stuff gets really bounced around in a boat so wiring really should be secured and done properly.

Fred

 

[Silvertip]

Re: mercruiser wiring mess

Don -- you would have an absolute fit if (as I did) if you looked under the console of my new pontoon. This thing was obviously wired by someone who had no clue what "wire dressing" meant. It is an absolute crime that a boat should be wired so poorly in this day of automation. A robot with a bad program could do better.

 

[Don S]

Re: mercruiser wiring mess

This thing was obviously wired by someone who had no clue what "wire dressing" meant.

Would make me very concerned about how the rest of the boat was put together.

 

[flargin]

Re: mercruiser wiring mess

by someone who had no clue what "wire dressing" meant.

Any good examples of good "sire dressing"?

could always use tips and improvements.