splicing new wires into original wiring harness

[dccordell]

Re: splicing new wires into original wiring harness

I'm going to check the condition of the original harness tomorrow. I had planned to do it today but I got busy working on the hull and exhaust flapper. If it is indeed in good shape I'll be happy to leave it alone! I do like the idea of the bus bar tho.. I might would consider that too if I decide to replace it. I'll let you guys know what the wires look like tomorrow.

Side note: If anybody ever orders wire from GreatLakeSkipper, make sure you call or write a message with the order to remind the guys that put the orders together that 30units of wire is actually 300feet because it is sold in lengths of 10ft each (30units x 10' = 300'). I ordered 300' of black and 300' of red, and I got 30' of each. Hah! They fixed it quick though so no complaints.

 

[DianneB]

Re: splicing new wires into original wiring harness

I gather you have already cut the engine harness?

I just rewired a 44 year old cruiser with a Chrysler engine and found that Chrysler didn't even use marine wire - it was all automotive grade. Despite 44 years on (fresh) water the wire was all in good shape so when I replaced the helm I brought the original engine harness to a terminal block in the new helm and extended as needed from the terminal block with new wire.

Of course it is a good idea, whatever you do, to create a detailed wiring diagram to stay with the boat. Having everything documented makes any troubleshooting a breeze!

Being 'in the business' the best permanent wire markers we have found is to write on white vinyl with a black permanent marker and affix the vinyl label under clear heat-shrink. Unless it is in direct sunlight or exposed to strong solvents, those markers last for a LONG time and never fall off.

 

[dccordell]

Re: splicing new wires into original wiring harness

No I haven't cut the wires yet.

Today I stretched the harness out trying to figure out what was what. The wires actually didn't look that bad at all, just dirty. Same with the plug. The wires are all a mess under the console, so I ripped out some of the "rigging" that was done. The engine harness wires and the boat harness wires were all mixed into one loom, so I unwrapped the tape that was used as a loom and seperated the engine wires from the rest. Much simpler to tell what's what then.

I think what I'm going to do is put just the engine harness wires in one loom, and run new wires for the rest (courtesy lights, trim switches, fuel sender, bilge, anchor/nav, blower) in another loom.

Why is it so darn hard to find clear heat-shrink tubing locally?!

I do plan to draw out a good diagram and chart for the wiring for future reference.

One thing I found surprising is that almost all of the ground wires (to the various accessories) in the harness were twisted around the main ground from the engine and soldered like that. Maybe this is common, idk.. I'm going to run all of the grounds from a bus bar anyways.

 

[seabob4]

Re: splicing new wires into original wiring harness

I re-wire boats for a living. I ALWAYS use hot and ground bus bars at the transom and under the helm.

Here's a HydraSports 21WA I'm working on now...

 

[dccordell]

Re: splicing new wires into original wiring harness

Very clean wiring seabob... that's the look I'm going for. I'll be using bus bars and a fuse block (Blue Sea).

Is that a light you have installed under the helm? Good idea...

Didn't get to work on it today because I was busy with fiberglassing... more wire is coming in tomorrow so I have to get busy!

 

[fat fanny]

Re: splicing new wires into original wiring harness

Early this past summer I learned so much on wiring from just reading and studiling the manual and doing the work myself and just using common sense. This all came about due to a short which kept blowing my 20amp fuse in my search I found it necessary to completely remove the engine wiring harness from the boat and un wrap what seemed like 500' of black tape clean it and due a full continuity test on each wire end to end (bending it during test) and re-wrapped it after heat shrinking all connections and bullet connector exposures. After all that was complete it was onto the boats harness from the cannon plug to the various switches and gauges doing the same continuity test as stated above and running them through plumbing silent glide copper pipe clamps (very neat) I eventually found my short in the fuse buss of the 20 amp fuse but I ended knowing the system is going to be water tight for quite sometime and ended up finding out that my coil female connections were pushed open so far that a connection was intermitent which I fixed with a paper clip with a hook bent on the end and inserted in the recpeticle and turned it to grasp the internal tab and expand it inward to it's original position in turn which solved a slight miss I had at WOT and the boat has never run better. I hope some of this info can be of use but I see you are recieving a ton of great info already. If it were me I would buy the correct gauge and color for each connection along with a new cannon plug kit and connectors. Good luck!!!!