Working on wiring, 17 ft Lowe Jon need guidance.

[cptmarvel]

Got this used boat. Only thing electrical that works is bilge pump, outboard and trolling motor. I'm currently ripping out the nightmare/clusterfuck of a wiring harness. Crap is unfreakingbelievable! 1 hot wirenutted into 6 and then spliced again! THHN conductor used, which is an "inside a conduit" type house wire etc. Real Beavis and Butthead work. Temp alarm just hanging, not connected. Anyway...boat has nav lights, live well, trolling motor. Stereo (which I'm sure will go) speakers along with it. Putting in new lights and bigger troller. Thing has some in-line fuses here and there. No fuse block. No circuit breakers found yet. So, the question: once I locate the original wiring for the components, I'm going to use that same gauge wire to run the harness. Should I just use fuses for that size wire? Is there a fuse block readily available for that use? Or is in-line the way to go? And what are fresh water boat connectors made from? Zinc? Aluminum? Copper?

 

[mjf55]

Cpt, I just rewired my boat, because it was very similar to yours ( but I do admit yiu have me beat with the THHN wire ) and here is what i did.
1- Use only marine grade wire, minimum 16 guage.
EDIT: Use 2 charts for determining wire size. One is the ampacity of the wire. Another is the voltage drop of the wire based on gauge vs length. If you need help finding it, i can post them. Now, the voltage drop chart has 2 sections, critical circuits ( allowing only 3% drop ) and non critical ( allows up to 10%), based on that device you are wiring. Example ( although I do not believe all need only 3% drop ) Nav lights, VHF, Bilge, Blowers, etc ) are critical, but your stereo and cabin / cockpit lights are not.
END OF EDIT
2- Use good quality crimp connectors with heat shrink tubing on them. ( If you want a long discussion on this, see http://forums.iboats.com/forum/gener...crimp-and-tape ), with a quality crimp tool. See this link http://www.pbase.com/mainecruising/wire_termination
3- I ran 8ga wire + and - to the console (dash) and used a switch panel with circuit breakers and a main distribution point. Use an inline fuse at the battery end of the positive wire.
3 Bilge pump, i have a float switch, so that line and the groung line to the pump ran directly to the battery , using 12 ga wire and anotger fuse at the battery side. The manual sidw of the bilge pump came from the switch panel, using 12 ga. ( 12 ga seems like overkill, but i wanted the least voltage drop possible, as this is a devive that the output depends on unput voltage)
I actually used a Blue Sea Battery Terminal Mount 4 circuit at the battery terminals, instead of separate inline fuses.
3.5 (edit) Label each wire, including each ground. I use a label maker, small tape and use clear heat shrink tubing ( non adhesive kind ) over the label
3.7 Bus bars for the ground poonts under the das help.
4- Plan ahead and take your time. Remove 1 circuit at a time and replace it.
Good luck.

 

[gm280]

I have finished my 'initial" wiring on my boat rebuild thread as well. However, I used LED lights for everything and therefore I could run a lot smaller gauge wires. However, I used 16 gauge and 18 gauge MARINE grade wiring for everything thus far. If you are running merely a couple LEDs there is really no reason to run 16 gauge wire to those circuits. Most LEDs draw merely a few milliamps of current (10 mils to 20 mils) and 18 gauge wire is still large for such needs. I also used appropriately sized Mil Spec Circuit Breakers for the circuits and not the wire capacity. What i mean is, if my circuit only draw 3 amps, I used a 5 amp circuit breaker even though the wire was capable of running 10 amps or more. If you fuse or circuit breaker your circuits to the wire capacity, you run the real possibility of melting the wire or worst. If you have wire that can handle 10 amps and you fuse for 10 amps, the wire will get hot before the fuse blows. So fuse or breaker according to the circuit needs and not wire capability.

I would also use terminal strips or junction points or buss bars for both the positive and ground cables coming from the fused/breakered battery for your initial breakout points. That way you have all junctions from one place and can easily remove one circuit if need be. It makes wiring a ton easier and neater. JMHO!

 

[mjf55]

... I also used appropriately sized Mil Spec Circuit Breakers for the circuits and not the wire capacity. What i mean is, if my circuit only draw 3 amps, I used a 5 amp circuit breaker even though the wire was capable of running 10 amps or more. If you fuse or circuit breaker your circuits to the wire capacity, you run the real possibility of melting the wire or worst. If you have wire that can handle 10 amps and you fuse for 10 amps, the wire will get hot before the fuse blows.

I agree and have done what GM suggests as to fuse / protect to the device , not the wiring, I disagree with the potential outcome. Each gauge wire is rated for a specific ampacity, and if you push it to the limit, it will not get hot enough to cause problems. Now if you tightly bundle the wires at the same time pushing the limits, then it can cause issues. The wires simply could not get approved by the certification boards ( UL, CE, ABYC ). However, I do not push the limits of my wiring.

 

[cptmarvel]

Still working on it. Wish I could post pics of the mess that I've taken out, but iPhone pics are too big to post. This is an aluminum boat. Do things like the nav lights, which are removable and socketed, and the live well pump ground to frame? They seem to, but I've also got a bunch of (what appears to be) cut off ground wires in the harness under the decking.

 

[mjf55]

Look for a photo resizer app. I have one on my android and it really works great. Mine is called "Photo & Picture Resizer" by farluner apps. Perhaps there is an iPhone equivalent.

 

[cptmarvel]

I'll look into that. Nothing in phone settings. I have to send pics in email and re-size on my computer. Which I'm too busy to sit at right now

 

[fishrdan]

I didn't read through all the posts, but go to genuinecealz dor com for inexpensive tinned marine wire, the good stuff. They also have crimp connectors and a lot of stuff you'll use for your re-wire.

I used a Blue Seas fuse block with integrated negative buss, 12 circuits that mysteriously,,, all got used... It really helped clean up all the wiring and protect all the circuits.

FWIW, my 2001 freshwater boat was wired mostly with copper wire, not tinned, so don't think you have to use tinned wire. Though, tinned is much better, and if you can get it at the same price as plain copper wire purchased locally.....

 

[cptmarvel]

Good info! I've been able to get it mostly done. Luckily it's just basic. No gages. I've got a whole factory installed wiring harnes, it looks like, and the only thing hooked to it is the temp alarm