Wiring/Electrics???

[nrreds]

I am of course a new first time boat owner. I have purchased an 1986 250 Sundancer Sea Ray. I have put alot of work into it and hope to have final pics soon. I wish they made a manual to work everything. Like how can I tell if my water pump is working? How about my bilge pump? Where is it located? I think it has some of the original wiring and I would like to rewire it. But were do I start? I have never done this before? Are there any good manuals or guides to doing this? I would like to replace the searchlight and horn. Should I just go get one similar and use the existing wire to hook it up or run new wires?? PLEASE HELP. I am pretty good about exterior/ wood and other, but electrical no way. What are some of the MUST be Functional to take it out?

 

[woody20]

Re: Wiring/Electrics???

Well does the boat have a central fuse panel or is all the stuff hooked into the battery with in-line fuses for each thing?

 

[JasonJ]

Re: Wiring/Electrics???

Boat wiring is very easy. Here is the direction I recommend you go: <br /><br />Buy a mutliple switch/breaker panel. These panels have your switches for all your different features such as bilge pump, nav lights, etc. Each switch has a breaker next to it. This way, if a short occures, you immediately know it, you can fix it, and you aren't under a dash trying to mess with fuses. <br /><br />Replace all wiring with marine grade wire. Marine grade is superior because each strand is tinned. Regular wire is not tinned, so it is more likely to corrode than marine grade. If you never boat in the salt, then you could get away with regular wire, but if you are going to do, just do it right.<br /><br />Solder/heat shrink all connects. I have used crimp connections, and they work, but eventually they fail due to vibration and corrosion. Solder/heatshrink never fails. Hope this sort of helps...

 

[woody20]

Re: Wiring/Electrics???

JasonJ is right, solder and shrink wrap with a pigs tail connection. For every connection not soldered you loss a little voltage to that item due to poor connection. The previous owner of my 22' center console had everything with in line fuses. I couldn't stand it. Before I even put her in the water I redid the wiring. Two wire marine grade from the battery to the console and then did a 6 unit fuse panel and with zip strips made it all nice and neat. It took me about 4 hours, alot of snaking the wires through the floor and soldering connections.

 

[nrreds]

Re: Wiring/Electrics???

Thanks for the suggestions. I do have switch panel. I guess Will take it off and just start back tracing all the wires. I would like to replace these of course.

 

[Solarex]

Re: Wiring/Electrics???

what about a charger for the battery while the boat is running, for the outboard setup?