Re-wiring Questions

[Grant Brown]

I have a 1990 Merc 70 on a 17ft 197? Glastron Hull.
All of the accessories are powered directly from the battery to the switches. This makes a huge wiring mess under the dash and down the side of the boat Also, the battery terminals are getting very crowded.
I want to feed power and ground wires to a fuse block in the front and then feed the accessories from there.

Here's the list of accessories:
- Tach
- Nav/Anchor Lights
- Interior light
- Bilge
- VHF
- Sounder
- Windshield wiper
- Stereo (future install)

1) What gauge wire should I use for this run (I am thinking 10 ga.)
2) Should I put a circuit breaker in the main feed? If so what amperage?
3) How many circuits should I have on the fuse block? One for each item listed above or can I combine some?
4) What amperage should the fuses be on each circuit?

Thanks,
Grant

 

[Boatin Bob]

Re: Re-wiring Questions

You've got the right idea, you need to add up the individual current draws for all those items for example the bilge might be 5amp and that will determine what you need for a main breaker/fuse near the battery and what size of a feed you need to run up to the dash. Yes each leg should be fused again depending on it's requirements.

 

[burroak]

Re: Re-wiring Questions

Grant,

PM me with your e-mail address and I will attach a complete wiring diagram for rewiring your boat. It is an Adobe pdf file and is too large to attach to a reply on this forum. You can also get a bundle of info off of www.cmsquick.com > technical.