Wire

[SweeperForce]

Hello,
I am re-wiring the battery wire going to the starter selonid(red) and to the block for my ground(black). I only use my boat about once a month and only in freshwater. I store it in a storage lot with a waterproof cover. With that being said what will it hurt by using automotive 4 gauge wire? The wire in there now is all corroded. The stands are black and green. I am assuming that the wire is orignal from '89. I know I should use tinned wire, but I am on a budget, and marine wire is out of the question. Like I stated above, I use my boat 5 maybe 6 times a year. If I have to replace the wires every 3-4 years, I can live with that.

Tom

 

[rwidman]

Re: Wire

Hello,
I am re-wiring the battery wire going to the starter selonid(red) and to the block for my ground(black). I only use my boat about once a month and only in freshwater. I store it in a storage lot with a waterproof cover. With that being said what will it hurt by using automotive 4 gauge wire? The wire in there now is all corroded. The stands are black and green. I am assuming that the wire is orignal from '89. I know I should use tinned wire, but I am on a budget, and marine wire is out of the question. Like I stated above, I use my boat 5 maybe 6 times a year. If I have to replace the wires every 3-4 years, I can live with that.

Tom

You can't be on that tight of a budget or you couldn't afford to own and operate a boat. Do it once and do it right, use marine grade wire. If you shop on the Internet you can get some pretty reasonable pricing. You can also have them attach the connectors so you won't have to buy or rent a crimping tool.

In fairness to iBoats, I'm not going to provide a link to a competitor.

 

[tx1961whaler]

Re: Wire

http://www.iboats.com/Battery-Cables/dm/*******.074144652--**********.135726273--view_id.336127

 

[wire2]

Re: Wire

If you shop around, tinned cable is not much more than plain; tin is a relatively inexpensive metal.

Shrink-tube the lugs with tube that has the hot melt glue in it, it provides a water tight seal.

 

[SweeperForce]

Re: Wire

I have no problem using marine wire. Yesterday I went out and bought 12 feet of red and 12 feet of black 4 gauge wire. This wire is used wire amps inside cars. At that piont I didn't know the difference. I spent a good amount of money on these wires. Since they were custom cut, I can't return them. I found a few site on the net to buy marine grade wire.

Tom

 

[NYBo]

Re: Wire

My boat appears to have all the original wiring. It is NOT marine (not tinned) and except for the 20 gauge speaker wires that were improperly spliced (just twisted together and taped to apparently add front speakers that were removed by a PO), there is no sign of corrosion at the crimp connectors nor where I tapped in to do some modifications/updates. Call me a heretic, but with your usage, I think regular wire will last a lot longer than 3-4 years. Just use good connectors.

 

[bruceb58]

Re: Wire

My boat appears to have all the original wiring. It is NOT marine (not tinned) .

Well..if it s the boat in your signature, I am not surprised.

Always use marine tinned wire!

 

[fishrdan]

Re: Wire

If you had not all ready purchased the wire I'd say go with marine tinned wire from genuinedealz, they can crimp and heatshrink the terminations for a nominal fee.

But, since you all ready have high quality copper (same that was used for the started in my Crestliner, heck everything was plain copper "marine" wire in the boat) I would just do a good job of sealing the ends to keep out moisture. I like to cover the terminal > wire insulation with Liquid Tape, 2 coats, then heat shrink over that. You can also use adhesive lined heat shrink tubing, if you can find it locally.

Oh yeah, if you go in saltwater, you definitely want/need tinned wire. Saltwater and plain copper wire don't play together nicely.

 

[NYBo]

Re: Wire

Well..if it s the boat in your signature, I am not surprised.

Yeah, Bayliner went all out in the quality department back in the day.:redface:

Always use marine tinned wire!

Well, using the boat once a month in freshwater with protected storage in between, I don't think the OP will suffer catastrophic electrical failure any time soon with quality non-marine wiring.

 

[bruceb58]

Re: Wire

Well, using the boat once a month in freshwater with protected storage in between, I don't think the OP will suffer catastrophic electrical failure any time soon with quality non-marine wiring.

No definitely won't fail but the price difference isn't large enough to warrant not using tinned wire. Anyone who has ever tried to make electrical repairs and come across "black" wire knows what I am talking about.