Want to rewire my boat????

[NateL]

Want to rewire my gauges and everything but my problem is is that its a freaking mess under the instrument panel. Some of the gauges work (well most of the important ones) but there's so much junk under there I don't even know where to begin?? Any ideas on where to start would be great. Thanks

 

[RicMic]

Re: Want to rewire my boat????

Well to paraphrase an old Chinese saying, start with one wire! It can be overwhelming(I'm doing it myself right now), but unless you start somewhere, nothing will get better. Pick something that obviously needs to be changed, fuse or circuit breaker panel, guage etc.. and work out from there. Rarely is it an advantage to just rip out everything and start over, tie things up TEMPORARILY as you go, twist ties work well and don't worry about making it perfect on the first try.

 

[Doernuth]

Re: Want to rewire my boat????

Check your wiring diagram. Do you plan to go all the way back to the engine or just do the dash?

Usually there is one ground daisy chained to all of the guages. I would start with that wire.

 

[NHGuy]

Re: Want to rewire my boat????

Here is a link to the right color codes...http://www.acbsphl.org/Tips_and_hints/ABYC_Wiring.htm
And here is a link to a normal dash gauge wiring plan...http://forums.iboats.com/showthread.php?t=186986

Get weatherproof crimps and get some shrink tubing too. If your old gauge panel is removable you'd be smart to take it out to wire it up. That way is a lot better than doing it laying on your back.
Take some pictures and take notes before you remove the old rats nest that you have. In fact you'd probably be smart to label all the connectors in the harness you are removing so you can trace or copy to correct any problems that crop up when the new wiring is tested.

 

[seabob4]

Re: Want to rewire my boat????

I do complete rewires for a living, even on 60' SFs. The key is to have a GOOD working knowledge of circuits, to understand how 12VDC is really one big circle (batt to appliance and back to batt), and to label/identify each wire as you remove it. Make everything neat and tidy. Get the proper color wire for the proper type of appliance, i.e. blue for lights, brown for pumps, etc.

And take your time. Use the proper materials. Don't skimp on stranded wire bought at HD, get the good, tinned, Marine grade stuff from genuinedealz. Heat shrink. Corrosion spray. Bus bars to consolidate your grounds. A GOOD fuse panel (Blue Seas, not SeaSense)...

And the list goes on...

 

[RicMic]

Re: Want to rewire my boat????

One other thing, since I am taking a break from rewiring my console, do yourself and everyone else that may ever work on your boat and don't use ANY electrical tape on anything! I have spent hours with rags and WD-40 cleaning the nasty, gooey, sticky mess off the wiring on my current boat from the boneheads who wrapped everything in ROLLS of tape. Get yourself a bunch of wire ties, tie blocks(either screw or stick on) and some spiral wrap, so you can tie up everything nice and neat and make changes the same way!

 

[dingdongs]

Re: Want to rewire my boat????

before you start lots of good clear digital photographs could help you out if anything is amiss at the end.

 

[NateL]

Re: Want to rewire my boat????

Awesome guys thanks a bunch. Can't say I know a whole lot about the whole wiring process gonna be a learning experience for me. Gonna do a lot of research before i start any of it. Thanks alot for the link to will come in handy I'm sure. Happy boating guys

 

[NateL]

Re: Want to rewire my boat????

So in basic lamens terms terms it's wired like a house is. Power and ground your fuse box and everything runs from the box to everything else. Except the sending unit wires run to your gauges. Are all the tach,volt,etc ran in a series together? That's what I'm gathering from the diagram. Why doesn't speedo need a positive? Is it cause it's ran by something else?

 

[RicMic]

Re: Want to rewire my boat????

Thats not series, thats PARALLEL, like the rungs of a ladder. The speedo only gets lights, since they operate off water pressure.

 

[NateL]

Re: Want to rewire my boat????

Yeah I was reading that on some other threads on here about the paralell wiring but as far as the basic concept of it all it is kinda like a residential wiring process. All power to the box then out from there to everything correct?

 

[bigbad 4cyl x2]

Re: Want to rewire my boat????

http://bluesea.com/resources/2