Want advise on replacing all my non-engine harness wiring...

F

Fishin'Chips

New member
I have a 1987 v20 Wellcraft with a 2000 Johnson 225 OceanPro OB. I have a center console and the wiring has always been iffy since I bought it from it's previous owner. I LOVE the boat and it runs great but electric wiring always is causing some problem as far as shorts and things simply not working. Some guages are not working at all. I have never done this extensive a project but I am pretty mechanical and understand what's explained to me.

I would like to first of all know what guages I should absoloutely have working. I may buy all new guages at the same time. I would imagin temp, speed, no need for a oil guage since I mix oil with fuel. I know I need running lights, and bilge pump and I have floor lights , a GPS and a ship to shore radio of course and fuel. Any ideas. I would like to bring a eeverything into a distribution panel so everything can connect from that panel but I am open for suggestions... Any ideas would be GREATLY appreciated.
 
not that hard of a project, just be consistent. is your battery(s) under the console or in the stern? your on the right track with a main black & red to a distrbution point and then branching to your various feeds. i would use tinned marine wire & heat shrink where possible. i rewired mine(cuddy) 5 or 6 years ago and only had one failure on an inline fuse i did not know about. as far as guages, i would have rpm, temp, voltage(usually have this on your gps) and water pressure. i hated the birds nest that my old wiring looked like, but after i re-wired, i still had a birdnest, but at least i understood it.
DSCF0486.jpg


this is a shot of the panel that is usually under the dash on a cuddy, i moved it out to the cabin roof & had a new flap made to cover
 
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Re-wiring

I'd definitely consider going to a distribution panel with blade (automotive style) fuses. A company called Blue Seas makes some good ones. I think the holders for the blade style fuses are much more secure than those little brass ears that hold the glass tube fuses. Also, the glass fuses, like the glass light bulbs with metal caps on the ends (bayonet style) will sometimes fail where the metal cap connects to the fuse wire and it isn't apparent from visual inspection that the fuse isn't making contact.

Personally, I solder, then heat shrink, all my connections. It takes more time, but ultimately gives a much more secure, stronger, better connection than any style of crimp/butt connector. Crimps and butt connectors almost always corrode from the inside and start giving marginal connections long before they actually fail. Because the crimp/butt connector hides where the wires actually connect, you don't see it happening. Heat shrink helps, but nothing is like a clean, well soldered wire connection as far as strength and assuring the best connectivity.

Typically electrical connections fail when you need them the most (wet, rough, pounding conditions), so I prefer to spend a little more time making good connections when I'm dry and comfortable on land, versus hunting down a loose wire or running without electronics when things get nasty.
 
for an outboard boat, you will need volt, tachometer and fuel level as neccesities, you can add trim gauge if your trim sender works, and temp if you motor has a sender. All these wires should be in the engine harness. For the boat, run two #8 or #10 wires from the battery switch( red pos) and from teh negative battery post(black -) to a distribution panel(fuse panel), then feed your individual circuts from there. I tend to run duplex wire(pacer tinned wire) to each circut(on a scratch rewire), that way I have a supplied ground to each circut rather than using a common ground wire thats spliced adn pigtailed all ove the place. Makes it a whole lot easier to diagnos an electrical problem later. Get a fine line permanet marker and you can label the duplex wires for identification. You can use a label maker to add tags on the ends(then tend to get puled off when running the wires). If you have any questions, go by Power Boat Service on Atlantic Ave. Ask for Diego(tell him David sent you), he can give you some good tips and sell you parts if needed. Make sure to offer to pay him for his time, its worth it.
Skools Out posted some good links awhile back that had the corect color codes and wiring requiremnts, i think thses are the ones.
http://www.uscgboating.org/regulations/boat_builders_handbook_and_regulations.aspx

http://www.ftkltd.com/Boat Wiring and Color Codes.htm
 
[QUOTE....... i still had a birdnest, but at least i understood it.
[/QUOTE]


HaHa!!!!! Too funny! You sound like someone I know. I start my re-wire at the end of this week. Doesn't look that hard at all.

Those Blue Sea fuse blocks are awesome!. Instructions suck but a very cool product. I think they are a little overkill for a boat like that but more power to ya if you put one on. Just remember $120 buys alot of wire and fuse blocks. If you do end up with one and need a hand wiring it let me know, we just did one the other day. The instructions are terribly simple and vague though.......
 
guess i'm showing my age, but i like the glass fuses. i can always wrap a piece of aluminum foil around it & get home.that fuse holder in the above photo is orignal to the dash and has held up for 25+ years. i do have circuit breakers on the rocker switches on the dash.
 
The Blue Sea stuff is good but do not get there switches!!!!!!!!!
I bought a whole panale of them and after 3 months I had 3 go bad, called them and they sent 3 new, and guess what they went bad in short order and were to be in a open **** pit!

I ended buying some marine toggle switches off ebay and they have been great!
 
I got two smaller blade type panels from my boat dealer, I don't think they were more than 20 bucks each. I used one for all the standard wiring & one for accesories. The accessory one has an end run to the battery switch, works like a charm & gives me spares & and easy way to troubleshoot.

Doug
 
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