Where a good place to buy electrical items for my boat.

[rbryant1492_mfb]

I have laid out my plan to rewire my boat and now its time too buy all the things I need. So here the big question where do more of you get parts.

Here is what I need
Nav lights I noticed the local Wally World (walmart) has them cheap.
Bilge pump walmart also cheap

Now for the hard parts

Where should i get wire, and other parts.
Will wire you buy at Napa or other places work or will I need marine wire?
I was thinking about getting the Seadog Vertical 6-Gang Panel with fuses.

What other things do you think I should get.

Here are the wires I have now see why I need to rewire.

 

[tashasdaddy]

Re: Where a good place to buy electrical items for my boat.

wire, home depot has it in many colors, in 25 feet rolls.

 

[wcsparky05]

Re: Where a good place to buy electrical items for my boat.

very expensive, tashasdaddy, i would go to an electrical supply house instead of buying it by the foot. maybe. price it. if you know how much you need, i could get it for you off my job, as i am an electrician. as long as you cover the shipping costs up front. i know, leap of faith but the offer is there.

 

[Expidia]

Re: Where a good place to buy electrical items for my boat.

very expensive, tashasdaddy, i would go to an electrical supply house instead of buying it by the foot. maybe. price it. if you know how much you need, i could get it for you off my job, as i am an electrician. as long as you cover the shipping costs up front. i know, leap of faith but the offer is there.

Yes, I just found out how expensive HD is . . . At least they will cut it off their rolls at any length and they have all gauges in stock.

I bought 10 feet of red and black each of 8 gauge and the same of 6 gauge.

I couldn't believe as I was leaving the store looking at the receipt that I just spent $41 on a few lengths of wire!

Go to an electrical supply store or take that poster up on his offer.

Watch out buying electrical connectors from NAPA too. The packaged ones they have on the display racks. They are ridiculous. But they do have boxes of connectors in the back, a lot cheaper and they sell them by singles.

I found Walmart has the best prices on crimp on connectors like for heavy 4,6,8 gauge hanging in their battery dept.

Forget about West Marine for wire loom (and for most everything else for that matter). I paid $16 for 10 feet (but returned it). Walmart has 3/4 and 1/2 inch tubing. 10 or maybe 15 feet (I think) for $2.99.

 

[cjames]

Re: Where a good place to buy electrical items for my boat.

I'd reccomend buying ALL of the things you mentioned from a good marine supply house. Do you really want to rely on a walmart bildge pump??? Marine wire is quite different from house wire, or extention cords with the ends cut off. (I've seen both fail in a marine environment) Iboats sells most of the things you need, so does fisheries supply. Dont cheap out on boat stuff, it allways lets you down.

 

[rbryant1492_mfb]

Re: Where a good place to buy electrical items for my boat.

I dont think the bilge pump example you give was a good one. Its the same pump the same package that the marine store sellls so why not get it. I agree that something you should never buy cheap or by lesser quality but if its the same item and its right there why not give it a chance.

 

[Gary H NC]

Re: Where a good place to buy electrical items for my boat.

Walmart does have some good prices on Bilge pumps,they sell the Rule mate pumps the same as a marine dealer does.Just a better price.

West Marine is outrageous, I spent almost 50 bucks for a trailer roller and some hardware that i could have got for half that price online..I was near the boat ramp and needed it so they had me...

 

[rbryant1492_mfb]

Re: Where a good place to buy electrical items for my boat.

I thimk most people would love to support the local marine shops and stores but sometimes walmart or other chain stores are just closer or the price difference is so huge you just have to shop there.

 

[Expidia]

Re: Where a good place to buy electrical items for my boat.

I always check off a few things on my boat accessory shopping list at Walmart first NOW!

Two weeks ago after my new boat came I was in the process of re-wiring the positions of my OEM trolling motor receptacles (Lund uses ones with a plug configuration that I couldn't find anywhere).

The first Cig lighter type adapter I bought for my emergency spot light from WEST MARINE fell apart in my hand as I was installing it. This is not what you want to happen on a BOAT!

I finally bought several Marinco (great products) replacements on the web for $20 EACH plus $14 shipping.

I later found Walmart had the EXACT same ones only packaged by Minn Kota for $25 for both the plug and receptacle.

I cancelled the web bought order.

Sure you can shop in your upper class Marina and pay top dollar. You can also buy many of the EXACT same products at Walmart . . . I just wear dark glasses when I shop there . . . hahahaha

 

[JB]

Re: Where a good place to buy electrical items for my boat.

Why not go to the Wal Mart boating forum? Maybe Wal Mart will give you free access to thousands of boaters for advice.

On the other hand, you just might want to check out your host. iboats does sell marine supplies at good prices.

http://www.iboats.com/Marine_Store/dm/

 

[dingbat]

Re: Where a good place to buy electrical items for my boat.

Will wire you buy at Napa or other places work or will I need marine wire?

For marine use, wiring a boat with common copper wire is a common mistake, and should be avoided. Copper wire strands oxidize very quickly, and the common byproduct of that oxidation is a green layer of oxidized metal, which will eventually degrade the conductive connection to a terminal, and ultimately fail. Always use a marine-grade ?tinned? wire.

http://www.screamandfly.com/home/hull_tech/wiring_6.6.2004/wiring_1.htm

 

[licketdsplit756]

Re: Where a good place to buy electrical items for my boat.

14 ga wire for all your assesories. 10 ga for your main power leads to your fuse box and trolling motor plug in also your assesories panel if ya have one up front. 4 ga for your main power leads to your battery. i stay away from smaller wire like 18 ga. unless yout just useing it to lite up a bulb. something that draws low amps. make sure you use the proper fuses if ya dont want to be using your boat for a cook out..

 

[Rob454]

Re: Where a good place to buy electrical items for my boat.

Dude if you need some wire I can get you 14 and 12 ga and the other guages. Let me know what colors and what lenght you need. i get them at work in 500 foot rolls. im a electrician. just pay for the shipping and Ill reel off a rainbow of colors roll it up and drop it in a box. All you gotta do is pay the shipping. This is stranded wire.
LMK
Rob
ss454454@socal.rr.com

 

[Rob454]

Re: Where a good place to buy electrical items for my boat.

Do you really want to rely on a walmart bildge pump??? .

I had my Wally world bilge pump in my Jet ski for 8 years and it never failed. the one on my boat is a wally world one also. I dont know why people give Wally world such a bad rap? There are plenty of things I buy there. My ammo, some of my fishing lures. in the fishing store they are abotu 12-14$ at wal mart theire abotu 3-6$. Why shouldnt i save myself some $$. I dont buy everything there but somethings that I know I can save $$ on I get them there.
I dont wear dark glasses either. i would love to support the small guy and in most cases I do. But I also had problems returning something that didnt work right to a small guy. Also in one case i used to go to this small mom amd pop auto shop. They talked me into these Monroe shocks. Good shocks. Problem is they have a lifetime warranty but the shop is out of business. i guess forget the lifetime warranty. Sometimes it pays to shop at a big retailer jsut less hassle that way
Rob

 

[Big Keepers]

Re: Where a good place to buy electrical items for my boat.

Marine grade wire rated by AWG instead of SAE is thicker and better for marine environments. The copper is tinned to help prevent corrosion from travelling up the wire. Bilge pumps, switches and that stuff get cheap at Walmart or something, but the main wire and the lugs should be bought here at IBoats or at West Marine, Boaters World, Etc.

 

[drewpster]

Re: Where a good place to buy electrical items for my boat.

I can say from personal experience that automotive grade stranded copper wire is not suitable for marine use. I work on freight trucks for a living. The median age of our fleet (3800 trucks) is 3 to 5 years. The wiring in these trucks is very high quality because of the multiple computers that are used to make things go nowadays. And I can guarantee all of the wire from the firewall to the tail lights is corroded to one degree or another. Even though these trucks are relatively young, corrosion is a huge factor and reeks havoc with those fancy computers. That's the reason the industry has spent untold amounts of money developing multiplex electrical systems that only use two conductors. Not two for each component, but two for the entire system! I also heard that there is a marine manufacturer already using it.
Most of the stranded copper wire, especially the smaller 16 to say 10 gauge, that you find in the autopepzone type store is not even automotive grade. I use only marine grade tinned wire conductors in my boats.
In my opinion the correct question to ask yourself when rewiring a boat is not "will it work" but "will it fail". I don't use extension cords to power the flood lights around the house either.

 

[Sig_Mech]

Re: Where a good place to buy electrical items for my boat.

Just finished rewiring my Spectrum 1606. The previous owner thought he could accomplish miracles with black tape and wire nuts. Wrong! As others before me have said, use marine grade wire in a marine environment. The initial cost may be a little more but the relaibility and peace of mind you get will be far better than trying to find a problem from corrosion in the future.
Try this web site - http://stores.ebay.com/Genuinedealz_Marine-Battery-Cable-6-4-0-awg_W0QQfsubZ5284430QQfrsrcZ1 .They have decent prices and can get you the correct cable terminations for your application.
Good luck.

 

[andy6374]

Re: Where a good place to buy electrical items for my boat.

For wire and accessories.

www.bestboatwire.com



The size wire you need is also dependent on the "run length" of the wire (pos and neg length) not just the application. That is 14 gauge might be acceptable for one man's application while another may have to use 10 gauge if his run is long.

 

[Expidia]

Re: Where a good place to buy electrical items for my boat.

Just finished rewiring my Spectrum 1606. The previous owner thought he could accomplish miracles with black tape and wire nuts. Wrong! As others before me have said, use marine grade wire in a marine environment. The initial cost may be a little more but the relaibility and peace of mind you get will be far better than trying to find a problem from corrosion in the future.
Try this web site - http://stores.ebay.com/Genuinedealz_Marine-Battery-Cable-6-4-0-awg_W0QQfsubZ5284430QQfrsrcZ1 .They have decent prices and can get you the correct cable terminations for your application.
Good luck.

Damn . . . that's a great link, I wish I had that before I did all my running around because the items I needed were never at one store. Guess I need to re-wire my trolling motor run from the bow to the transom with tinned wire now!