Tinned or straight Copper?

[Hammer Dog]

I am going to be rewiring the 2001 Fisher Pontoon as the PO has this wiring a mess and I'm not liking it. I am adding a few accessories in the process. Wondering if I should go with Tinned wire or just go straight copper and seal the connections? This boat will never see salt water.

 

[kjsAZ]

tinned is always better in a wet environment and according to ABYC boats have to use stranded tinned wires. If you really want to make it last long only use bare butt-joints and connectors and shrink dual wall heat shrink tube over it. The inner wall in these is actually hot glue and not a real wall. The issue with the insulated ones is that you need a pretty expensive crimp tool if you want to be sure that it doesn't generate hairline cracks which will let moisture through.

 

[ahicks]

On a pontoon boat, I think just getting it cleaned up and organized is more important than what you use. On a fresh water pontoon, it's not like it's run in a harsh high vibration environment? Keep it simple, but clean....in a manner that will allow you to figure it out easily after you've long forgotten how you set it up originally. Consider setting up a central ground point that's easy to get to somewhere in the console, with one wire leading to the battery ground, everything else from there.

 

[crb478]

Tinned, do it once do it right and enjoy it.

 

[Hammer Dog]

ahicks, I do plan on simplifying the wiring. I have the Blue Sea 12 terminal fuse block with a neg buss integrated into the unit. I also have a buss bar to use in the front of the boat to run everything back to.

 

[bruceb58]

Buy tinned wire here:

http://www.genuinedealz.com/

Always use tinned on a boat.

 

[ahicks]

ahicks, I do plan on simplifying the wiring. I have the Blue Sea 12 terminal fuse block with a neg buss integrated into the unit. I also have a buss bar to use in the front of the boat to run everything back to.

Perfect!